On 2/1/07, David Mann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This has to be about the scariest video I've ever seen. These guys > wouldn't last 5 minutes in my city. > > http://youtube.com/watch?v=nR2ygFn-yR8 > > - Dave
As the only (former) bike courier on this list (that I know of), I feel equiped to comment with some knowledge. First, what these guys are doing looks really dangerous, but believe it or not, they're in control. Their biggest concern would be the "door prize" - ie: someone jumping out of a taxi and throwing open a door without warning. I've ridden in New York, and surprisingly, the drivers there are predictable, keep to their lanes, signal lane changes, and are quite polite to bike couriers (compared to Toronto, anyway). I think that's in large part due to a fairly recent law that taxis' licences are suspended pending any investigation of any complaint. Due to that, they drive pretty much perfectly. The other thing about New York, is that bikes go the same speed as motor traffic, and that's a pretty safe situation for bikes. It means we can take the middle of the lane and not worry of being squeezed out by passing cars. All that being said, the guys in the video do give bike messengers a bad name, especially buzzing pedestrians like that. The going through lights, the squeezing between gridlocked cars (as I said, that's the riskiest thing they did), the going the wrong way down one-way streets look much more dangerous than they are. But pedestrians are pretty helpless and unprotected; I always tried to be nice to them. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
