by Joe Hendry
On October 30, 1997, an unfortunate accident occurred between pedestrian, William Spring and cyclist Jonathan Gladstone. The Boston Herald and the Boston Globe slanted the facts of this story to vilify the bicycle courier community. Fleet Bank president John P. Hamill took time out from his attempts to grab as much of ATM user's money as possible (by charging service fees for the use of ATM machines in Massachusetts), in order to condemn all bike couriers. Hamill and the Boston media have promoted a horrible image of bicycle messengers not because of their behaviour, but mainly because of bigoted, intolerant, and prejudice attitudes. This bad reputation comes from perceptions, as couriers' safety records are no worse than any other cyclists' records and are much better than motorists.
There are no studies nor statistics to show that bike couriers cause more accidents or injury to themselves or others. In 1992, the Automobile Insurance Society of Quebec prepared a study on the safety concerns involving bike couriers based on the "experience, opinions and perceptions of municipal authorities in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle, New York City and Washington, D.C. as well as of cyclists' associations in Canada and the United States." This study concluded that couriers' "behaviour draws attention because their clothing and bag make them more visible," and in fact couriers "have no more of a propensity for accidents per kilometre travelled than other bicycle riders...and for that reason caution is advised in imputing accident risk to couriers in order to justify specific intervention targeting this type of road user."
Boston already has a courier ordinance. Now they want to make it tougher. The city has a task force looking into ways to increase enforcement and punishment of couriers. Are there any couriers on the committee looking into this? NO! Last year, (and probably continuing this year) police harassed and ticketed Boston's couriers because of the city's stupid jersey design that was very difficult to comply with. The city failed to consult bike messengers before finalizing their design.
The anti-courier movement knows absolutely nothing about the effects of licensing on behavior. Many cities, including Boston, have looked to licensing as a way to "control couriers" but all have failed and turned to harassment. After licensing is in place the most common violation for which couriers are ticketed is not having a license.
A few of Boston's citizens have called for couriers to pass a test before obtaining their license. In 1989 the City of Vancouver introduced a licensing and registration program for bicycle couriers that required them to pass a written test and a road test.. The purpose of the licensing program was to "improve " the "dangerous and reckless" riding behavior of couriers and respond to "citizen complaints of infractions regarding couriers" as these were the number two complaint to the police (speeding cars was number one), in 1988.
According to Cycling BC ,the administrative body of the program, over 2000 (estimated 250 per year) couriers have passed the test in the last 8 years. Since 1994 the City of Vancouver has issued the following number of licenses: 1994: 398 . 1995: 487. 1996: 486. 1997 to date (November) 396, that's almost 1800 licenses in less than four years. Although messengers can have their license suspended, there has never been one single suspension, ever. After eight years citizen complaints to the police about couriers remain unchanged at number two.
This program has been a complete failure in its intended goals. It has had no effect on the riding behaviour of messengers and it has made no attempt to address the problem of perception. It has pushed messengers further to the fringe of society and served as a mark on messengers for specific harassment by police.
The reason licensing is unsuccessful is because it fails to recognize the truth. The problem is not the behavior of couriers. It is the intolerant perceptions people have of them.
The Boston Globe articles don't care if it was the courier's fault or not. There has been no attempt to print Gladstone's side, even though it has been available on the Massbike list. The current anti-courier articles have nothing whatsoever to do with the recent accident. They are exploiting the accident to promote a hostile attitude toward couriers and cyclists.
The "facts" relating to couriers printed by the Globe are merely anecdotes: "couriers need lessons from Miss Manners"... couriers "bang on car doors" and "scream at pedestrians"...." I've never been hit but I've been a victim of their crude remarks."
When the discussion comes around to couriers people rely on anecdotal evidence, opinion and perception. No one ever quotes statistics and figures because there are none that support their arguments. Everyone talks about what they perceived to be a "near miss" (I'm sure many are thinking "I nearly had to share an elevator with one!".) That's because very few have ever been involved in an accident with a courier. This issue is about discrimination against a visible minority. Any cyclist committing a traffic violation downtown is assumed to be a courier. These people should examine the reasons for their prejudices. Are they logical or ignorant?
Boston's couriers provide many benefits to the city. They make the streets safer for pedestrians because they replace cars that kill and injure many pedestrians every year. They also save the money that would be necessary to treat these injuries. They reduce gridlock, congestion and many types of pollution such as air, noise and smell. They do less damage to the roads and therefore save the city and its taxpayers money on construction costs. They act as goodwill ambassadors, providing information and directions to tourists. They provide a fast and efficient service that Boston's business community not only relies upon but also demands. They are sought out by businesses to increase their profits and reduce costs. Couriers save Boston's business community lots of money every day. Their speed is the last line of defense against office workers' and executives' natural tendencies toward procrastination. Messengers save the business community from the deadlines they encounter on a daily basis. With the current trend toward downsizing and the increasing workload of workers, more deadlines are in danger and more professional bicycle couriers are needed.
If Hamill and the Boston media are sincere in their public campaign for road safety, they will condemn the harassment and prejudice toward any type of road user. They will call for increased enforcement and education of all road users on an even handed basis. They will expect Boston to look toward ways of improving its design and use of roads and they will want efforts directed at preventing the most injuries instead of the most famous injuries.
If bigoted and prejudiced views are tolerated, which visible minority will be their next victim?
Gladstone's version of the events
back to Boston Crash Controversy
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at messvilleto@yahoo.com