Old 08-02-06, 05:35 PM
  #13  
oddtext
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exactly

no license is required to ride a bike. this is a DWI conviction under the law enacted with all the aggravators and conviction points and everything that apply to regular driving drunk. so, if you ride drunk twice and get caught, you can do up to 24 months in prison in NC and a mandatory split of 30 days at the minimum on 2nd conviction. 4 convictions in 10 years (and i know one would be drinking oneself to death before this happened) could result in a felony conviction of Habitual Impaired Driving with a permanent lifetime license suspension. this is insane. in NC bikes are vehicles but the worst one could do on a bike and suffer DRIVING consequences was get a reckless driving citation until now. is .08 really the per se standard of appreciable impairment in NC beyond which operation of a bike is illegal? yep.

this is going overboard. if they really wanted to do this and do it reasonably they could have spliced it in the section regarding underage consumption where you are punished like a DWI but you don't get the same conviction level with aggravating factors et al that can land your butt in prison for a long long time.

this law will encourage drunks whose licenses have been suspended for DWI to drive rather than ride, cos the punishment and consequences are the same. stupid imho.


Originally Posted by bbonnn
You could also do a lot of damage by walking around drunk -- defacing buildings with urine, falling into shrubbery, stepping into traffic, getting into fistfights. There are laws against "public intoxication" if you're really being obnoxious in that circumstance, but they don't affect your driving record and insurance rates. The same should definitely be true for drunk cycling. If you're making an azz of yourself and hurting others, you can get into trouble for public intoxication, but cycling while drunk shouldn't be illegal in and of itself. The level of havoc and damage you can do is not nearly comparable to that of an automobile.
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