@Benjamin and Yolanda: – It is the same thinking that results in so many drunk drivers…
IMHO the safe amount of alcohol to drink before taking to the roads is Zero !
Okay, I admit that as an alcoholic, that is always true for me. As a one-time Christian Evangelical, my church used to hate alcohol and thoroughly oppose any drinking. I left that church for other reasons, not least was that my more liberal views clashed with their dogmas. However I have seen too many tears resulting from drunk-driving and read too many stories of woe from drunken cyclists too. The latter are usually funny as a drunk cyclist rarely has what it takes to be a real danger (Although cycling the wrong way along the motorway hard shoulder is an exception!) The police have released numerous videos showing the antics of inebriated cyclists…
Just have a safe time folks and enjoy the New Year safely. End of rant, sorry
I’ve always wondered… If the Police really wanted to catch/stop drunk drivers, why aren’t they in the Bar/Tavern parking lot at closing time, testing people after they get into their cars?
Not that it would help though, because it will only result in people getting drunk before they get to the bar/tavern.
That already happens over here as teens gather in ‘illegal’ bars/taverns to drink before going to the ‘real’ events as getting drunk is expensive these days.
The time to decide NOT to drive drunk is when your sober. If you want to go out drinking, hey no problem, take the bus, cab or a designated driver to get there. Then you can’t drive drunk, you have removed the temptation. If you NEED to drive, then drink stuff that is not alcoholic.
IIRC, In most states the cop has to actually see you driving (on a public road) while intoxicated. If they bust you in the parking lot, it wouldn’t stand up in court. (You could say you were going to your car to sleep it off.) They can’t require you to take a breathalyzer test unless there is “probable cause” to believe that you have been drinking too much and are actually driving.
Maybe somebody can correct me if I am wrong but I believe that in the UK just being at the wheel with the keys in the ignition is cause for arrest?
Then there is the greater offence of starting the engine and on up through ‘wheels moving’ etc. I have heard of court cases with all of the above in but cannot remember the details, sorry.
I am sure that I have heard of a system in British bars where the landlord confiscates/holds the keys of those who are clearly too inebriated. The sensible have an assigned driver that doesn’t partake of alcohol, I have been that person often. Some will hand their keys over voluntarily! (Without prompting) It is those who insist that they are ‘okay’ after ten pints that worry me, they don’t feel drunk and resist any effort to make them hand their keys over.
I don’t know about the UK, but in some places in the US, being drunk behind the wheel with your keys in your pocket is sufficient for a DUI/DWI. If the police find you that way in the parking lot of the bar, they’ll likely leave you be, provided you don’t try to drive. If they find you that way in your driveway, the cops are more likely to bust you, since they can reasonably assume that you drove home drunk.
In the UK just being in the car with the keys in your pocket is enough – it’s drunk in charge rather than drunk and driving. I’ve was told as a teenage the best bet is to have the keys as far away from you as possible just in case.
I have a friend in Alaska, who in the winter, got drunk at the bar so instead of driving home, he slept in his truck’s back seat. He turned on the motor now and then to have heat and got charged with DUI because the keys were in the ignition.
You’re right. In the UK, you a deemed in control of your vehicle if the keys are in the ignition
and you are sat in the car, even if the engine is off.
a group of 20 or so do a mid-winter poker ride every year. 25km or so, 5 stops, 5 cards. Last stop is at the local pub where the hands are revealed and the winner takes the trophy. food and drink at every stop. One year, I overindulged and fell off my bike exiting the bar property to ride home. No trophy for me but I wound up with a bruise the size of a rugby ball on my left hip/thigh.
FYI: in this neck of the woods the cops can (but rarely would) charge you for DWI on a bicycle.
In places where both the beer and the fog get thick at night it’s not unheard of for drunken cyclists to suffer serious crashes with each other, even fatal ones, so keep your head, boys and girls, whether or not you dress it in styrofoam.
You may want to check the way the law is written. While I believe it has since changed, at one time the drunk-driving law in Wisconsin prohibited “operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated”. Since bicycles are not motor vehicles, one could not be busted for drunken driving on a bicycle.
However, there was a separate state statute that allowed the police to detain you in a hospital or mental-health facility for up to 72 hours if you were deemed to be a “hazard to yourself or others”.
Yeah, the highway traffic act up here defines a bike, legally, as a “motor vehicle” and all laws apply equally. it’s clumsy, but at least legally we’re not riding toys.
True, one’s judgement is impaired but your balance still stays for some odd reason. I remember getting totally hammered on rum at a bar and could barely walk straight but hopped on my bike and somehow was able to balance perfectly all the way home.
I was just thinking about what Vantastique just wrote regarding balance. Because we use counter-steering to turn and ‘weave’ to stay upright, our drunken weaving is what is keeping us from falling over?
