When driving I follow the guideline that five miles per hour over the speed limit is generally safe, and more than ten miles over is asking for a ticket.
For those in the know, I’d like similar guidance on conducting myself in public after I’ve been drinking. I drink moderate amounts of alcohol, never to the point that I feel motor coordination deteriorating, but I’ve heard BAC levels go up faster than you feel. So I want to conduct myself as safe as possible when walking or bicycling home to avoid a police encounter.
Is it safe to assume a cop would avoid me if I’m walking or riding my bicycle in a safe manner, or is this even a risky assumption?
Riding a bicycle while drunk is a real dick move, never mind the legality. If someone hits you while you are on a bike, you can easily go through the windscreen and kill them. At the very least, they will have to live with the trauma of having killed you.
Drink driving is a really shitty thing to do, being caught by the cops is not the issue.
I have no idea what the answer is; I just want to clarify the question. Your specifying “in a safe manner” seemed a bit odd to me, because if the cop doesn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, then I presume he would have no reason at all to investigate you.
Therefore, I suppose that what you mean is “in a manner which is totally safe, and not at all reckless, but still somewhat goofy in the manner of intoxicated people.” And further, like the person who drives just a bit over the speed limit, you are asking how much goofiness (for lack of a better word) you can get away with without attracting the attention of the police.
Interesting point: is riding a bicycle drunk illegal? What would be the charge? I cannot imagine that it is a DUI/DWI since you are not operating a motor vehicle. There couldn’t be any legal linkage to one’s motor vehicle license, since not everyone has one.
So depends on your area.
However, the same logic applies as may apply with motor vehicles. With a bicycle you will need the same reaction times and clear thinking as with a car. The life you endanger is more likely to be just your own, but it is still dangerous.
As for “public intoxication”, unless you do something to draw attention to yourself (fall down, meader into traffic, yell incoherently, etc) usually the police will not bother you - meaning that the first time they realize you are drunk and a problem is when you go through someone’s windshield.
Those laws vary not only from state to state, but by county and even by town. In Montana, for example, you can lose your license and still be required to get daily Breathalyzer tests, even if you don’t have a car or license. You can get a DUI conviction for getting something out of your car in your own driveway while under the influence. In my town, you can be fined $500 for refusing a breath or blood test. Minors can be stopped on suspicion, and adults ticketed for public drunkenness.
Know the laws in your own area.
And, by the way, riding a bike drunk is a bad idea. You can end up under a car very fast!
Co-worker here in Germany just took a nasty spill riding his bicycle after too many. I don’t know the specifics of the German DUI/DWI laws, but my co-workers tell me his license is in jeopardy and that surely he will get a very hefty fine.
I really don’t think that’s the case… at least in the state where I live (Montana). How do I know that? They televise daily public service ads that show someone in a bar realizing they are too intoxicated to drive get picked up out front of the bar by their horse. If it was illegal to ride a horse drunk, I don’t think they would suggest it in these ads…
I know someone who got a DWI on an adult-sized tricycle. (human-powered) She had epilepsy, so rode that instead of a bike for safety resons, and couldn’t drive a car.
Well how do you think people get home from bars? Teleportation? They walk. Unless you’re causing a disturbance, the policy aren’t going to slow down alongside you with a breathalyzer and cuffs in hand. Behave and you’ll be fine.
How are they suggesting that? They way you describe it, the guy rides his horse there, and then realizes he is too drunk to ride back and so takes a cab. Am I misinterpreting?
Instead of riding the bike, how about just pushing it? That’s what you’re supposed to be doing anyway when using a crosswalk, and using the bike to prop yourself up should help to stabilize your drunken staggering.
In CA, it is illegal to ride a human powered bicycle drunk.
Public intoxication that will lead to custodial arrest is loosely defined as exhibiting external indicators of drunkeness (smelling of an alcoholic beverage or urine, bloodshot eyes, horizontal nystagmus, etc.) and being so drunk that you are physically incapable of taking care of yourself (unable to conduct yourself to a safe place and there is no one trustworthy and sober around to care for you). Don’t know how it’s handled outside of CA.
ETA: Basically, in my area, if you’re not acting like an ass or tripping over your own feet and you don’t look hinky or like a victim waiting to happen, no one in uniform is gonna bug you.
In the ads, the drunk is going home from the bar on horseback instead of driving. The horse is the “designated driver.” They’ve actually gotten a lot of grief for those ads, as climbing on back of a half-ton animal and riding down the street when you’re staggering drunk is pretty darned stupid.
Most of them, sure – I spend a lot of time in bars, both to socialize and as part of the “help.” I wouldn’t want most of those people driving, and for their own sake, primarily, they shouldn’t be riding a bike either. Of course, they do both, since most people are pretty stupid before they start to drink.
Agree with everyone who chided the OP for considering riding a bicycle – if a man rides a bike like that, without sobering up, he will die. Or hit his noggin.
For walking, in my municipality, public intoxication is legal, AFAIK. I’ve done it plenty, and still occasionally have a few too many drams, and still make it home on the bus, and down 300 vertical feet of unlit stairs to my apartment. Sheer practice – but one can still be surprised… The last time I was outright drunk, maybe 16 months ago or so, I managed to, after pissing myself, fall and slam my head into the pavement. Sometimes it might be groovier to take a cab, but experience should tell you most times when you can do and what.
