September 26, 2007
Restaurants Could Pay Delivery Cyclist Fines
City Council members Jessica Lappin and Alan Gerson have introduced a bill that would pass tickets received by food deliverycyclists and bike messengers on to their employers. The fines, which range from $100 to $300, are supposed to encourage restaurants and delivery firms to firmly encourage employees to cycle safely in the city, aside from being killed themselves.
Council member Lappin says that reckless riders received 1,800 citations in her Upper East Side district alone this year and claims she received a note from a 9-year-old constituent who says she was nervous walking in the neighborhood because of sidewalk cyclists.
Gerson was a backer of a bill passed this spring that forced restaurants to make sure riders were wearing bike helmets, rules for cycling safety were posted in multiple languages that could be understood by employees, and paid a minimum wage. In March, delivery workers at Manhattan's Saigon Grill went on strike, alleging that owners wanted them sign a contract that would have them work for below minimum wage.
(speedy-delivery, by Chad Schneider at flickr)
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Yes, please NYC government put more restrictions on us as well as make it even harder for the working poor to make a buck. Give them a break their just trying to get you your food to you quicker. You a**holes will be howling when your food isn't there quickly and not warm.
God NYC just sucks anymore. Did they have this much regulation in Communist Moscow?
I know this will sound bad, but does anyone else think that the worst delivery cyclists are Chinese?
They almost never wear helmets, seem oblivious to everything, go wrong way down streets, never have lights, carry their packages in plastic bags dangling from handle bars which makes steering dangerous, they smoke on their bikes too.
Many Hispanic delivery guys I see wear helmets, seem more aware, have racks for the food, even wear safety vests.
On the flip side I find messengers to be no threat at all. why? Because they are experienced cyclists and have skills, even if they do race at top speed.
Just wondering if my observation holds true for others.
Good. The great majority, it seems, of cyclists (both for business and for pleasure) don't pay any attention at all to traffic laws. I feel like I narrowly avoid being hit by them at least once a week. There does need to be a crackdown.
the chinese delivery guys are animals, with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths while they ride down the middle of a crowded midtown sidewalk.
Is a nine-year a "constituent"? Certainly not a voter.
The sidewalk riding and wrong-way down one-way street riding is certainly annoying.
But somehow it seems like the price we pay for instant food gratification. Fines will be passed on in food prices. But the real issue is that cops never deal with this behavior until someone gets hit, anyway.
Nit: "firms to firmly encourage"? "firms to encourage firmly", thanks.
Huh. Whenever I send an email to a politician I usually get nothing back. Maybe 20% of the time you get a form letter thanking you for your note. Maybe the trick is to pretend to be an eight year old.
nothing is worse than when they forget the dressing for the salad you ordered.
People drive like crazy on the wide avenues of the upper east side. Sometimes it's better to break the traffic rules, especially if they weren't designed for bikes. Which leads me to ... why not invest (for real) in bicycle-friendly infrastructure where it's faster to follow the traffic guidelines than to ride on the sidewalk (which usually isn't a very fast way to get around)?
I can't wait to start paying $10 delivery charges.
Just like how parking tickets don't deter illegal parking for commercial vehicles (where the fee ends up getting paid for by the business), neither will this reduce the number of infractions by bicyclists working for companies.
the people that will suffer are (1) the delivery guys when their bosses garnish their already meager wages for the tickets (2) customers who will end up paying more for food or a delivery fee as #9 suggests, although doubtful with all the competition out there.
Why anyone would want to encourage their employees to be killed themselves, I really don't know. I am definitely against encouraging employees to be killed. Or restaurants to be killed, if that's what you meant.
Wow, #2, you're sharp. Since most delivery guys *as a whole* are Chinese, the bad ones will likely be.....you guessed it.....CHINESE.
Reply to #13
most delivery guys are not Chinese, they are hispanic, I have no real stats on that, just a personal observation.
Just think about it. If "most delivery guys *as a whole* are Chinese"
that would mean that more than half of the delivery restaurants in NYC are Chinese (lets not go into the whole issue of maybe they are Koreans).
To #1. How does not wearing a helmet make someone a bad cyclist. In many other activities, wearing such armor suggest the person is expecting to have accidents. Would you feel safer if drivers were going around adding roll cages to their cars? Would you feel better if your kid's teacher wore a helmet when taking the kids on a class trip on foot? Safety first, right?
Cycling is not an inherently dangerous activitiy (relative to lots of other stuff we all do inthe city, like walk across the street or ride in cars). Why does it require armor?
these dudes are making 3 bucks an hour and are the dregs of society. They could be unemployed and raping and robbing your asses but they choose to make an honest living so you can get your wonton fix. They don't really give a shit about life and it's sad.
Hardworking immigrants who come to the U.S., or anywhere, for a chance of a better life at "3 bucks an hour" are not the "dregs of society." They are the bedrock of our society. We only endanger them at our own peril, and slander them to our own shame.
Please stop telling me how you think this will effect my lifestyle. I don't order out because I have functioning legs, but I'm sick and tired of doing the Manhattan shuffle whenever I cross the street: watch for tourists going the wrong way, watch for cabs blowing through crosswalks, and then watch for cyclists ignoring all laws completely.
While I agree with Dave's "bedrock of our society," comment %100, it is also true that they are the worst bicycle riders in the city.