Should it be illegal in Minnesota to ride a bike while intoxicated?
Posted at 5:00 AM on September 7, 2011
by Eric Ringham
(54 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Transportation
Although Minnesota has a reputation for stiff penalties against drunken driving, state law addresses only the operation of a motor vehicle - not a bicycle. Today's Question: Should it be illegal in Minnesota to ride a bike while intoxicated?
Comments (54)
@ GregX
Yes ... after we arrest all of the non-smokers throwing fast-food trash, empty water bottles, pop cans, empty beer cases, coffee cups, lids, straws out of moving vehicles.
How would you enforce it? Suspend the offender's bicycle license? Unless you want to go down that road of requirig a bicycle operator's licence similar to a motor vehicle license, treating bike riding as a "privilege", requiring cyclists of all ages to carry insurance, and so forth, then the simple answer is "no."
It is currently illegal to operate a bicycle while intoxicated. Check out the rules of the road, specifically MN statute 169.222 subd 1. "Traffic laws apply. Every person
operating a bicycle shall have all of the rights and duties
applicable to the driver of any other vehicle by this chapter,
except in respect to those provisions in this chapter relating
expressly to bicycles and in respect to those provisions of this
chapter which by their nature cannot reasonably be applied to bicycles."
This whole thread is moot.
Only in Minneapolis, or other cities, with city bike coordinators.
Yes ... after we arrest all of the litterers throwing cigarette butts out of moving vehicles.
I have gone to the bar on my bicycle and had drinks. I follow traffic laws and ride on the bike path when it is available. I wear a helmet. I have not had an accident. Other cyclists are very friendly and are generally friendly. When I drive my car, I encounter offensive and dangerious behavior. Many people in rush hour are angry/anxious/frustrated...etc. If you ask me, it would do society some good to get on their bicycle, have some drinks, and ride around. It is liberating. Plus, really it is a bicycle not a metal missile like a car. Ride a bike, its freeing and it makes you happy.
"First of all, I am not Raul; however, I did back him up one day when i felt that Steve the Cynic was picking on him, because that is what I do."
First of all, Lucy, I never seriously thought you and Raul/Raoul/Roul were one and the same. Folks like Raul/Raoul/Roul have a right to their ridiculous extremist opinions and to spew them on pages such as this. And I have an equal right to call them ridiculous and ridicule them. (Besides, I suspect Raul/Raoul/Roul secretly enjoys being ridiculed, as it would feed his martyr complex.)
an article appropriately written by the HUFFINGTON POST:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/13/drunk-bicyclists-5-bicycl_n_808681.html
although this is LA.
Yes because they can run into a car or run into a pedestrian. Good luck, however, getting the police to pull cyclists over. Since cars are the number one vehicle of choice for most Americans, the police devote their energy there, and the cyclists know it.
We should be doing everything possible to promote bicycle use not hinder it. Obviously there is more risk to a biker riding under the infuence but a bike weighs 30lbs and a car weighs 2 tons. There's a huge difference in the level of danger. Any argument against biking under the influence could just as easily be applied to pedestrians.
@ lucy, in the scheme of things this entire thread is silly. As if the police have time to worry about this as an issue. Nationally over 600 people died last year in bicycle accidents, nearly all of them being hit by a car, none of them pedestrians that were hit by a bicycle. Of those 25% involved alcohol, nearly all the driver of the car.
As an alternative mode of transportation we really should be discussing how to improve the safety of cyclists.
Judging by the way I see cyclists blow through stop signs and red lights I always assumed it was mandatory that they ride intoxicated. I realize that's not the case, but there are many cyclists who act as though the traffic laws don't apply to them.
I bike specifically to avoid driving drunk. 3-4 drinks will definitely put a 150lb person like me over the limit to drive a car. The network of bike trails in the Twin Cities is generally good enough to keep intoxicated cyclists off the roads. I can get to Minneapolis or St. Paul from my house in Burnsville largely on paved bike paths. If I can stand straight, I'm sober enough to ride a bike.
