City's bike messengers ride a fine line when on the job

It would also be safer if the bike messengers were not under the influence. I am NOT saying that all are riding stoned! However, there is a group that sit in front of the Thompson Center and you can frequently smell the marijuana while they smoke there. I watched them passing around one yesterday (Monday) morning at 7:30am right out in the open.

SSS wrote:

It would also be safer if the bike messengers were not under the influence. I am NOT saying that all are riding stoned! However, there is a group that sit in front of the Thompson Center and you can frequently smell the marijuana while they smoke there. I watched them passing around one yesterday (Monday) morning at 7:30am right out in the open.

join in next time- you seem a little tense.

It should be a two-way street: bike messengers are entitle to respect and room, and pedestrians and drivers should be careful. However, bike messengers too often cause their own problems by riding against traffic (including the wrong way on one-way streets) and not observing traffic signals and laws. The fact that they are in a hurry is not an excuse for violating traffic laws. I've seen at least two pedestrians get hit by bike messengers, where the messenger is riding on the wrong side of the street or going the wrong way. If they want respect, bike messengers need to give respect.

As a pedestrian, I have been victimized a number of times by bike messengers committing moving violations. Some of their offenses are verbal curses and threats to my life and limb in defense of their moving violations. People who support them most likely haven't spent enough time walking around downtown to know, deep down, what this is like. Bike messengers who gripe about pedestrians should be taught in court that pedestrians have the right-of-way over bicycles, even when they're not paying attention. The "fine line" should be this: if the job can't be done within the law, it shouldn't be done at all. If the customers of bike messengers were at all responsible, they'd do their own tests on travel times within the law, and refuse to pay for trips that were done too quickly to have been legal.

It is also important to note that anyone using streets on a bike must carry a valid drivers license and obey all traffic laws. Not stopping at a stop sign, going through a red stoplight, or not yielding to pedestrians in a crosswalk are all violations in which a ticket can be issued to anyone on a bike, and should be issued far more often.

Bike messengers are required to obey all traffic laws if riding on the street. Not yielding to pedestrians, going through intersections against a red light, riding, and riding the wrong way down one way streets are all traffic offenses that can (and should more often) result in a ticket. They are also required to carry a valid drivers license if riding on the street. I'd love to see more of these people pulled over and ticketed. If the city is cracking down on reckless cab drivers, they should also crack down on these people.

the sweet irony... drivers and pedestrians should be aware and follow laws so that bike messengers who admittedly disobey the laws can be more secure.

The article mentions a couple new laws that are in place to protect bikers; does anyone else find the right or left turn law a bit ridiculous? Not only to you have to have to watch in front of you to avoid oncoming traffic or to the right or left to avoid hitting pedestrians crossing the crosswalk, now one has to look in the rear view mirror to see if some biker is creeping up on your left or right. I'd ask even the bikers who drive cars how realistic this is. If I were on a bike and approaching an intersection in the far right lane I would never be brazen enough to drive straight through and expect a car to not turn into me if I pass him. These laws are of course not enforced much but I worry if their very presence sends the wrong message. A political move by Chicago to show it as an environmental city ready for the Olympics has the worrisome secondary effect of allowing bikers to feel that "the law is on their side". This may be the case but I believe it will add to the number of "car versus bike" accidents that will always be more dangerous for the bikers. I see the following unfortunate scenario played out a few times: Biker rides through intersection with view that he/she has the right of way and drivers better learn the new laws; average driver behaves the way they have for 30 years and turns right without looking in their rear view mirror; car versus bike; disabled biker; Confused, guilty feeling driver with a 500$ ticket. How is that good for bikers or drivers?

These people are pests and a nuisance. They never deliver anything as important as they make it out to be.

hmmmm, 7:30am you say; in front of the Thompson Center? sweeet!

"A lot of times it's very likely the messenger who just broke the traffic law you saw is delivering a document that directly affects your life," said Augie Montes ...

Ridiculous. These are not organ transplant specialists, they are bicycle messengers delivering a sandwich and beverage. Even if they think they are delivering super sensitive, top-priority papers, that is only because some overpaid executive in a high-rise tower is trying to justify his/her existence.

