"Scaring The Public to Death"

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Nowhere has the bike provoked such a sustained and official skirmish as in New York City. Mayor Ed Koch, who suffered a probike mood in 1980 and had bike lanes built, had them eliminated a few months later. By this year Koch had become so antibike that he banned the cycles from several major Manhattan avenues. The state supreme court in Manhattan overturned the ban last month, but did not overturn Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward's opinion about the city's pedalers. "They are scaring the public to death," says Ward, "and we've got to do something about it."

"It" means the free-form riding habits of 5,000 or so messengers. Inspired by the fact that more deliveries mean more money, many messengers whiz around the city in pseudokamikaze style, heeding neither red lights nor one-way signs, zagging on and off sidewalks, leaving behind a wake of screeching tires and cursing pedestrians. Many messengers even opt for bikes without brakes, to save on a few pounds of heavy metal.

There were 640 reported incidents of bikes colliding with pedestrians in New York City last year, up from 339 in 1981. Three New York City pedestrians were killed by cyclists in 1986, while nine bikers were killed by motorists. "They are like roaches," complains Anita Sockol, who was crossing Lexington Avenue in June when she was floored by a speeding cyclist. She suffered a broken hip and wrist, and now limps. "They come at you from all sides," she adds.

Even cyclists admit that some bike riders act like pit bulls on wheels, but enthusiasts attribute most accidents to impatient walkers, many of whom insist on waiting in crosswalks for the light to change. "Most pedestrians don't look before they cross the street," says Eric Williams, a Manhattan messenger. "I've pulled so hard to stop that I've got scars to prove it."

The numbers prove that Manhattan's reckless-bike-riding problem is not trivial. Even so, the ire stirred by the bikers is striking. Some argue (not too convincingly) that the antipathy toward messengers, who are mostly black, is racially motivated. But that does not explain the shouts of anger directed at white speed demons by startled white pedestrians.

Efforts are being made all over to educate bikers about traffic rules and to train motorists in the ways of bikers. In Los Angeles, state and county planners are even contemplating a 2 1/2-mile-long overhead bikeway that would rise above the congested streets around UCLA. But the real culprit on American roads, as conspicuous among cars, cabs and trucks as among cyclists, is an arrogant, scofflaw spirit that sends vehicles -- those with four as well as two wheels -- streaking through red lights and stop signs, just as it tempts pedestrians into habitual jaywalking.