Drinking and Cycling

Paul Kiernan

Can you be breathalysed while cycling?

Can your drivers license be affected by drinking while cycling i.e. as it can for breaking red lights, etc.?

ThisRegard

Not sure, but I do know you can wake up in bed on a different day with a brain injury, as happened to a guy I know.

Dermot Illogical

Yes. AFAIK you can lose your entitlement to hold a driving license for being drunk while cycling in a public place.

Karagesh

In the UK they don't even have to test you iirc. If in their opinion, if your not fit to be in charge of a bicycle, your nicked.

langdang

Yes I think there is provision for it, heard (from a garda) of it being applied - but I'd say you have to be asking for it...

blorg

It is illegal to be drunk to "to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the ... cycle." Note this is likely to allow a higher amount of drink than a driver of a car where a (quite low) BAC is set in the legislation. AFAIK it is up to the arresting Garda to make a determination and be ready to testify in court that the rider was so incapable; there is no provision for breathalysing which only applies to drivers of a mechanically propelled vehicle.

As far as I know there is no specific link to your driving license. A bicycle is a "vehicle" in Irish law and I think the prohibition on breaking red lights applies to all "vehicles" rather than being dealt with seperately for each class... so any penalties could therefore apply to cyclists. I think there has only ever been one such case of a cyclist losing their (non-existent) license over red light jumping.

The prohibion on being drunk on a bike is however specifically dealt with and is seperate from the offence of being drunk in charge of a motor vehicle. This would suggest to me it cannot affect your driving license, but IANAL.

Road Traffic Act 2010 wrote:

6.— (1) A person shall not, in a public place—

(a) drive or attempt to drive, or be in charge of, an animal-drawn vehicle, or

(b) drive or attempt to drive a pedal cycle,

while he or she is under the influence of an intoxicant to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the vehicle or cycle.

(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and—

(a) if the offence relates to an animal-drawn vehicle, he or she is liable on summary conviction—

(i) in the case of a first offence, to a fine not exceeding €3,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 month or to both, and

(ii) in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both,

or

(b) if the offence relates to a pedal cycle, he or she is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €2,000.

(3) A person liable to be charged with an offence under this section shall not, by reference to the same occurrence, be liable to be charged under section 12 of the Licensing Act 1872 with the offence of being drunk while in charge, on a highway or other public place, of a carriage.

(4) Where a member of the Garda Síochána is of opinion that a person is committing or has committed an offence under this section, he or she may arrest the person without warrant.

TheBlaaMan

Do you REALLY have to ask.........its a pretty stupid question (IMO)

Morgan

Paul Kiernan wrote: »

Can you be breathalysed while cycling

No, usually you'd have to stop.

C3PO

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Do you REALLY have to ask.........its a pretty stupid question (IMO)

I don't think it's a stupid question at all! I know I'm very surprised to hear that I could lose my driving licence for being "over the limit" on a push bike! I know plenty of people who ride to the pub during summer months and cycle home after having 2-3 pints who would never consider taking their car and doing the same!

Paul Kiernan

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Do you REALLY have to ask.........its a pretty stupid question (IMO)

I agree, it's a stupid thing to do. I don't see what's stupid in wanting to know the legal position and possible (legal) consequences.

Thanks to everyone who replied, esp. Blorg for his detailed reply and legislative excerpt. I will be forwarding this to my mate who is cycling to the pub tomorrow night. I am getting a lift there and back by my very generous OH:).

daveyeh

RPL1 wrote: »

I don't think it's a stupid question at all! I know I'm very surprised to hear that I could lose my driving licence for being "over the limit" on a push bike! I know plenty of people who ride to the pub during summer months and cycle home after having 2-3 pints who would never consider taking their car and doing the same!

It is a stupid question. These 'people you know' are stupid too.

Lumen

Cycling stupidity is of a different (lower) order of magnitude to driving stupidity, because (unless you're palping a tandem or carrying small children) you are extremely unlikely on a bike to hurt anyone but yourself.

Rules and regulations mostly exist to protect people from each other, not from themselves.

Paul Kiernan

RPL1 wrote: »

I don't think it's a stupid question at all! I know I'm very surprised to hear that I could lose my driving licence for being "over the limit" on a push bike! I know plenty of people who ride to the pub during summer months and cycle home after having 2-3 pints who would never consider taking their car and doing the same!

I think Blorg's point is that these people would not be considered drunk as the driving BAC is not applied. Also, it would not appear to be an offence which can affect your driving license.

C3PO

daveyeh wrote: »

It is a stupid question. These 'people you know' are stupid too.

Welcome to the forum ..... I hope some of the other 11 posts that you've made since you joined Boards, 24 hours ago, are more helpful!

ednwireland

just dont drink and cycle, its dumb

and ive never understood why people think its ok

Stephen_C

Must remember not to drink and walk too, it's so dangerous, people must be stupid to do it.

Think a bit of common sense is needed

daveyeh

RPL1 wrote: »

Welcome to the forum ..... I hope some of the other 11 posts that you've made since you joined Boards, 24 hours ago, are more helpful!

Whats that got to do with anything?

Boozed up cycling is dumb. Get over it. :rolleyes:

TheBlaaMan

Stephen_C wrote: »

Think a bit of common sense is needed

At least we can all agree on that - the problem is in its definition: cycling while potentially inebriate = not very sensible, and not only in terms of the risk of harming yourself, anyone using a public road while pissed is a danger to others by virtue of their potential bahaviour.

