Calgary Herald, October 1991
There's nothing like a good elbow-scraping, face-planting, wipeout to knock sense into speed-demon bike couriers, save Dave Benallick.
And by-law or no by-law, the pavement-pedalling veteran says that's the one sure way to slow down belligerent bikers.
"If I see them riding on the sidewalk, I'll knock them off their bike," says Benallick, who learned the ins and outs of the business in 3 and 1/2 years of riding.
"It's not fair. You can seriously hurt somebody on a bike. If you are going 20 or 25 kilometres (an hour) on the sidewalk, you can hurt somebody real bad."
Benallick, who now owns Rocky Mountain Couriers, is one of the by-laws' advocates. But he says the law alone won't be a cure for problems downtown motorists have with renegade couriers.
Of the City's 127 bicycle couriers, about 10 percent are uncontrollable, Benallick says.
They're independent and they're thrill seekers.
"They kind of get a high. The more danger, the more people they scare, the more they seem to relish in it."
When riders are in a hurry it becomes very easy to break the law, says Benallick., who himself got out of hand" and collected $700 in fines during his first painful year on the streets.
But like most riders, he says he learned his lesson.
The repeat offenders, however will likely continue to be the black spot on an industry trying to clear its record, he says.
"I could name them. I know them," Benallick says. "And we'll be watching for them."
Sgt. Brendan Kapuscinski who runs the City Police Bike unit said he discourages safe-driving couriers from attacking rogue couriers. But he does agree that a small group of regular offenders are causing problems.
"Some of them are extremely good. It's just like anything else." Kapuscinski says. But "there are certain individuals, who are couriers, who are a major pain in the butt and dangerous."
The City's success in slowing them down depends on the courier companies' willingness to impose harsh penalties on riders who cost them money in fines.
Kapuscinski also says success depends on the ability of police, pedestrians and motorists to identify wild bikers.
"Trying to get these people to wear visible identification would be difficult. I see it as being a real mess," he says.
Benallick is more optimistic.
"In six weeks, when those license plates are on those bikes, there probably will not be any wild driving," he says. "We'll see how it goes."
"Six weeks!" How about six years later and nothing has changed - except now couriers also get tickets for not displaying ther license, and police turn to harassment.
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