Ha, look at these dead cyclists! On her TV show Chelsea Lately, comedienne Chelsea Handler showed an excerpt from the Travel Channel bike messenger reality show Triple Rush. The clip features Robert Kotch, the owner of the Breakaway Courier company, showing new employees news clippings and photos of dead bike messengers lying on the street. Handler found this hilarious, and so did her audience, which is really no surprise—these people roared with ecstasy when Dane Cook told a priceless testicle anecdote. Check it out:
Having seen the Chelsea Handler segment, Kotch tells us, "I'm speechless. There is plenty to make light of in this business; we have a good sense of humor here. But I really don't think the loss of somebody's life is something to laugh about. It's funny how I give that speech every time I give a safety class. We do this to wake these guys up and let them know not to get overly romantic about the job. I need them to pay attention and if they're not paying attention this could happen.
"So it's a little bizarre and unfortunate to see someone make light of somebody's death. I understand Handler's rude and irreverent but I don't think they realized how, from our perspective, it was in very poor taste. The second accident I show them in the clip is the one that killed Brad Minch, who worked for us briefly, but he was working for a different company when he was killed. So it hit close to home. I had never known somebody who lost his life riding a bicycle.
"What they edited out is that we've never had blood on our hands, we've never had a fatality, and the reason we're giving this speech is because we don't want a fatality. We're the only courier here in NYC that has a bike safety class, and it's borne out of my personal experience as a bike courier for years."
To be sure, bike safety shouldn't just be a priority for messengers. That's why Bike New York is offering a number of free classes next month, which is Bike Month in NYC. The wide-ranging classes will help curious New Yorkers learn "how to ride a bike skillfully; be confident in traffic; how to select a bike; fix a flat tire and other common bicycle breakdowns; commute the smart way, and more."
