Should cyclists be subject to the same drink laws as drivers when on the roads?

[Linford]

Has anyone stopped to consider how much a fatal RTA costs the people who are left behind ?
If you are over the limit to drive, you should be pushing it on the pavement.

 

[Linford]

Arbitrary limits, you know like for how fast you can go.

2 pints or a couple of glasses of red is right on top of the limit for the majority of people. That is a fairly easy guide to follow.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

The breathalyser law came in in 1967. In that year there were around 6000 deaths on our roads. That's just deaths, there were many more life changing injuries. Drink was a factor in (random but roughly plausible figure) 40% of those collisions.

Where's the evidence of drunk cyclists causing that sort of mayhem?

I'm not saying it's impossible for the odd drunk cyclist to cause a problem but the problem is some orders of magnitude below that requiring the sort of intervention you propose.

just checking, is your opinion really based on nearly 47 year old figures with an element added in that you've to all intents and purposes made up & a belief that the modal share of cycling and driving is equal?

 

[Glow worm]

2 pints or a couple of glasses of red is right on top of the limit for the majority of people. That is a fairly easy guide to follow.

A guide for you perhaps. And you can keep it.

 

[Linford]

Your gift for missing the point remains intact then. In a thread about 20mph speed limits you express doubts about blanket limits. In a thread about blood alcohol limits you express support for them.

Eh...exceeding a speed limit doesn't impair the ability to make informed or rational judgments on hazards as they present.. but getting half cut certainly does.

You have a very strange world view Adrian

 

[Linford]

You continue to miss the point. Your argument against the speed limit was that it is blanket, yet you support a blanket limit for alcohol level. It is the blanket thing.
That aside, your comparison is nonsensical though. No one is suggesting that exceeding a speed limit impairs judgement.

You would struggle to get a conviction against a sober driver who ran over someone who was half cut on their pub bike if they were reportedly riding in a manner which was questionable. It wouldn't get any further than the inquest once they read out the toxicology report.

 

[Linford]

It isn't the speed limits which is the problem........

 

[Linford]

Speed limits are not relevant to this subject. It is only your rejection of a blanket limit in one circumstance and promoting one here that is almost of interest.

Why not extend the blanket 20mph limits to motorways passing through cities whilst about it ?

 

[Linford]

Irrelevant

Or even dual carriageways ?
I think you are totally missing something here. Those who are already ignoring the 30's will also ignore the 20's. The roads won't be any safer....especially when people with you arrogant attitude would want to encourage vehicle users to mix it up when half cut.

Over 20% of cyclists whose deaths were recorded in this study had alcohol in their system.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/study-links-alcohol-and-bike-deaths/?_r=1

It's almost like you want cyclists to be be more vulnerable than we need be to prove that accidents should always be blamed on other road users.

How about this. You are sober and cycling past a t junction, someone half cut comes flying out of it and forces you into the path of an oncoming car which you connect with and get some serious injuries....who would you seek to recover loss of earnings damage to your bike etc from ?

 

[Dan B]

Has anyone stopped to consider how much a fatal RTA costs the people who are left behind ?
If you are over the limit to drive, you should be pushing it on the pavement.

No thank you. Pavements are cluttered enough already without drunken drivers pushing their mobile death greenhouses around them

 

[Linford]

No thank you. Pavements are cluttered enough already without drunken drivers pushing their mobile death greenhouses around them

Mobile death greenhouse ... at this point people stop taking you seriously

 

[Bromptonaut]

just checking, is your opinion really based on nearly 47 year old figures with an element added in that you've to all intents and purposes made up & a belief that the modal share of cycling and driving is equal?

I'm simply making the point that blood/breath alcohol limits for driving were a response to a real and present problem impacting thousands of lives. The correct figure for 1966 is 8,000 dead. Given how the numbers fell post 67 I doubt 40% is an overestimate for those that involved drink.

Even correcting for modal share there is no evidence that drink cycling is an issue that needs new laws.

 

[steveindenmark]

I am surprised that this has gone on for 11 pages I have trouble staying on a bike sober never mind trying it when I'm legless.

The law is pretty clear regarding bikes and drinking. I cannot see why the same rules dont apply to cyclists. Admittedly, a collision with a cyclists and pedestrian do not often have the same impact as a car and a pedestrian, but it has in the past and I am sure, will do again.

When a cyclist goes out with the idea of going out for a few beers and then riding home, they know at the outset that they are not going to be in a fit state to control the bike as it would be normally. All it needs is for them to wobble or swerve and then a car to take action to avoid them and then disaster could strike without the bike hitting anything at all.

I am not going to try to justify drinking and riding a bike just because I am a cyclist. If you want to go out on the beer, get a lift, walk, use a taxi or a bus.

Otherwise if you get caught, dont cry about it. You know the consequences.

Steve

 

[Linford]

Shame it doesn't give any detail on the amount, which would be roughly what we are discussing

80 mg to 100ml is the current limit... i think it should be lower. Come on up to chelt and do my regular circuit onto the surrounding hills. We can swing by a pub up that way whilst there, you can have 4 pints and then follow me back down the hill (no lid of course )...my best so far on strava is 49.4mph...of course you'd be fine, alcohol doesn't affect you like the rest of the polulation...

 

[snorri]

d then follow me back down the hill (no lid of course )...my best so far on strava is 49.4mph......

I'm a safer cyclist when drunk than you are when sober.