The same weaving marks us out as being ‘under the influence’ when on foot and it only when bad judgement causes us to do something noticeable that we get caught-out on the bike. The same poor judgement that get motorists killed rarely has the same effect on us as we are much slower.
In 1977 I was working in the mechanical workshop of the Molecular Sciences wing at the University of Warwick, which was being built from scratch then. A welder working nearby used to come in to us for assistance from time to time and he was kind enough to pass on some useful hints and tips when I was learning to weld.
He had a humorous theory as to why his welds were better in the afternoon than the morning – He felt that the unsteady hands resulting from lunchtime drinking helped the ‘action’ when welding. I can report that IMHO there was some logic to the theory. However the reduced judgement from the DUI will result in losing the job eventually… Drunk in charge of inflammable gas bottles and electricity is a formula for tragedy
I’m going to be biking more this winter. My car got smucked by someone who was too busy staring at the weird little smart car to realize they were driving out in front of it! He was stopped at his yield sign when I came through, but started up right in my way on packed ice. Poor little mite got all smucked up and his old steel beater just got scrapes and dents.
I’m so grateful that, faced with however long it takes to get it fixed (I’ve got good insurance) I am able to take up biking, familiar with it, and with a bike ready, so that I’m not disabled by the loss of my motor wheels.
Poor little Iris. ~sigh~ I sure hope she can be fixed.
Whilst you could theoretically get charged with being drunk in charge of a bicycle in the UK, the significant difference is that compared to a car, there’s no legal limit on blood alcohol level, and there’s no requirement to provide a sample (into a breathalyzer, or a blood sample), so you have to clearly be drunk. Even then, 99% of the time, the police aren’t going to be interested in doing anything unless you’re clearly a danger to yourself, because you’ll pose a very low threat to anyone else, and they won’t want to deal with the paperwork!
Oh-oh, is this the night Yehuda loses his arm?
My answer: “Then go catch them before they hit me.”
Ahh, the joy and beauty of biking after drinking: you’re more sober on the bike than off.
I can keep the bike up and going forward when I’m too inebriated to do the same with my feet, even on ice!
@Benjamin and Yolanda: – It is the same thinking that results in so many drunk drivers…
IMHO the safe amount of alcohol to drink before taking to the roads is Zero !
Okay, I admit that as an alcoholic, that is always true for me. As a one-time Christian Evangelical, my church used to hate alcohol and thoroughly oppose any drinking. I left that church for other reasons, not least was that my more liberal views clashed with their dogmas. However I have seen too many tears resulting from drunk-driving and read too many stories of woe from drunken cyclists too. The latter are usually funny as a drunk cyclist rarely has what it takes to be a real danger (Although cycling the wrong way along the motorway hard shoulder is an exception!) The police have released numerous videos showing the antics of inebriated cyclists…
Just have a safe time folks and enjoy the New Year safely. End of rant, sorry
Then the police theoretically would be in favour of cycling infrastructure. Maybe they’re not that logical.
Hah, Hah, nice little knowing glance between the boys there!
Are we to assume from that wink that they are sharing a secret … namely that perhaps neither one of them could pass a Breathalyzer test themselves?
I’ve always wondered… If the Police really wanted to catch/stop drunk drivers, why aren’t they in the Bar/Tavern parking lot at closing time, testing people after they get into their cars?
’cause that would be harassment of civilians ?
Not that it would help though, because it will only result in people getting drunk before they get to the bar/tavern.
That already happens over here as teens gather in ‘illegal’ bars/taverns to drink before going to the ‘real’ events as getting drunk is expensive these days.
I do see cop cars sitting across the road from bars, especially on Friday nights.
Harassment to the drunks, probable cause to the Police.
The time to decide NOT to drive drunk is when your sober. If you want to go out drinking, hey no problem, take the bus, cab or a designated driver to get there. Then you can’t drive drunk, you have removed the temptation. If you NEED to drive, then drink stuff that is not alcoholic.
IIRC, In most states the cop has to actually see you driving (on a public road) while intoxicated. If they bust you in the parking lot, it wouldn’t stand up in court. (You could say you were going to your car to sleep it off.) They can’t require you to take a breathalyzer test unless there is “probable cause” to believe that you have been drinking too much and are actually driving.
Maybe somebody can correct me if I am wrong but I believe that in the UK just being at the wheel with the keys in the ignition is cause for arrest?
(Without prompting) It is those who insist that they are ‘okay’ after ten pints that worry me, they don’t feel drunk and resist any effort to make them hand their keys over. 
Then there is the greater offence of starting the engine and on up through ‘wheels moving’ etc. I have heard of court cases with all of the above in but cannot remember the details, sorry.
I am sure that I have heard of a system in British bars where the landlord confiscates/holds the keys of those who are clearly too inebriated. The sensible have an assigned driver that doesn’t partake of alcohol, I have been that person often. Some will hand their keys over voluntarily!
