I assure you im not, since I only drink like once a month. But definitly when I was bartending and during certian parts of the marines I did drink ALOT especially when I was bartending as I had drinks bought for me or on the house during my whole 8-10 hour shift and often would stay after hours and drink some more.

Fun days I guess for some people but I kinda got burned out on it fast, and the drama is not somthing I like to deal with. I like my nice quiet night job I have now at a hotel. The kids are work enough for me when I get home.

I have seen functional drunks before, they are the (in my experience) the people that drink constantly like breakfast lunch and dinner yet still maintain normal lives and work like that and most people would not know unless you smelled the stuff on them. Drink too much and your liver turns into swiss cheese, I dont want that to happen eather.

Ok Jim was here toinight, sat down and had a good 1 hour chat session with him while we ate dinner.

He told me exactly what I stated above is true, if off the roadway your not in possesion of a vehicle so you can not get charged with DUI if your under the influence and riding a bicycle.

He said they can get you for SOMTHING if they wanted too, out of there book of tricks there are a few things they could posibly charge you for but DUI is not one of them.

He also added in, being in a boat can get you DUI, but say mowing your lawn drunk on your tractor mower you can not because your on private property. So its not based on what your on, more on where you are.

Interesting thought: I am much better, so even if I am impaired I am a better driver. I have a very simple question - are you willing to go to a competition with an equal - after drinking downing all that booze? Yes, I suspect you would get whipped, No, then perhaps your faster reflexes might save a life someday, if they aren't numbed by alcohol.

It isn't so much how bad you are - but are you giving those around you the best you have in making sure that vehicle you are driving doesn't kill them. Older drivers are better drivers than younger. Slower reflexes, but better judgment. Younger drivers have better reflexes but worse judgment. (Generally speaking on all of this) My reflexes are not what they once were. But I need to give it the best I have by being alert. (My eyes aren't what they once were either - so I wear glasses, even though it is legal for me to drive without them.)

When you get behind the wheel - it isn't about doing okay, or good enough. It is knowing that you are behind something potentially lethal. I feel part of the right of driving is the responsiblity to be in the best condition you can. This includes not talking on a cell phone, not reaching to the floor to pickup french fries, not driving when nearly asleep, etc.

You might be able to drive okay compared to those of us without training (which I have had by the way) but can you drive as well as you could IF you didn't have the booze? If you could avoid an accident totally sober (that perhaps I couldn't) do you really have the right to cause some's death because you were as good as "anyone else"? Imagine going through the rest of your life knowing that if you had been sober - you would have been able to avoid the accident.

Chemically - you might be able to ignore pain - but alcohol messes with your nerves, and worse yet, your judgment. Also, if you have a high toleration because of the amount you drink - that is because of an addiction. Sorry, it is true. Your body is adapting to the alcohol. If I drank that amount of alcohol, I would be in a hospital. Your body is adapting... and I sure would hate to be your liver. Glad to hear you have decided it is boring.

You probably don't want to hear this - but the best advice I could give is to go to a few AA meetings and see what they think. If you are sure that aren't an alcoholic - what do you have to lose? But if you are, it just might be the best thing you ever did. I have yet to meet an alcoholic who thought he was one. The ones who are worried about their drinking usually are the ones that end up not being an alcoholic (not all the time for sure) - but I worry about them less.

You might be tough in a fight - but facing drinking is a very hard battle my friend, and it takes a different kind of toughness.

Just my dos colones - but perhaps it is worth something because some of our employees go to AA and talk to me about it.

The police may have been vengeful in this case, the alcohol laws may not be congruent with the concept of justice when it comes to biking, you may be able to function well on your bike after drinking because you've built up a tolerance to alcohol. These are all good points. However, my common sense tells me that drinking alcohol and riding a bike on the streets or sidewalk is not a good idea. I could care less if others do. But BUI is just not on my personal list of acceptable activities.

Remember folks, driving is a PRIVILEGE not a right.

That may be. But it is also a pain in the butt. Pay for the car. Pay for the insurance. Pay for the gas. Sit in traffic, breath in exhaust gases. Pay to have vehicle maintained. Pay for tires. Pay for gas. Go to work to make the money to pay for the gas to take you to work to make the money........pay to park, pay to have seats cleaned after child spills milkshake or smears chocolate on headliner, pay for gas, sit in traffic, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

Driving is what makes me drink. At home.

Can you provide a link to the laws of ANY state in which there the DWI stature or DUI statute includes bicycles?

In Texas, the DWI/DUI laws apply ONLY to a MOTOR vehicle, operated on a PUBLIC road. Your posts assume there is a state where someone riding a bike, or just thinking about riding a bike, would face the same two year/five year/ten years sentences that may face someone who operates a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Which states are you referring to, and what are the specific statutes you are referring to?

Texas allows arresting a drunk on a bicycle ONLY for public intoxication or disorderly conduct, offenses that result in a nominal fine, which many drunks prefer to "sit out" with a week-end in jail.

Why would the Texas legislature approve of sending a drunk driver to prison for years, while letting a drunk on a bike off with a week-end in jail? I'd guess it is because one of those guys is driving a two ton vehicle and the very act of driving it while intoxicated is essentially a form of "attempted murder". The other guy is riding on a thirty pound vehicle, and he is only attempting to commit suicide.

