We're Alcoholics on Bikes, Apparently

[kfergos]

The other day I was chatting with a guy as I got my bike ready for my ride home. I was in my bike clothes. He commented: "You know, when I see people on bikes in normal clothes, not wearing lycra, I always think they're alcoholics." I said something inane and escaped. ?!?!

So people, if you wear your jeans while riding, watch out -- apparently only alcoholics do that. Presumably because they don't have driver's licenses? Or can't afford a car?

[maillotpois]

Maybe because of license suspensions.

I think you can still get arrested for DUI on a bike....

[Blueberry]

Maybe because of license suspensions.

I think you can still get arrested for DUI on a bike....

Definitely true here - they just changed the law in January. Of course, the cops never enforce it. But they could.

CA

[Eden]

Maybe because of license suspensions.

I think you can still get arrested for DUI on a bike....

Depends on where you are - here in Seattle you can get arrested for public drunkenness and have your bike confiscated (you get it back without penalty when you are sober), but you cannot get a DUI for cycling while intoxicated

[OakLeaf]

Hm. I thought in most states a bicycle was considered a vehicle for DUI purposes.

Now that I just looked it up to confirm, here's an interesting quirk in Ohio law. If the wheels are smaller than 14", it's not considered a bicycle, and it's specifically excluded from the vehicle laws.

Folding bikes and margaritas for everyone!

(there were definitely times when I was in school that I probably should've been arrested for DUI bicycle... and am lucky to have survived those times)

[mupedalpusher]

My nephew recently told me that they have a lot of dewey-cycles (dui-cycles) at Purdue. I had never heard it called that and found it incredibly funny. I see some on my commute that I have suspected might be deweys.

[Beane]

So if you get your driver's license taken away for driving drunk, what do they take away when you get a biking while intoxicated (BWI) ticket?

do they (gasp!) confiscate your bike? or just give you a hefty fine?

[shootingstar]

Then a ton of people who cycle in Europe wearing ordinary clothes must be abit boozed. Over there, it's less cycling folks in cycling lycra and helmets.

[SouthernBelle]

In most states in the US, conviction of DUI is an automatic loss of license. Thus you see a lot of people on bikes who are doing so for that reason. There are people who I see on bikes who I know are riding them for that exact reason.

There are others I wonder about.

[alpinerabbit]

There will be a day when this guy is wrong, when loads of people ride. Just think 10$ per gallon.

[mimitabby]

I think generalizing that they are drunks because they wearing jeans and not lycra is pretty weak.
The drunks on bikes that i have seen generally look like they've lived a very hard life. the jeans are just a very small detail.
They're easy to pick out, a lot of times they are smoking a cigarette as they go down the road, or they are riding in the rain wearing a jeans jacket and getting drenched. You know they are not pleasure riders who would either stay home in that kind of weather or would have wet weather gear.


they also generally ride without helmets and lights and wear dark clothing. They are who i consider the invisible bicyclists because they are part of the bicycling population but they have no voice.

[GLC1968]

they also generally ride without helmets and lights and wear dark clothing. They are who i consider the invisible bicyclists because they are part of the bicycling population but they have no voice.

I've also noticed that they tend to be on bikes that don't fit or they are riding with the seat way too low.


I commute in regular clothes, but I also always wear a helmet or my 'fancy' showers pass jacket to hopefully discourge the image that I'm doing this as the result of a DUI.

I agree that the general image is going to change as more and more people are deciding to bike to work due to rising gas prices.

[coyote]

Most alcholics I know wouldn't let a little thing like not having a license stop them from driving a car.

[Irulan]

you don't know any sober alcoholics?

[coyote]

you don't know any sober alcoholics?

Depends on what time of day as to whether they are sober or not