The bike deliveries do directly affect my life when they run into me on the sidewalk.

I've seen more than one bike messenger get knocked off their bikes by pedestrians in crosswalks as the bikers try to cut in front of them (illegally). It was pretty nice.

. . . and the usual conservative, righteous, ranting, rhetoric from the small brained people who don't like bicycles. Blah blah blah. Nothing ever changes in here. The people who should be reading your gripes (on both sides) probably don't even know how to read. Lead by example and stop your whining (all of you).

Just look at the picture that marked this article, the bike is about to pass the car on the LEFT. Passing on the left is illegal, we need more enforement of laws.

You do not need a DL to ride a bike on the street! City ordinance states those over 12 must be on the street and not the sidewalk and that NO bikes are allowed on the sidewalk in a business district. So how would a 14 year old get a DL? If you are a messenger you need a messenger's license, not a DL.

Chris wrote:

It is also important to note that anyone using streets on a bike must carry a valid drivers license and obey all traffic laws. Not stopping at a stop sign, going through a red stoplight, or not yielding to pedestrians in a crosswalk are all violations in which a ticket can be issued to anyone on a bike, and should be issued far more often.

I have no problem with bikes,(messengers, commuters or hobbyists) as long as the follow the rules of the road, including stopping at all stop signs and stop lights, going the correct way down one-way streets, staying off the sidewalks, etc.

But if the bike messengers can't do their jobs while following these rules, they shouldn't be on the streets at all. If the bike messengers got tickets every time they broke the rules, 1) it wouldn't be profitable for them to ride like this any more, and 2) the city would be rolling in money. More tickets for cyclists who don't abide by the rules!

you don't need a driver's license to operate a bicycle. i dont know where you got that crazy idea. thats like saying 10 yr old kids can't ride down the street without a license. Get some common sense.

JDW wrote:

Bike messengers are required to obey all traffic laws if riding on the street. Not yielding to pedestrians, going through intersections against a red light, riding, and riding the wrong way down one way streets are all traffic offenses that can (and should more often) result in a ticket. They are also required to carry a valid drivers license if riding on the street. I'd love to see more of these people pulled over and ticketed. If the city is cracking down on reckless cab drivers, they should also crack down on these people.

how is everyone this idiotic about bikes and driver's licenses?

I'm a city biker of many years - to work, for errands, for fitness. No love lost for riders who feel entitlement simply because they've chosen to use a bike as their primary mode of transportation or way to make a living. Every time a driver or pedestrian calls on alderman to complain about a yahoo biker cutting them off, it makes it that much less likely we'll ever get real bike lanes and equal legal protection.

Sean wrote:

The article mentions a couple new laws that are in place to protect bikers; does anyone else find the right or left turn law a bit ridiculous? Not only to you have to have to watch in front of you to avoid oncoming traffic or to the right or left to avoid hitting pedestrians crossing the crosswalk, now one has to look in the rear view mirror to see if some biker is creeping up on your left or right. I'd ask even the bikers who drive cars how realistic this is. If I were on a bike and approaching an intersection in the far right lane I would never be brazen enough to drive straight through and expect a car to not turn into me if I pass him. These laws are of course not enforced much but I worry if their very presence sends the wrong message. A political move by Chicago to show it as an environmental city ready for the Olympics has the worrisome secondary effect of allowing bikers to feel that "the law is on their side". This may be the case but I believe it will add to the number of "car versus bike" accidents that will always be more dangerous for the bikers. I see the following unfortunate scenario played out a few times: Biker rides through intersection with view that he/she has the right of way and drivers better learn the new laws; average driver behaves the way they have for 30 years and turns right without looking in their rear view mirror; car versus bike; disabled biker; Confused, guilty feeling driver with a 500$ ticket. How is that good for bikers or drivers?

No, they're not ridiculous. Moreover they're in line with long-standing regulations for bicyclists, who are advised to ride up to the front of intersections in order to be as visible as possible. Take a look at the handbook. There's nothing new about that. Your incredulity is really out of place. As an operator of a two-ton metal machine, of course you're supposed to be looking around for others on the road.