wheel

https://media.wildcat.arizona.edu/med...-2724780.shtml

A man was arrested for a warrant from the Tucson Police Department after he was seen trying to ride a bicycle while drunk Feb. 10, reports stated.

A police officer saw the man riding the bicycle northbound on North Park Avenue from East Sixth Street at 10:48 p.m. when he lost his balance and fell off the bicycle onto a rock wall.

The man was trying to push himself along by using the wall for support when the officer stopped him. The man had a strong odor of alcohol.
.............
or put your hands in your pants..

DaemonLee

In the State of Washington, it's not considered a DUI, if a bicyclist is intoxicated.

Infact, the local PD will give you a ride home and store (impound) your bicycle at no fee to you.

https://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=46.61.790

sbhikes

And if you get caught walking while drunk it's called public intoxication. When will people ever learn?

ken cummings

The drinker who couldn't ride must have had an amazing amount of booze in him. I biked back from a party once when I had had so much everything was doubled. I knew those two white lines marked the middle of the road between Boulder and Golden so I rode between them several miles back to town. It was very late at night and I could and did hear cars far enough away to get off the road before they got near. A friend was getting a ticket for speeding on his bike when the officer smelled his breath and wrote him up for DUI.
When the Judge heard the cops' story he threw the case out saying, "He could not have been drunk. A person drunk enough to rate a DUI wouldn't be able to stay upright on the bike." Little he knew .

EDIT: I've found the penalty for drunk cycling is so low in Cal. that I will not worry about it.

CommuterRun

A person can get a DUI on a bike in FL, but it doesn't count against their DL or car insurance.

deputyjones

Wow, well you can't in MI, but you can in a kayak or your kids inflatable 3' pool boat.

CommuterRun

Same here with our BUI laws. They make no distinction between a power boat and a paddlecraft. Which I think is a mistake, but the law is primarily aimed at power boaters, and that is good.

Jet Travis

Don't drink and drive. Don't even drink and putt.

donnamb 

Michigan has such a strong boating and water culture, it would be disasterous if DUII laws didn't apply to boats, whether motorized or not. I wonder if (big if, I know) the number of regular cyclists and bike trips increased, would the Michigan legislature expand DUII laws to apply to bicycles? I suspect they would. We had a nasty collision here recently involving both a drunk driver and a drunk cyclist. Of course they should both have consequences for their choices to be out on the road drunk.

deputyjones

O yeah, I totally agree on the expansion of OWI laws here. If we had the biking culture here that you have in Portland I would expect the law would be expanded to cover bicycles as well.

AGGRO

In the afternoon at the boardwalk I'd say 75% have been drinking. Be very afraid

sgtsmile

In Ontario, you can get a DUI for being drunk on a bike. You dont have to even be over the .08 limit either (for bike or car) but only have to have some in your system and show signs of impairment. The charge is automatic at or over .08%. This DUI is a criminal charge with all the same implications against a cyclist as against a motorist vs driving privileges and insurance fees.

So basically, here, don't drink or operate a vehicle (as defined by the Highway Traffic Act.)

jmoody15

In AL, you can get a DUI for operating any "moving vehicle" while intoxicated. My uncle was telling a story this past Christmas about someone who got a DUI on a horse

donnamb 

So I'm a pretty moderate person about animal rights, humane treatment, etc., but I have to say it's pretty upsetting to think of a horse being injured because of a drunk rider. (Not that that necessarily happened in this case.) I guess I could see the value of such a law.

jmoody15

The story behind the horse thing is that this guy would ride his horse a few miles down the road to the local bar, because the horse knew its way home, and he could pass out on its back, and get a free ride home. Well, the plan worked just fine until a cop caught the horse walking the wrong way down the interstate. Guy gets arrested, with his license suspended, and what ever else goes along with a DUI.

Cyclaholic

AGGRO

So it was the horse's fault. He knew better.

kemmer

Haha, that's funny. I can ride a bike fairly well even when I'm fall down drunk although I generally stick to side streets and empty parking lots if I feel the need to ride after a few too many. There was a woman who was put in jail a couple of years back for causing a fatal accident while riding a bike drunk. Riding a bike drunk, while generally not as dangerous, can have serious consequences. I searched for the story a while back, but couldn't find it.