Published in the Back Bay Courant, May 26, 1998

Six months after Back Bay resident Bill Spring was thrown 30 feet after being struck by a speeding bicycle messenger, the city is about to propose new rules for the trade.

Boston has regulated bicycle messengers. Those regulations have not been particularly effective, however, as measured by Spring's accident and the constant companies from downtown pedestrians, have been minimal. The new rules are different. With some luck, they may succeed in calming the streets.

Bicycle messengers are a constant and needed urban presence. When businesses need packages delivered, they turn to messenger services which use a variety of modes to transport their wares. There are messengers out there traveling by foot, some by roller blade and more than a few by car. The most preferred form of transportation is a bicycle.

For the most part messengers are law-abiding and safe. But there are a few who think nothing of zooming the wrong way down a street or who make it a game to play dodge-and-weave with pedestrians. For most, the experience is simply frightening. For a few, however, it can be dangerous and even life-threatening. Mite Spring, Bill Spring's wife, said as much in her testimony when she observed that bikes at a sufficient speed can be just as deadly as cars.

The new legislation passed by the Council is a mixed bag. Part of the law stiffens the regulatory requirements placed upon bicycle messengers themselves. For example, it requires a larger identification badge on messengers' bicycles and mandates registration of each firm and messengers with the police department.

One the rules are passed (they will require state legislative approval, because they affect state laws), expect to see police officers out in droves cracking down on bicycle messengers.

Don't expect this to last however. There are a lot of illegal things in Boston, and no doubt some new illegality will come along in the near future that will capture the public's, and hence the police department's, attention.

Thus, a bold prediction. These new regulations will not, in and of themselves, make our streets much safer.

A second portion of the new law holds more promise, however. It imposes insurance requirements upon the industry and upon each bicycle messenger. This scheme is vastly more effective. Insurance companies will demand certain training and safety measures in order to insure. They will also follow their insureds' experiences closely. One or two accidents and the insurance will be pulled. Fearing that, messengers companies themselves will have a strong incentive to police their own employees.

My bold prediction is that this [portion of the law will have a sanguine effect. As long as we effectively enforce the insurance requirement, fly-by-night companies and reckless drivers should become a thing of the past.

The new law still misses a lot. Although bicycle messengers get a fair share of blame from the public, the reality is that all bikes in the wrong hands are potential weapons of death. Bill Spring could just as easily have been struck by a regular bicyclists and he would have been hurt just as badly.

But right now, Massachusetts does not regulate bicycle riding at all. There is no licensure requirement and no safety training requirement. Thus, the new legislation will leave us with the odd circumstance of requiring only a section of the bike riding populace to be regulated. The rest will be free to do what they want.

And hence my final bold prediction. It won't stop with bicycle messengers. Someday, perhaps even soon, the hue and cry will arise with regular bicyclists. That, in all likelihood, would be a fair result, something that messengers and pedestrians would both applaud.