by Gary Washburn
Chicago Tribune, February 13, 1995
My friend Ace, inspired by two close encounters with wild and woolly downtown bicycle messengers, offered a bright idea for the protection and preservation of pedestrians like himself.
"Why can't we assign these guys jerseys with numbers?" he asked..
When a wheeled marauder is spotted pedaling the wrong way down a one-way street, "going through the light and scattering pedestrians" in a crosswalk or otherwise violating laws meant to maintain safety and sanity on street and sidewalk, anybody could phone the ID number to a special city enforcer, he said..
But Ace is a little late with his ID proposal. It's already law.
Nearly three years ago, the City Council passed a measure that requires cyclists employed by messenger services downtown to display numbers at least 4-inches high on the backs of their safety vests so violations can be reported to police.
But, alas, the well-intentioned ordinance has fallen short, as anyone can attest by taking a walk across the Loop..
In a random check of 25 messengers one afternoon last week, I found 11 who were wearing no number and 11 others with packs slung across their backs, either partially obscuring their numerals or making it impossible to see if they were wearing any.
Of the three messengers whose IDs were visible, only one-No. 133, wearing the livery of Parcell Way-had numbers large enough and distinct enough to be seen clearly.
Of course, some of the messengers I saw may not even have been covered by the ordinance, which illustrates a major loophole. The law applies only to cyclists who work for messenger services, not to in-house couriers employed by law firms, ad agencies and other companies.
But the most telling weakness of the statute is the fact that innocents afoot remain at the mercy off kamikaze pedalers..
Besides who-knows-how-many close calls I've witnessed personally in recent months, I've seen messengers actually plow into pedestrians twice. In the nastier of the two incidents, a woman standing on a corner waiting to cross the street was sent sprawling to the pavement.
For his part, Ace reported he was "just nicked" in one of his encounters, but he was ready for the other one, and it was a little more dramatic.
"I saw him coming and I just pushed him," he said. "He had to take a fall. Ask me if I felt bad."
Pedestrians have suffered broken arms and legs, and in a tragic accident about 18 months ago-after the passage of the law-the mother of a "dear friend" was knocked to the ground, said Ald. Eugenee Schulter (47th), the sponsor of the ID measure. The woman suffered severe head injuries and later died, he said..
"Our ordinance has made a difference," Schulter asserted "But we have to go even further."
The ID law may be beefed up by spring to include in-house messengers, and officials are trying too find a way to ensure that numbers are visible, Schulter said.
But maybe it would help if the messengers themselves-not just their firms-were licensed, and police actually made an effort to curb and ticket the ones who violate the law.
In the meantime, Ace and others who've been forced to play dodge-'em might favor another approach. In the daily struggle for downtown pavement, messengers and cabbies-some of whom also terrorize pedestrians-have become natural enemies.
So you round up all the renegade cabbies and send them into a big room through one door. You round up all the renegade messengers and send them in through another.
Then you lock the doors.
Case closed -----------
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