I don’t know about the UK, but in some places in the US, being drunk behind the wheel with your keys in your pocket is sufficient for a DUI/DWI. If the police find you that way in the parking lot of the bar, they’ll likely leave you be, provided you don’t try to drive. If they find you that way in your driveway, the cops are more likely to bust you, since they can reasonably assume that you drove home drunk.
In the UK just being in the car with the keys in your pocket is enough – it’s drunk in charge rather than drunk and driving. I’ve was told as a teenage the best bet is to have the keys as far away from you as possible just in case.
I have a friend in Alaska, who in the winter, got drunk at the bar so instead of driving home, he slept in his truck’s back seat. He turned on the motor now and then to have heat and got charged with DUI because the keys were in the ignition.
You’re right. In the UK, you a deemed in control of your vehicle if the keys are in the ignition
and you are sat in the car, even if the engine is off.
In my US state the legal threshold is keys in the ignition.
Did a brewery tour by bike once. 8 of them, about 50 riders. Hysterical.
a group of 20 or so do a mid-winter poker ride every year. 25km or so, 5 stops, 5 cards. Last stop is at the local pub where the hands are revealed and the winner takes the trophy. food and drink at every stop. One year, I overindulged and fell off my bike exiting the bar property to ride home. No trophy for me but I wound up with a bruise the size of a rugby ball on my left hip/thigh.
A friend of mine rode his bike through a sobriety checkpoint and got a DUI, just sayin. Be careful out there.
FYI: in this neck of the woods the cops can (but rarely would) charge you for DWI on a bicycle.
In places where both the beer and the fog get thick at night it’s not unheard of for drunken cyclists to suffer serious crashes with each other, even fatal ones, so keep your head, boys and girls, whether or not you dress it in styrofoam.
You may want to check the way the law is written. While I believe it has since changed, at one time the drunk-driving law in Wisconsin prohibited “operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated”. Since bicycles are not motor vehicles, one could not be busted for drunken driving on a bicycle.
However, there was a separate state statute that allowed the police to detain you in a hospital or mental-health facility for up to 72 hours if you were deemed to be a “hazard to yourself or others”.
Yeah, the highway traffic act up here defines a bike, legally, as a “motor vehicle” and all laws apply equally. it’s clumsy, but at least legally we’re not riding toys.
True, one’s judgement is impaired but your balance still stays for some odd reason. I remember getting totally hammered on rum at a bar and could barely walk straight but hopped on my bike and somehow was able to balance perfectly all the way home.
I’m with Yolanda on this one. People smart and responsible enough to cycle rather than driving when drunk are especially worth having around.
I was just thinking about what Vantastique just wrote regarding balance. Because we use counter-steering to turn and ‘weave’ to stay upright, our drunken weaving is what is keeping us from falling over?
The same weaving marks us out as being ‘under the influence’ when on foot and it only when bad judgement causes us to do something noticeable that we get caught-out on the bike. The same poor judgement that get motorists killed rarely has the same effect on us as we are much slower.
In 1977 I was working in the mechanical workshop of the Molecular Sciences wing at the University of Warwick, which was being built from scratch then. A welder working nearby used to come in to us for assistance from time to time and he was kind enough to pass on some useful hints and tips when I was learning to weld.
He had a humorous theory as to why his welds were better in the afternoon than the morning – He felt that the unsteady hands resulting from lunchtime drinking helped the ‘action’ when welding. I can report that IMHO there was some logic to the theory. However the reduced judgement from the DUI will result in losing the job eventually… Drunk in charge of inflammable gas bottles and electricity is a formula for tragedy
I Just Googled to check if there was some law regarding welding drunk, I found this fairly quickly: http://www.hobartwelders.com/weldtalk/archive/index.php/t-34494.html
So, not the law, true, but a lot of experienced comments…
I’m going to be biking more this winter. My car got smucked by someone who was too busy staring at the weird little smart car to realize they were driving out in front of it! He was stopped at his yield sign when I came through, but started up right in my way on packed ice. Poor little mite got all smucked up and his old steel beater just got scrapes and dents.
I’m so grateful that, faced with however long it takes to get it fixed (I’ve got good insurance) I am able to take up biking, familiar with it, and with a bike ready, so that I’m not disabled by the loss of my motor wheels.
Poor little Iris. ~sigh~ I sure hope she can be fixed.
At least it wasn’t the other way around – you might have been riding when he moved off!
Thankful for small mercys – Happy New Year Yolanda
Whilst you could theoretically get charged with being drunk in charge of a bicycle in the UK, the significant difference is that compared to a car, there’s no legal limit on blood alcohol level, and there’s no requirement to provide a sample (into a breathalyzer, or a blood sample), so you have to clearly be drunk. Even then, 99% of the time, the police aren’t going to be interested in doing anything unless you’re clearly a danger to yourself, because you’ll pose a very low threat to anyone else, and they won’t want to deal with the paperwork!
Poopstains on my chamis