@ lucy, the reason there are lawfirms specializing in bicycle accidents is because people in cars hit them, all the time!
Posted by Bill
well bill,
I can only imagine that drinking alcohol and operating a bicycle would increase this law firms business.
My comment and posting of that site was aimed at J's sweeping statement "... plus bikes rarely (if ever) kill anyone if they crash while cars do."
And as Mary commented I thought that bicycling while intoxicated was already illegal.
As with most anything else, before deciding if it should be illegal or not, let's first determine for certain IF there really is a problem! How many people actually are riding bicycles while drunk? If this is actually happening, what are the consequences? Are they causing car-bike crashes as seems to be the assumption? Or are they just smashing themselves into lamp posts and causing no one but themselves any harm?
There is definitely a difference b/t a drunk bicyclist and a drunk driver. The drunk driver is operating a piece of machinery that can kill another person with great ease; the drunk bicyclist is not. At worst, the drunk bicyclist is causing road havoc - but then so can a drunk pedestrian, or a drunk guy on a skate board or roller skates...
With that in mind, I'd need to see some really hard evidence that this behavior is a) common enough to warrant legislation and b) seriously dangerous to the public (rather than just to the individual involved) before agreeing that it should be illegal.
Nevertheless, I totally agree that bikers should obey all relevant traffic laws - just as drivers and pedestrians should.
@ lucy, the reason there are lawfirms specializing in bicycle accidents is because people in cars hit them, all the time!
Yes, it should be considered illegal to do so. I live in Minneapolis, and the vast majority of urban bicyclists don't obey the laws of traffic (driving between lanes of stopped traffic, running red lights, switching between streets and sidewalks, not gesturing turns, etc.). The double standard of vehicular conduct that bicyclists seem to enjoy creates confusion on the road, making these particular bicyclists menaces to the safety of pedestrians, buses, truckers and automobile drivers (not to mention themselves) under the best of circumstances. While this probably has a lot to do with many new bicycle riders just not knowing what they can and can't do legally on public streets (inadequate urban planning not withstanding), I can't imagine this problem behavior is improved by any of these riders having more than the legal limit of alcohol in their systems; it certainly doesn't make automobile users safer drivers...
@ david-
First of all, I am not Raul; however, I did back him up one day when i felt that Steve the Cynic was picking on him, because that is what I do.
Secondly, if you look at J's post, he is claiming that people on bikes do not hurt anyone else or kill anyone else (or themselves). There are plenty of stories that I can go surf the web for reporting deaths on SOBER bicyclists, let alone ones who are drunk.
The point of me posting that link was to show that accidents happen with bicyclists there is a law firm that advertises that they handle these kinds of accidents. So bicycle accidents must happen then, right?
Lastly, can you imagine attempting to balance, maintain control of yourself and your surroundings after having a few?
People on bicycles should be held responsible just as people behind the wheel of a car.
Go pick a fight with somebody else.
David it looks like you could use some comprehensive reading skills.
Laws are intended to protect the well being of the general public, not to protect people from injuring themselves. When a person drives a motor vehicle at above the legal BAC limit, he/she endangers the general public. When a person gets on a bicycle after drinking, they are endangering themselves. It should not be illegal to bicycle drunk. The public intoxication charges should be enough punishment for problem drunk bicyclists.
In Minnesota , it has to be a motorized vehicle to be charged with DWI. It doesn't seem worth it to change the law. A bicycle driver could be charged with other things if there is a problem, i.e., public intoxication, destruction of property, etc. There are enough cars to pull off the road for drinking without looking for others.
Absolutely not. I agree with the person who stated this is a solution in search of a problem. Let's concentrate on solving the drunk driving of motor vehicles problem before worrying about bikes.
What problem would this action be intended to address?
sounds like another pointless activity designed to allow legislators to continue to avoid doing their work.
Those "sources" require sources, without that they are pure rhetoric and propaganda.