Beasty

OK guys - let's calm down a bit

It's a perfectly reasonable question to ask (ie asking for clarification on the law, not whether it's sensible to cycle when drunk), so let's discuss it like adults

Thanks

Beasty

cdaly_

blorg wrote: »

It is illegal to be drunk to "to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the ... cycle." Note this is likely to allow a higher amount of drink than a driver of a car where a (quite low) BAC is set in the legislation. AFAIK it is up to the arresting Garda to make a determination and be ready to testify in court that the rider was so incapable; there is no provision for breathalysing which only applies to drivers of a mechanically propelled vehicle.

Road Traffic Act 2010 wrote:

6.— (1) A person shall not, in a public place—

(a) drive or attempt to drive, or be in charge of, an animal-drawn vehicle, or

So, if you drunkenly crawl into the back of your horse-drawn trap and fall asleep while the horse walks home could you argue to the judge that it was the horse rather than you who was in charge of the animal-drawn vehicle?...

daveyeh

cdaly_ wrote: »

So, if you drunkenly crawl into the back of your horse-drawn trap and fall asleep while the horse walks home could you argue to the judge that it was the horse rather than you who was in charge of the animal-drawn vehicle?...

Haha! I really, really hope so.

studiorat

So hands-up who's never cycled a bike after a few drinks:D

daveyeh

studiorat wrote: »

So hands-up who's never cycled a bike after a few drinks:D

--- silence ---

Beasty

studiorat wrote: »

So hands-up who's never cycled a bike after a few drinks:D

Meeee (oooowwww)

ednwireland

dont think i have

(in the uk i lived walking distance to town)

here i would drive an leave the car and taxi home

studiorat

so you won't be needing one of these :



I'm sure a swig of Cognac and Benedictine wouldn't have gone amiss with our forefathers as they climbed the Col de Tourmalet:



A little alcohol increases strength and stamina. I'm wondering is it a banned substance in competitive cycling?

blorg

I think alcohol used be banned in cycling all right but it is no longer. WADA's task is to ban substances that are performance enhancing and there is plenty of research showing that alcohol only degrades performance, even if it sometimes may feel otherwise.

It is currently banned only in competition in a very small number of sports, often for understandable reasons: motorsports, aeronautics, archery, karate and... ten pin bowling. The list gets shorter every year.

gman2k

Lumen wrote: »

Rules and regulations mostly exist to protect people from each other, not from themselves.

Another exception is the seatbelt law....which is only to protect yourself, and failure to comply results in penalty points and fines.

ktz84

gman2k wrote: »

Another exception is the seatbelt law....which is only to protect yourself, and failure to comply results in penalty points and fines.

It doesn't only protect the individual as a person not wearing a seatbelt can kill or seriously injure their fellow passengers if they get thrown into them by the force of the crash.

Black Bloc

Alcohol,..., raised heart rate, slowed reaction times, unsteady balance,... and throw in trying to cycle for good measure ...

... and in cleats. A recipe for disaster.

studiorat

I must say it's interesting how many opinions automatically equate drinking with being buckled (pun intended).

Assuming that drinking equals drinking to excess seems to be the gist the thread. Over the last few weeks myself and mrs. rat have cycled to friends houses, had dinner and/or a few drinks and cycled home at one or two in the morning no problems at all.

Going on the piss is a different matter completely, but I certainly don't think that being over the limit to drive a car makes you incapable of safely cycling.

Wouldn't bring the bike into town though, for fear of it being robbed or crashing into drunken pedestrians.

langdang

I'm with you on this one studiorat... what's the harm in a few civilised pints and a pootle home?

seamus

studiorat wrote: »

Going on the piss is a different matter completely, but I certainly don't think that being over the limit to drive a car makes you incapable of safely cycling.

I agree on principle, but if you ever actually gets your hands on a working breathalyser, give it a go some night that you're drinking. At the upper limit of 0.08% you'll find that you're surprisingly pissed, in my experience it's well past the point that I would consider getting behind the wheel. A bottle of beer or an hour after one pint is about as far as I've ever pushed it, though I generally just avoid drinking if I know I'm going to be driving.

Cycling at 0.1% BAC or even 0.08% is getting to the point of riskiness, even though for the latter you're technically legal behind the wheel.

There's also a big difference between 0.08% that night and 0.08% the next morning. The former is made worse by an increase in confidence and loss of inhibitions, and the latter is made worse by a decrease in confidence and massive drop in reaction times (cos you're knackered).

tomasrojo

What about having half a pint of normal-strength beer and then cycling home? You shouldn't cycle when you're drunk, but I'm not sure when you start being "drunk". Two pints drunk over five hours probably doesn't leave an adult male drunk.

tomasrojo

It's a funny thing. I have friends who regard cycling as dangerous, but at the same time seem surprised that I only have one pint when I've cycled to the pub. Apparently I should throw being drunk into the mix of this "dangerous" activity, because, hey, I'm not driving.

Lumen

tomasrojo

0.08% seems to be an inflection point, so I assume that's why it was chosen as the legal limit for driving here.

Good table showing what level you are at after various numbers of drinks here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_alcohol_content