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Old 12-08-11 | 02:39 PM
  #65  
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dougmc
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Joined: Jul 2008
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From: Austin, TX

Bikes: Bacchetta Giro, Strada

Originally Posted by Poguemahone
As to the DWI on a bike, the big difference between a bike and a car is the drunk is most likely to hurt himself on a bike.
Right, but I was trying to cut off any argument about if you can get a DWI on a bike there -- as it varies from state to state.

IMHO, Texas has it right, where the DWI law specifically says motor vehicle. On your bike, you can get a public intoxication or reckless driving (if it's reckless, of course) but not a DWI -- but there's been some situations in other states where people have gotten full fledged DWIs on their bicycle. There's even the one case where a guy got a DWI while *walking* his bike *in his front yard*.

In any event, the "driver responsibility program" was mostly meant to extract more money from people who were hit with serious offenses like DWIs (and driving without insurance), but also habitual offenders with lesser charges, but in Texas it seems to be aimed at cyclists too, even if the law (or more precisely, the guidelines that the law refers to) explicitly seems to exclude them.
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