Mary - [It is already illegal to ride a bike intoxicated in Minnesota. Under the statute 169.011 sub 92.] *** Here is what that statute says: (Subd. 92.Vehicle."Vehicle" means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.) It mentions nothing about riding a bicycle intoxicated. Take a look at this statute: (169A.20 DRIVING WHILE IMPAIRED. Subdivision 1.Driving while impaired crime; motor vehicle.) Notice how the statute clearly uses the word motor, so yes a bicycle is a vehicle but it is not covered in the driving while impaired statute (169A.20) since a bicycle does not have a motor.
"@lucy, roul, what ever you name is,
I rarely look at the URLs you post"
Gosh, I really hate it when people provide sources and backup to their arguments! Ha ha
To clairify, you have to look at the definition of a vehicle. A bicycle is a vehicle, thus it's illegal to operate a bicycle under the influence.
It is already illegal to ride a bike intoxicated in Minnesota. Under the statute 169.011 sub 92.
Naturally, most ride a bike BECAUSE of a DWI.
Naturally, DWI offenders continue to offend.
Naturally, when bike riders are expected to signal turns, stop at stop signs, travel with trafic on roadways- not sidewalks- they may want to be sober during that ride.
Glenn
It's a solution in search of a problem, like voter ID.
This thread strikes me as relevant/interesting:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/news_cut/archive/2011/06/drunk_man_on_a_scooter_cant_be.shtml
Apparently even a rollerblader can get a DUI if intoxicated on the the road.
Let's go one step further. Make walking while intoxicated illegal. Let's make doing everything intoxicated illegal. Let's make just BEING intoxicated illegal. Oh wait, we already tried that and it didn't work.
To those who equate a 30 lb man-powered bicycle with a two ton engine-powered vehicle you must be... intoxicated.
Why in this state do we keep trying to make EVERYTHING illegal?? It's getting to be like Red China around here. Instead let's start saving money, time and resources and start legalizing instead. And we can begin with fireworks, marijuana and liquor sales on Sunday.
Anybody who is capable of operating a bicycle while intoxicated should be taken into custody, but only so that we may study their inhuman balance.
@lucy, roul, what ever you name is,
I rarely look at the URLs you post, as I have no time for right wing propaganda. But his time you didn't even read it. That ambulance chaser's website is aimed at bicyclist injured after being in an accident with a car, and has nothing to do with the bicyclist being at fault.
No, but any car driver that hits a drunk biker should not get into trouble.
//The cops have more important things to worry about ... plus bikes rarely (if ever) kill anyone if they crash while cars do.
really. ?
I wonder how these people stay in business then.
http://www.hallinjurylaw.com/pa/bicycle.html
Actually, no. I don't want motorists to regard me as their equal. I do my thing, you do yours which is speeding, texting, rolling stop signs, failing to yield to people in cross walks, passing on the right, riding people's bumpers, driving aggressively, etc.
As far as biking intoxicated, once a cyclist kills a person while biking like vehicle drivers do on a daily basis then we should make it illegal.
Yes. The only time I was ever injured in an accident was when I had drunk several glasses of wine, and went for a spin on my bicycle. (It was a long time ago - me and the curb). The same concerns are in play: Reaction time, decisions making, others on the road, etc.
It should not be illegal to ride a bike while intoxicated. There are plenty of other laws that could be used to get a problem biker off the road, such as public intoxication. What's next, will it be illegal to canoe in the boundary waters after a couple of drinks or will it be illegal to simply walk down the street after having a few beers? This type of law would just allow government to further invade our lives and it would take away law enforcement's ability to make common sense decisions since the biker is either above or below the legal limit and if that biker is over the limit the officer will have to take their bike and the biker will face thousands of dollars in legal fees, plus possible restrictions on their driver's license. If laws like this one are passed get ready for more and more laws very similar to this one; pretty soon a cop will give you a breathlyser on your walk home from the bar and you'll have to spend a night in jail, have your shoes confiscated and end up with a restriction on your drivers license.
Yes.
It's hard enough at times sharing the road with a sober cyclist.
