Drunk Biking
 

One thing about car free is when I have a few after work I don't worry about
the sobriety checkpoints. I just wave as I pedal past the cops giving the breathalyzer tests.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...ike-deaths/?hp

:thumb: I, also.

This study, which indicated that a detectable amount of alcohol was found in 21% of bicyclists involved in fatal accidents, would have more significance if there was some mention made of what percentage of all adults, or even NYC adult bicyclists who haven't been in fatal accidents, have some unspecified amount of alcohol in them during their waking hours.

The article was clear to indicate that the study drew no conclusion if the bicyclists' alcohol levels had any bearing on their accidents.

The article seems to prove that there's a lot of alcohol around.

However, I draw my own conclusions and try to avoid any alcohol when cycling.

I admit that I have ridden my bike after having a few drinks. I NEVER ride if I suspect that I would be over the legal limit to drive a car. Exercise has also been proven to help sober you up, not that I count on that effect. When I have been drinking and I need to get home WITH my bike for whatever reason I will always take the longer safer way home using MUPs or sidwalks. Usually if I have been drinking then its at nigth so the sidewalks are empty anyways and I ride very slow and double check when crossing streets. Be safe out here!

Guilty. Though I find biking and drinking seems to lower my tolerance.

I know people who have gotten dui's riding their bike.

Riding while drunk, if not totally impossible, is, at the very least, difficult and really inconvenient, and possibly very dangerous. The only upside, really, is that if you ride drunk, you might kill yourself, but probably not anyone else. Driving a car drunk is another matter.

That said, I admit I often frequent pubs by bike, mostly because, being car-free, there's no other way; it's also more fun that way. The trick is to stop before you're too impaired to ride effectively. For me, that's two beers, maybe three if I eat a lot at the same time.

A previous poster mentioned that riding sobers you up. I beg to differ. I don't allow this to happen to myself any more, but when I was younger, I noticed that when I drank a bit too much, but was not yet legally drunk, and got on the bike and hammered away, by the time I got home I was hammered, too. I think this happens because when you exert yourself you metabolize more alcohol more quickly, and it literally goes to your head.

I will point out again that the article cited by the OP never claimed nor even hinted that any of the fatally injured cyclists were riding while drunk.

I don't drink. I did have a friend lose a few teeth and get some stitches after running into a parked car while biking drunk

So why quote my statement? Your statement has zero relevance to mine.

I wasn't referring to the article. In my own experience, I discovered that, while riding drunk, I tended to fall down and run into things. Over time, I decided that I didn't really enjoy such experiences, and concluded that more moderate drinking was just as enjoyable and much more compatible with safe riding. The number of NYC cyclists who died with alcohol in their blood is not relevant to what I was saying.

BTW, the number of NYC cyclists who die in accidents seems kind of alarming to me. What's the deal with NYC?

The study was based on "225 bicyclists who died in fatal accidents during the 10-year time period, only 176 were tested for alcohol." So in a city with a population approaching 9 million, with an estimated 120,000 cyclists, an average of 25 die each year in cycling accidents.

More interesting is that other studies based on the same data have shown that more than 95% of these cyclists were male and riding without a helmet.

Because some posters have a Pavlovian response to the word "alcohol" in a message, thread or article, no matter what the context, and immediately start posting the usual blah-blah about the evils of being drunk, dui's, and the effects of intoxication.

People killed by drunk drivers in 2006: 13,491
People killed by drunk cyclists in 2006: 0
People killed by drunk drivers in 2007: 12,998
People killed by drunk cyclists in 2007: 0


Some numbers from the "comments" section...

Wow. When I was younger I would drink and get on the bike and get all excited at how cool it is to blow past cars and ride too fast for the conditions. The next day I'd reflect on how stupid that was. But I never drank and biked where I'd fall down and run into things. If you fall down its some feedback to keep you in line. If you've just had a few and you feel in control and strong and fast you start riding like some crazy messenger but without the skill. Am I the only one who has felt a burst of joyous biking energy while riding home after a few drinks with friends? It seems dangerous because I'd be riding much faster than normal and cutting things closer than normal yet the alcohol makes a persons reflexes slower than normal. At least we aren't driving a ton of steel when we pull a dumb move.

Last time I rode under the influence was the night before Inauguration. The traffic was bad so it was fun to ride past the cars. I had a few extra drinks because I had to get up the next morning to work the bike valet.

I used to ride pissed all the time. So far I have ended up in the hospital for 5 weeks, trashed many a rim, and hooked a parked cars mirror with my bull horn injuring myself. Probably taken 20 years off my life, now I'll only live 'till 280.

Thank god I am a quick learner, after 20 years of drunken biking I only do it occasionally now.

Can't find the link at the moment, it was on BBC. But in Poland you get hard time for riding a bike while drunk. Average sentence is about a year, seems their version of the DA convinced the judges that drunk cyclists deserved the same penalties as drunk drivers, rather than being treated like a normal public intoxication.

Aaron:)

Riding a bike drunk is great. One time I did fall when I crossed the street and turned sharply onto a campus sidewalk. Luckily it was 5am in the winter so I was fully padded and no one saw me :)

Then riding back from a party I passed a cop, going the opposite way, and being sorta paranoid I turned off into some alleys on the way back home in case the cop decided to turn around and follow me.

I don't think I've rode a bike when really drunk, mostly sorta buzzed/tipsy, then again I don't get really drunk very often.

link to the article about cycling and drinking in Poland...

What's going on in France...

lol. Yeah, you have to watch out where you bui. Davis CA hands out bui tickets like mad, and that goes on your driving record as a DUI!!!

(not that I have personal experience with this...)

Yeah Davis is well know for it.

Years ago when I lived in West Palm Beach Florida I did my fair share of biking under the influence as well as biking DRUNK. Luckily my watering hole was only a mile away and I never had to actually ride on the street. One thing that brings a big grin :D remembering those days was some of the bars I'd pass while riding around had more bikes parked out front than cars. DUI victims I suppose.

I've done it and I'll probably do it again, but I sure wouldn't advise it or justify it being a good idea

This is just odd that drunk cycling is considered just as bad as drunk driving. But should there be some kind of penalty? Maybe a different limit or just a public drunkeness citation similar to if you were walking drunk? If I were biking so erratically that I might hurt myself or someone, I'd want a cop to stop me. On the other hand, I don't need 11 months in the hoosegow to sober up, a few hours would do for me, thank you.

I don't get the strip search thing for the french woman either- maybe I had to be there.