By Paul Hutchinson
Denver Post, February 8, 1997
In big cities across North America, bike messengers zip through downtown streets and sidewalks in breezy defiance of traffic laws.
To some bike messengers, every traffic light looks green, every stop sign says go, and every sidewalk presents an invitation to cruise.
Chicago cracked down two years ago by licensing messengers and requiring them to wear vests bearing an identifying number. Philadelphia is pondering a similar measure. Vancouver, B.C., also requires licenses and numbered vests. And in Denver, the same rules are on the books—but not enforced.
Denver police admit they don’t ticket messengers for every offense. Moreover, the cops question whether they should. On any business day, a Denver pedestrian can witness dozens of infractions during a stroll along 17th Street. Messengers blowing through red lights, weaving lickety-split through rows of traffic, darting the wrong way up one-way streets, and running a human slalom course through busy sidewalks.
Rarely do riders on the sidewalk announce themselves with a bell or a voice alert. And some of the bikes most prized by messengers aren’t even equipped with brakes.
"I’m amazed no one’s been killed," said Denver detective John Wyckoff, a Denver police spokesman. "Just the other day, a messenger guy ran a red light and I almost hit him. So then he flipped me off."
Police do write tickets – but they write them selectively.
"We write quite a few tickets for the lights," said Sgt. Steve Calfee of the downtown mall unit. "But the sidewalk issue is one that, admittedly, we’ve been softer on. We realize that messengers are trying to make a living, and they’re providing a service."
Although police write $25 tickets for bicyclists caught on the 16th Street Mall, officers usually give a break to cyclists on other sidewalks. One reason: Collisions between bikes and pedestrians are rare, Calfee said.
"I don’t mean that we’re waiting for someone to get hurt, But that does affect the way we operate."
Like most cities, Denver requires bicyclists to obey the same rules as motorists – at least theoretically. Bike messengers, though, find that notion a nuisance. Because they work on commission, they must take every shortcut possible, messengers say.
"We ride the sidewalks because that’s where the buildings and offices are," said Nate Cox, who delivers for Speedy Messenger Service. "Deliveries take longer" for a rider following the law, he said.
Messengers are mostly young, mostly male and mostly attitude. To be fair, most are able cyclists. Yet skill is no substitute for safe riding, according to Mike Hubbard, owner of Speedy Messenger. The company employs eight full-time bike messengers.
"These guys are a different breed," Hubbard said. "We certainly discourage our guys from using the sidewalks. We have them sign (a statement) saying they will obey he rules of the road." But Hubbard frequently walks downtown streets. He sees what goes on.
"We can’t sit and watch every move they make," he said. "And occasionally we’ll hire a bad egg. But we do have a supervisor out there observing them all day long."
Collisions between messengers and cars occur often enough to make insurance rates nearly prohibitive, Hubbard added. "If that continues, we’re considering alternatives to bicycles." He probably would endorse licenses and vests, Hubbard said, especially if it lowered insurance premiums.
Every day, Alex Lepcheck commutes by bike between his south Denver home and the Auraria campus. And every day he follows traffic laws, Lepcheck says. He blames messengers and other scofflaws for giving all cyclists a bad reputation.
"It’s easy to understand why people in cars hate people on bikes, when you have an outlaw element that completely ignores the rules," Lepcheck said.
In 1993, the Denver City Council adopted a bicycle master plan. The plan says the city will regulate messengers with testing, numbered vests and other requirements "If the situation deteriorates."
Many believe it has. With 60 full time messengers now on downtown streets, some believe it’s time for tougher rules.
"I walk downtown like everybody else," says James Mackay, bicycle planner for the Denver Department of Public Works. "It’s an unfortunate issue, and I’m confidant it could be improved. I would not object to a licensing program."
Detective Dave Metzler, a spokesman for Police Chief David Michaud, said the department probably would support such an effort.
"I don’t think we’d ever be opposed to something like that," Metzler said. "I know we get a lot of calls about bicycles on sidewalks."
A second issue is equipment.
A decade ago, messengers commonly rode rugged, fat-tired bikes well suited for the punishment inflicted by urban streets. Yet today, the bikes most coveted by messengers are light weigh, stripped-down racing machines. Some don’t even have brakes, but they certainly go fast.
Today’s way cool messenger rides a track bike, a fixed-gear bicycle whose nimble ride allows precision maneuvering. These machines became faddish among messengers after Nelson Vales, a New York bike messenger, achieved a measure of fame in Olympic racing events.
But true track bikes lack any type of mechanical brake.
In an emergency, a rider can try to lock the wheels, throwing the bike into a dangerous skid. Or he can grip the front wheel with his hand – if he’s wearing a glove. A third option is jamming a foot between the front wheel and the down-tube of the bike frame. That’s also dangerous. In any case, mechanical brakes easily outperform those primitive stopping methods, experts say.
"It’s ludicrous to ride something like that on the street," said Tito Collins, third generation proprietor of Collins Bike Shop on East Colfax Avenue. "These guys ride at breakneck speeds. If a car pulls in front of you, you’re gonna be a piece of the door."
One longtime Denver bike messenger has worked several years on rider safety issues. Jason Abernathy, known on the street as J-Bone, offers safety tips to new messengers and sits on the mayor’s bicycle advisory committee. He also publishes an occasional safety bulletin for bike messengers. Licensing and numbered vests might improve matters, Abernathy said, but he offered a peculiar slant on the subject:
"From our point of view, that’s saying, ‘We have to wear vests,
but pedestrians don’t.’ Now I ask you: Is that fair?"
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