Date: 29 Nov 2009 Comments: 0

Ever contemplated about departing out for a night on the town and exceedingly turn up the enjoyment but were worried concerning how you were going to get home? Did you then wonder if you could just ride your mountain bike up the road to the neighborhood drinking hole and ride it back down after your night of amusement? Hopefully this piece can meet your questions with reference to whether or not you can be charged with driving under the influence (DUI) for riding a mountain bike under the influence.

Before I commence, however, let me point out that this commentary is for informational purposes only. I have not done a complete examination of each state’s laws concerning this question, so your state’s rules may be not the same. Before you decide to go out on the city and ride your bicycle impaired (or even ride your cycle after drinking), please check with an attorney in your region just to make definite. Also, to end with, the goal of this commentary is not to give confidence people to ride their bicycles under the influence. Whether or not it is criminal, it is risky. The solitary objective of this piece is to respond a inquiry many people have.

Let’s set the background here to lend a hand answer our query. Let’s say you are at home at night, in Seattle, Washington, for the purposes of the illustration, and you drink a couple drinks while viewing a baseball game during the weekend. At the end of the game, famished for some Dick’s, you hop on your bicycle and make the roughly speaking 1 mile journey headed for hamburger heaven. While on your route to the eating place, you are pulled over by a cop. The officer remarks that you weren’t riding your cycle straight, your breath smelled of beer, and your eyes were bloodshot (side note – you are assured to spot these physical symptoms roughly one hundred percent of the time in cops reports). After observing these signs, the police officer asks if you’d be agreeable to undertake some field sobriety tests. You consent, and act upon marginally (side note once more – in Washington in particular, you should never consent to take field sobriety tests – you have no obligation to). At that point you are detained on suspicion of driving under the influence and taken down to the Seattle police station.

The query now becomes, is riding a racing bike while drunk a criminal act? The statute regarding driving under the influence, if, in our case, the guy was riding his racing bike in Seattle, reads, “A person is guilty of driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug if the person drives a vehicle within this state…” RCW 46.61.502. Because of this, the questions then turn into, what is a “vehicle.”

Vehicle is defined in Washington statutes (in keeping with the illustration) as “including every device capable of being moved upon a public highway and in, upon, or by which any persons or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, including racing bikes. The term does not include power wheelchairs or devices other than cycles moved by human or animal power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. Mopeds shall not be considered vehicles or motor vehicles for the purposes of chapter 46.70 RCW. racing bikes shall not be considered vehicles for the purposes of chapter 46.12, 46.16, or 46.70 RCW. Electric personal assistive mobility devices are not considered vehicles or motor vehicles for the purposes of chapter 46.12, 46.16, 46.29, 46.37, or 46.70 RCW.” Chapter 46.12 covers certificates of ownership and registration. Chapter 46.16 covers vehicle licenses, and chapter 46.70 covers dealers and manufacturers” What this indicates is at this instant it seems as though racing bikes drop into the description of vehicles under the DUI statute.

But not so swift. One of the fantastic things about American jurisprudence is that the courts (and your Seattle drunk driving attorney) are able to argue not only the apparent writing of the law, but the purpose of the legislature when creating the law. In this case, a assessment of the legislative intention, combined with a review of further statutes, demonstrates that racing bikes were by no means really planned to be integrated in driving under the influence laws. Firstly, about legislative objective. The legislature changed the designation of vehicle not to encapsulate racing bikes for intoxicated driving purposes, but to encapsulate cycles in the traffic set of laws and rules. Before this classification was altered, bikes were not theoretically required to keep to the set of laws of the road. Including cycles in the meaning of vehicles allowed that to come about.

Second, the definition for all other driving under the influence related set of laws seem to incorporate a reference to motor vehicles and require at least exercising control over a motor vehicle. This further advances the concept that bikes and bicyclists were not anticipated to be covered by DUI statutes. Furthermore, the punishment for hammered driving itself doesn’t make sense with someone on a bike. The prime punishment is suspension of driving privileges – only riding a bike doesn’t require a license.

Consequently, at least in our Seattle, Washington case in point, if you ride a mountain bike while drunk, you most likely cannot be convicted of driving under the influence. And this logic seems to apply to most other states as well. But, as I mentioned previously, before doing anything, please talk with an experienced Seattle criminal attorney.