Don't drink and bike in Poland

[Blueberry]

The NC Law has caused quite a bit of debate. The general consensus seems to be, however, that you CAN get a DWI on a bike and that it will go against your license. It's not the wisest move IMO - but they didn't ask me

I really like the WA state statute. It makes sense - personally, I would rather people bike drunk than drive drunk.

[wackyjacky1]

I had a car in college, but I rode my bike everywhere. One of my favorite things to do was catch a nice beer buzz and ride home. *shrug*

Of course that was twenty-something years ago. A few weeks ago I had a couple of beers after work and rode home, and all I could think about was how badly I had to pee. Ah, youth.

[andtckrtoo]

In California, you can be arrested for drunk riding, but it's a $250 fine, a possible night in the drunk tank, and can go on your record, but it does not go against your license.

[Eden]

I was actually quite surprised to find out about the laws here in WA. I think the east coast, where I grew up is a bit less liberal about public intoxication - I'm pretty sure you can be arrested for something like "drunk and disorderly" - but not out here.

If you are wandering around completely messed up an officer can offer to take you home or somewhere safe, but if you say no they basically have to leave you alone. Unless you are breaking some other law or they think you are a danger to yourself they can't force you to do anything... if they do think you are putting yourself or other people in danger they can take you to the ER or to a drug/alcohol treatment facility, but not to jail... I now understand why I see "welfare checks" on the police scanner... if someone is lying out on the sidewalk (well usually in the grass strip) they go, wake them up, ask them if they are OK, but that's usually the extent of what happens....

[pll]

I was startled to read the BBC article linked by PamNY. An average sentence of close to a year of jail seems rather steep. The article seems to suggest that drunk cyclists are being treated just like drunk car drivers.

From the discussion that followed in this forum, it is interesting how heterogeneous, I would say eve capricious, the legislation regarding riding drunk is across states.

[smilingcat]

In California, you can be arrested for drunk riding, but it's a $250 fine, a possible night in the drunk tank, and can go on your record, but it does not go against your license.

I was told that if you were to blow by a stop sign, you would get a moving violation and it went on your driving record meaning against your driver's license. So drunk riding would be the same I thought...

I'm back in California for a while tending to my house down here. I should call my police chief here and ask him. I plan to be back in Oregon in about a week or so.

[andtckrtoo]

I was told that if you were to blow by a stop sign, you would get a moving violation and it went on your driving record meaning against your driver's license. So drunk riding would be the same I thought...

I'm back in California for a while tending to my house down here. I should call my police chief here and ask him. I plan to be back in Oregon in about a week or so.

Several sites stated the same thing. I think a moving violation is different. Leave it to California to be so odd.