By Paisley Dodds
Associated Press, New York City, November 14, 1997
BOSTON (AP) - Marilyn Green considered herself a street-savvy pedestrian until she was clipped by a bicycle messenger racing the clock.
``I was on the sidewalk and - bam - this guy pushes me out of the way,'' said Green, a 47-year-old telephone service worker.
``But I got mad, and I pushed him and his bike into a car.''
The entire city seems to be pushing back after a bank executive was critically injured when he was sideswiped by a courier. William Spring, a 62-year-old vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a member of the Boston School Committee, wound up in a coma after the Oct. 30 accident yards from his home.
``Immediate action is needed to curb the safety hazards created by discourteous and reckless bicycle messengers,'' said John Hamill, president of Fleet Bank and a member of the Boston Chamber of Commerce.
On Thursday, the chamber voted to send letters to businesses urging them to steer clear of unlicensed couriers and to blacklist those with bad attitudes. The city has about 500 registered couriers.
Even Boston's aggressive taxi drivers say the couriers rattle them.
``They swerve in front of me all the time,'' cabbie Domingo Ferrufine said. ``They're crazy.''
For $20 and a trip to the police station for a background check, anyone can become a messenger. Some skip the formalities. Few have liability insurance.
Registered messengers are issued orange patches with license numbers, but Boston courier Ted Reiderer said some of his colleagues don't wear the patches for fear that people will complain about them to the courier companies or authorities.
To deal with the growing concern, a special task force has been set up to consider upping regulations for Boston messengers. One proposal would require insurance for couriers - something that New York, a city with about 1,000 couriers, has been unable to adopt.
Those in the industry said they've heard the criticism before.
San Francisco, which has 600 couriers and few regulations, has seen a similar backlash, said Ben Green of Western Messenger Service.
``It seems like we go through stretches where bike messengers get blamed for things,'' he said. ``It's always a battle.''
Regulations and tougher enforcement puts pressure on the courier business, already shrinking as businesses turn to technology like fax machines and e-mail, said Al Smith of Quick Trip Courier in New York.
``We're blue-collar workers afraid of losing our jobs,'' added Reiderer, a 27-year-old messenger with a mechanics jacket, black satchel and walkie-talkie. ``We may be young, and may not look pretty, but most of us follow the rules.''
AP-NY-11-14-97 0656EST Copyright 1997 The Associated Press.
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