I completely agree - please don't think I was comparing riding drunk vs. driving drunk. And, I'm also not talking about being so drunk you can't go a few feet. You can ride, but you make lots of miscalculations that are dangerous - the angle you cross tram tracks (< - a big one), curbs, pedestrians, braking, etc... BTW - my friend didn't own a car. Not too many people in Amsterdam do.

I don't understand why anyone would ever drive while intoxicated, and I know why it's not as heavily penalized as it should be: "I could be next" syndrome. @#$% that, I say. Easy for me to say, though, as I don't imbibe. Or drive much for that matter.

I just never bothered to get a licence - I'm teetotal anyway so drink and drugs aren't an issue. The joys of owning a bicycle and always having reasonable public transport.

That is the urban/suburban, black/white social dynamic in the Detroit, MI metropolitan area. YMMV.

I never got one but I deserved a few back in my younger days.

I'm not a drinker, so no DUI here. I bike for the fun & fitness of it (and to save a buck or two or twenty on gas).

I got a good lawyer instead, and used the opportunity to make a few lifestyle changes. In the long run it could turn out to be one of the best things that's happened to me.

Well, alcohol alters your judgment to begin with. I've driven home intoxicated (from a legal standpoint). That's something like 3 beers, I think. To be honest, I felt safer doing that than driving home tired. Irresponsible? Maybe. But it's not like everyone who is legally intoxicated mows down pedestrians or anything.

+1 to that.

Besides a few summer parties where I may indulge in 1 or 2 beers...I don't drink that much at all.

2 kids in diapers and a bipolar teenage stepson have a lot to do with it too. :D

No, I've never had a DUI. I currently have a valid license and I also own a car.

I commute by bike because I enjoy it, it's almost as fast as driving and I can easily ride through traffic jams, I get in a good workout, and I use no fossil fuels while biking to work.

I was talking to a friend who works as a court-appointed lawyer. His take is that the bike-bell law is a) racially enforced, since he's never seen it applied to a white client, and b) used almost exclusively for a probable-cause search. The documents he described to me usually have a number of pages covering the quantity of cocaine (for instance) or firearms or whatnot, and then a line down at the bottom explains that the cops pulled him over because he didn't have a bell on his bike. Likely he was pulled over because he looked suspicious to the cops, and part of that was likely racially motivated. The whole bell thing is a convenient way for the cops to stay legal.

Oh, and in the interests of staying on-topic, I've never had a DUI (another non-drinker, here), nor more than one ticket in the past ten years. I ride by choice, not legal constraint.

Just because you've never had a DUI doesn't mean you're not an alcoholic.

I can get an 18 pack into each side of my panniers. Living in PB you park your car on Friday night and don't touch it again until Monday morning because if you do you'll never find another parking spot close to your place.

Lotsa drinkers on bikes but that is the way it should be rather than behind the wheel. You gotta be HAMMERED to get a bike dui.

Of course, in America nearly everyone tall enough to reach the gas pedal owns a car or has one available to them. And one needed worry about riding their bike over tram tracks because we don't have trams.

Actually, those sound like some darn good reasons TO drink. :D

None here, but I've driven in the past when I shouldn't have. Not completely smashed, but buzzed enough I would have failed a test.

If you're looking at your bank account/debit card online Monday morning, and have no recollection of the transactions, you should not have been drinking. personal experience :)

No DUI, but like many, I damn well should have many times. Though I like to think I've known I was drunk, or at least legally drunk, and tried to be more careful. I have only been ****-faced a few times in my life, and the only time I can't remember driving home I was on a motorcycle.

Commuting by bike to save on gas and pants fabric.

Regarding the racial profiling & bikes thing: cops I've spoken to say they target, when they target, anyone who looks awkward on their bike. Seat not adjusted. Too pricey a bike, etc. My favorite thing is they get the person off the bike facing away from it and ask them what kind (brand) of bike it is. If they don't know without hesitation, they start looking at them as a bike thief.

Nope no DUI for me, don't really like the taste of alcohol, probably drink about a six pack a year. Although I bartended for ten years or so, I know I'm the cause of more than my share of DUI's.

Sometimes it takes a bad thing to start a good thing.

I began cycling when I was in junior high -- got thrown off the bus for fighting. My parents didn't want to reward bad behavior, so I had to bike the 7 miles each way. When the suspension was lifted 10 days later, I kept biking because it was faster. The way cycling works, the better you get, the more fun it is.

I don't drink. So no DUIs...

So, were you in better shape for your next fight? :p

Didn't really fight anymore after that. Cycling makes you spend much more time by yourself (i.e. no one to fight with) and I found that practically nothing bothers me after I've been out riding. :)

+1

I don't drink, so... no DUIs. ;)

I have a buddy in the same boat...
soon as the suspension was up he was back in the car :(