By Michael Glover, Boston Globe, 05/13/98
The City Council committee on public safety voiced unanimous support yesterday for an ordinance submitted by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Police Commissioner Paul F. Evans that would impose stricter regulations on registration and identification of Boston's bicycle messengers and couriers.
The councilors expressed fear that some couriers are reckless and irresponsible and said they hoped that the ordinance would encourage safer behavior.
''A small cadre of couriers place citizens of the city in jeopardy,'' said Councilor
Francis Roche. ''When they whizz by you, they startle you. Some ... have no consideration.''
The home-rule petition resulted from a task force assigned to assess bicycle messengers in Boston after Federal Reserve vice president and School Committee member William Spring was badly injured last October when struck by an unlicensed messenger.
''Many other people have talked about what a menace bike messengers are,'' Spring said yesterday in a telephone interview from his home, where he is recovering. ''The attempt is to get them to obey the rules of the road that other vehicles do.''
Spring said he expects to return to work in the fall.
The measure requires all couriers to be insured individually or through their company to get a license. A minimum of $50,000 liability for property damage, $50,000 for an accident causing injury or death of one person, and $100,000 for injury or death of two or more people would be required.
The ordinance is designed to be self-correcting by forcing courier companies to answer to insurance companies who may threaten them with higher rates for reckless couriers.
The ordinance would also shorten license registration from two years to one, require courier companies to submit a monthly list of employees to police, require couriers to reapply for a license each time they change courier companies, and give the police commissioner the power to reject any license application.
The ordinance would also force couriers to wear armbands, identification patches on their pouches, and license plates on their bicycles.
Background checks would be conducted to determine if a candidate is suitable for licensing.
The addition of the police commissioner role conflicts with state law
necessitating a home-rule petition.
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