Messenger killed in Toronto

Hello Everyone,

So, with Jerry being in Toronto this week, he's gotten all caught up with the issue. For those of you not reading the papers, there was an altercation between a bike messenger (courier) and a well-known business man/ex politician Monday night. The altercation escaladed and the bike messenger ended up dead after being dragged a couple blocks. Jerry's too close to the situation so I've been on the other end with logic and calm. Not an easy thing to do as both of us are passionate about cycling advocacy.

Whatever the final outcome is (let the court decide), in my opinion, fault lies with both parties. It should never have escaladed past the first incident. I still haven't read what that initial incident was but it likely involved vehicular contact between the two (and I'm not speculating to say who was at fault). In a perfect world, if it was two cars, drivers would have gotten out, exchanged information and depending on the situation, notified the police. Unfortunately, most bike couriers who were injured or had their bike damaged have not had a similar experience.

When Jerry got doored last year (driver opening door without looking and knocked him down), the guy tried to pull him off the road (was on conscious momentarily and yes, was wearing a helmet) and then tried to leave. Witnesses stopped him from leaving. Police refused to respond because the damage to Jerry's bike was less than $1000. He tried to file a police report but they refused. He can't sue the driver. Jerry was several months before back to full strength (bruised ribs), bike was in shop for few days, had day off work and had to take it easy for about a week while other injuries healed.

With messengers not receiving justice when accidents happen, I can understand why things did escalate. I often hear about the aftermath - motorist and courier get into shouting match. Driver tries to take off - courier breaks window, mirror, scrapes side of car etc. Or, shouting match, driver gets out of car (which is automatically assault) and things get physical.

It's extremely frustrating that the police don't respond to these situations. For some people, if their bike is damaged, they can't work. I'm lucky to have a back-up but I have few choices of getting around. My place isn't well positioned for transit and it's over an hour walk to work. As well, although I have medical insurance through work, it doesn't cover everything. Without a police report, you can't sue for additional compensation and the driver's insurance does not go up (so no penalty for them).

Vigilante justice doesn't work either.

When the situation reached the point where the driver took off, the cyclist should have backed away from the situation, got the license plate and called 911. It would have meant still being alive.

For whatever reason, the cyclist ended up on foot and was dragged for two block. According to one witnesss, there were sparks coming from his shoes (cycling cleats). How do you go that far unless someone is hanging on to you?

And now in the media, there's a big hype that stirs up emotions and doesn't solve anything. The courier's being dragged through the press as a scumbag and the ex-politician as a clean family man. Their backgrounds have no bearing on what happened - why are they reporting so much on it?

There's tension between cyclists and motorist all the time and it looks like this incident has brought things to a head. Better education on both sides and adequate infrastructure is needed. Cycling is a viable (and often faster) means of transportation in a downtown or high density area. It's also very safe when you look at the statistics. Average rush hour speed in NA is 17km/hr. My average riding speed is 25 and I can bring it up to 33 when it's safe. Sidewalk riding is extremely dangerous because of the speed differential between cyclists and pedestrians, blind alleys, sidewalk conditions etc. Road riding is much safer.

We need to find a way to share the road.