Public intoxication with any vehicle should be outlawed.
When I worked in north Minneapolis, I would see all the bikes parked outside Stand Up Franks. I was very careful of the people riding bikes in that neighborhood.
The cops have more important things to worry about ... plus bikes rarely (if ever) kill anyone if they crash while cars do.
No, but the bikers should be held responsible for any damage they do and it should be taken into consideration if there is an accident and a blood alcohol could taken of the rider as well as the driver. I am more concerned with bikers running lights and stop signs and failing to stay to the right.
Short answer no, public intoxication laws should cover this issue just fine. And no they shouldn't get a DUI for drinking on motorized wheelchair either.
Hmm...we have a lot of other MUCH more pressing issues to deal with right now...namely the STATE BUDGET. Unless of course, making it illegal to ride a bike while intoxicated would then allow tickets to be given, which then increases the revenue stream for the State....maybe now I see where this is going....
There are already several laws for this, "Public Intoxication" comes to mind. I also wonder about the impetus for this question. Have we had a rash of DWB's causing danger to society? Is someone looking for a way to justify expanding their police budget and get a bunch of fancy new gear and training in Hawaii?
Are we contemplating the advisability of those pedal bars where the patrons drink and pedal the bar along the street? Lol. I once read that drunk walking was more dangerous to the drunkard than drunk driving. I suspect it is the same with biking - you're so less likely to damage anyone but yourself. On the other hand, when cyclists who are impaired disrupt traffic, or cause drivers to take risks to try not to harm them, they can cause dangerous situations, so I suppose there's a reason for a deterrent.
@Kurt: Looks like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bitch pod this morning.
@Zeke: I have very rarely seen a cyclist wait through a red light. When the traffic thins, they always motor on through the intersection.
But I support bicyclists' right to use the streets. Streets ought to be for people, not for cars. And while it annoys the bejeezus out of me every time I see a bike playing fast & loose with traffic ordinances, I've never seen a single accident caused by this activity.
I used to bicycle up to the bar, and then ride home, never had any issues.
I calculated I'd get about 70mpg on my bicycle fueled by a good beer, and was generally sober much faster since I was burning calories.
And there are laws that already cover the act of riding drunk.... they tag you as "drunk and disorderly" instead of a DUI...
sounds like a solution with out a problem.
If debating this question keeps the Legislature too busy to work on a Vikings stadium bill, I'm all for having the debate.
Who cares. Is there all the sudden a problem of hundreds of drunk bicyclist on the road?
And chill Kurt, those big bad mean bicyclist are not hurting you any. You are just one of those road ragey, me first drivers. Not a one of them is making you late for work.
Kurt,
I've ridden my bike over 3800 miles this summer.
Not once while drunk. Dehydrated maybe..
The folks that I ride with always obey the traffic laws. As the vast majority of bicycle enthusiasts do. As opposed to the automobiles that run red lights, use their cell phone or text while driving. Autos that can't seem to make up their mind whether they like driving on the shoulder or in their own lane. Then you have the folks that drive along side and scream at you for riding in a bike lane instead of on a sidewalk.
There are always a few knuckleheads Kurt. But the ones who drive auto's have the ability to do serious damage and or injury to just about anyone......
Yes, it should be illegal. If a drunk automobile driver can lose control and run into someone, why would it be any different for a drunk bicycle driver? Of course, if a bicyclist were drunk and swerved in front of your car when you couldn't stop, who would be blamed for the accident? Who would have to live with the guilt of injuring another person? The driver of the car might be checked for alcohol but would the bicyclist?
P.S. And they do all this without alcohol.
It should be against the law to ride a bicycle period! Only 1 in 100 obey the traffic laws. They want motorists to regard them as their equal when that is expedient, and then to be regarded as pedestrians when that suits their purpose. They go through stop signs, drive in the wrong direction and drive on the wrong side of the road. My favorite is when they ride three abreast up Ohio hill. I guess this is their anti-car statement. Enforce all traffic laws against bicycles for one week and we have no budget deficit.
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