If you refer to the direct quotations I listed above, I'm not sure I'd agree with that. The stuff about a public road seems clear enough, but they say a person riding a bike has the same rights and duties as a person driving a car. That's Texas law. I'm not a lawyer by a long shot and I know even less about Texas law then Iowa law, but from those passages (located within less then 5 minutes of looking) a person riding a bike on a public road would seem to be accountable for following the DUI laws.

At this point, it might seem that this is degenerating into a bunch of legal wrangling. But I would say that it shows that state legislatures are willing to say that being drunk on a bike on a public road makes you dangerous to other people. You might not have the pure devastating power, but you certainly have the ability to CAUSE accidents. And preventing accidents one way or another is the point of the DUI laws.

In Texas, and in many states in the USA, a person operating a motor vehicle while under the influence is subject to be locked up for six months, a year, two years, five years, ten years...depending on their prior record. A person operating a bike while intoxicated will be locked up overnight, one day or two days.

The folks posting in this thread who suggest that even ONE person riding a bike DUI somewhere in the USA got a sentence involving YEARS behind bars are obviously PWU...posting while under the influence.

[QUOTE=古強者死神]
Friendly Tip: this is if your on the road, if your offroad or on the sidewalk your not a vehicle your a ped and you cant get busted for that!

Do not count on that. You could even be in your own driveway well off of the road. As long as you are drunk or appear to be and are operating a vehicle you have the potential of going out onto the road. Ergo they can stop and check you. Huntington Beach, CA even passed a law that if you are drinking on your own land or an adults' land, even indoors, and they can see you, If you are apparently underage the police can come onto your land and into your home and bust you.

I have arrested someone for DUI from his driveway. Thought he was safe when he pulled into his driveway. WRONG!

It is wonderful when police officers, or anyone else thinks they have a right to "invent" laws that don't exist. If a police officer is dumb enough (and many are) to confuse a bicycle with a motor vehicle, that officer might charge someone on a bike with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated on a public road.

Likewise, a police officer might see someone passed out in a truck, parked in a driveway with DWI. That officer can make the arrest. The case will get tossed. Asleep is not operating. Engine off is not operating. A driveway is not a public road.

This thread may get the "award" for the "Bike Forums" thread with the most nonsense. Unlike "Ultegra versus 105", the laws that apply to DWI and DUI are very precise. Easy enough for a child to understand. That means most, but not all, police officers understand that a bicycle is not a "motor vehicle".

If your on the road, your now considered a vehicle thats the deal tho, DUI on a bicycle is a very real thing.

My side of the argument is how bikes have two "modes" ped mode (sidewalks) and vehicle mode (roadway) I have now had 2 local police officers confirm for me that you can not get charged with DUI on a bicycle if your on the sidewalk.

How finite that is (like crosing a street) I really dont know, and neather of the officers I know would bust you for it, but Jim clearly stated there is somthing they could bust you for if they wanted to (I think public intoxication).

Busting sombody in there driveway I can see too, since they are about to drive on the road, They need to have the keys in the ignition, or have just gotten off the road correct? This is what I know. You can go to sombodies house and get them for DUI after the fact if they just go home (I think 3 hour window?) and you can bust sombody for DUI under the intent to operate as soon as they put the keys in the ignition, but not before that.

Im guessing if you got charged with anything outside of those lines and took it to court you would win. Thats one of the reasons its very important to know the laws and your rights, not all police officers are good people and do arrest people under false pretenses.

I don't agree that you can't be arrested for DUI on a sidewalk. I think you can. It would be no difference than some car that starts driving on the sidewalk while the driver is drunk.

You must be kidding. In the US, a DUI is like a speeding ticket. Here in Norway the limit is .02. People are freaked about driving the day after. Police set up road blocks. Fines are probably ten times as much as in the US.

Filter, you are correct, DUI's are no where nearly as high a crime as it is in other places around the world. I've arrested a few that have had 3-5 DUI convictions, but never any jail time.

Is that justifiable? Or is it idealistically overdoing it? My understanding, and one poster has already alluded to this, is that the correlation to highway fatalities does not occur until higher blood alcohol levels. At some point I think the drinking and driving laws have less to do with public safety and more to do with advancing an agenda against alcohol in general.

The paths don't diverge, most govts are clear that they'd prefer 0% drinking & driving. Blood alcohol levels are poor indicators of how an individuals judgement is affected by ingesting alcohol. Jennie may be "fine" after a 6-pack, but Suzie may be distracted after 1 tiny sherry, miss the stop sign.
Should govt restrict Suzie's drinking? No.
Perhaps curb Jennie's driving privileges? Nah.
Outlaw any the twain should meet? Precisely.

It's not hard to avoid driving under any influence .000001 or greater. All it takes is the brain you were born with. The main problem here in North America is the one highlighted in the different enforcement & accountability efforts by govts. In the US driving is seen as a right, clearly enshrined in the Constitution & Bill of Rights. In many other places it is seen as a privilege to be protected & respected for the responsibility it entails upon the driver.