DUI on a bicycle

[totalconfusion]

I received a DUI on a bicycle. I haven't read the police report yet.

I was leaving the bars with a girl on the handle bars. The police sounded their siren shortly after we left. The siren startled me and caused me to crash. The girl on the bars had to receive medical attention.

I was ticketed for DUI. I wasn't given a breathalyzer or blood test. I was only given a Road Side sobriety test. After the ticket was written I was allowed to walk home.

I am wondering if I will be able to plea this down to disorderly conduct or something else. I think it is absolutely upsurd that a bicycle is considered a vehicle in CO. Any ideas?

[racer72]

I think it is absolutely upsurd that a bicycle is considered a vehicle in CO.

Bicycles are required to obey the same laws as all motor vehicles.

Any ideas?

Hire an attorney.

[BL]

Well consider this .

Friday, May 1st, 2009
\'Cowboy\' ticketed for riding horse while drunk CTV.ca, Canada AP ARVADA, Colo. -- A man in a cowboy hat who rode a horse through a Denver suburb has been cited for riding an animal under the influence. Police say Brian Drone was given a US $25 traffic violation ticket in a strip mall parking lot Friday. ...

My guess , you're charges will be reduced and you'll be fined .

Others have been arrested for DUI on , lawn mowers , mopeds,ATVs,tractors, and who knows what else ?

I suspect bicycles .

[FlyingRon]

Originally Posted by BL

Others have been arrested for DUI on , lawn mowers , mopeds,ATVs,tractors, and who knows what else ?

I suspect bicycles .

Roller skates? No drinking while wearing Heelies?

Any chance they will require an interlock on his bicycle?

[BigMistakeFl]

Yes for bikes, also riding mowers and even motorized wheelchairs. Thank you for choosing not to drive a car after drinking, but you need to know that taking a taxi or walking would still be the safest way to get home.

[LawGirl20]

Just the fact that someone was injured proves that your inability to properly operate even a bicycle was impaired. A cyclist in the road who is under the influence can injure pedestrians or even cause serious motor vehicle accidents.

[bcubed]

Were you observed operating the bicycle on a public roadway?

Did you make any admissions of intoxication?

A lot of this depends on the minutia of CO law. PA, for instance, theoretically holds bicycles to auto standards for DUI (written into law that they qualify as "vehicles,") but only applies "implied consent" to motor vehicles.

I'd make a big to-do over being ready, willing, etc to "prove your innocence" via BAC% test, only to be rebuffed. I'd also look into the minutia of CO vehicular law.

[CdwJava]

The first portion of the section stating it is unlawful to drive impaired:

42-4-1301. Driving under the influence - driving while impaired - driving with excessive alcoholic content - definitions - penalties.

(1) (a) It is a misdemeanor for any person who is under the influence of alcohol or one or more drugs, or a combination of both alcohol and one or more drugs, to drive any vehicle in this state.

(b) It is a misdemeanor for any person who is impaired by alcohol or by one or more drugs, or by a combination of alcohol and one or more drugs, to drive any vehicle in this state.

(c) It is a misdemeanor for any person who is an habitual user of any controlled substance defined in section 12-22-303 (7), C.R.S., to drive any vehicle in this state.

And,

42-1-102. Definitions.

(112) "Vehicle" means any device which is capable of moving itself, or of being moved, from place to place upon wheels or endless tracks. "Vehicle" includes any bicycle, but such term does not include any wheelchair as defined by subsection (113) of this section, or any off-highway vehicle, snowmobile, any farm tractor, or any implement of husbandry designed primarily or exclusively for use and used in agricultural operations or any device moved by muscular power or moved exclusively over stationary rails or tracks or designed to move primarily through the air.

Ergo, a bicycle is a vehicle in Colorado and it is against the law to operate it while impaired.

- Carl

[Taper420]

"any device moved by muscular power"

Is a non-motorized bicycle not moved by muscular power? Seems like that section is contradicting itself. Playing semantics, a bicycle is any two wheeled in line vehicle. So yes, it is a vehicle but that is really pushing it to get a DUI on pedal-bike.

[totalconfusion]

Originally Posted by LawGirl20

Just the fact that someone was injured proves that your inability to properly operate even a bicycle was impaired. A cyclist in the road who is under the influence can injure pedestrians or even cause serious motor vehicle accidents.

Not sure if you have ever tried to ride with someone on the handle bars but it is tough even when completely sober. It completely throws the balance.

I guess I am trying to figure out if I should be able to get this reduced if the girl and I pay the medical bills together. Can I get this to a non alcohol crime because I was on a bicycle. The officer told me he would not have ticketed me if I hadn't crashed. He also never took a breathalyzer or blood test. Then he let me walk home. If I was so impaired how on earth should he have let me walk home?

[lenny71]

Originally Posted by totalconfusion

Not sure if you have ever tried to ride with someone on the handle bars but it is tough even when completely sober. It completely throws the balance.

I guess I am trying to figure out if I should be able to get this reduced if the girl and I pay the medical bills together. