Sacramento Capitol
The Sacramento Bee has published at least three recent articles citing an increase of drunken driving arrests during city DUI operations. The reference to driving under the influence was broadly defined.
In one recent DUI operation in Sacramento County, the initial story reported seven of 57 arrested were riding bicycles.
The newspaper didn't initially report the penalty for being arrested while pedaling drunk. But in in follow-up report, Tony Bizjak, a veteran cyclist and author of the newspaper's weekly column, Back-Seat Driver, detailed the fines and penalties for cycling under the influence. The cost could be as high as $570.
Of course, the penalty could be more severe if the drunken cyclist hits something or someone or is hit by a motorist.
In the newspaper's report, a California Highway Patrol spokesperson said:
"California Highway Patrol officers pulled over cyclists who were riding erratically in – and across – traffic. One cyclist determined to be under the influence was hit by a car and seriously injured . . . "
Bizjak reported:
"The arrests reflect what some say is the downside of a growing lifestyle trend in the region's urban areas, such as midtown Sacramento, where more bike racks are going up in front of restaurants and bars, and more people are joining organized pedaling pub crawls and grub crawls."
According to the report, Sacramento city police have arrested four cyclists this year for riding under the influence. Last year, there were 15 arrests for the same offense.
To read the complete article, visit: Bicycling Drunk
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Comments
There are many sober cyclists who deserve tickets...riding under the influence of stupidity.
Number of people killed by drunk drivers in the US, 2008: More than 17,000. Number of people killed by people on bicycles, drunk or sober including the people killed by cars while riding bicycles: about 700. Drunk cycling creates no more danger to the populace than drunk walking, but being drunk behind the controls of a WMD disguised as transportation kills thousands every year.
Driving deaths are drastically down because of the economy, almost 10% down with only about 36,000 deaths, but cycling deaths by motor vehicle is almost the same year after year. This past year was slightly under 700, the previous year was slightly over, and all the years before that were about the same as far back as 1999. But deaths of people in motor vehicles has been making a steady decline since crash testing and standards were introduced in the late 1960s. Drivers haven't gotten any better at avoiding crashes, cars have gotten better at mitigating the consequences of being stupid.
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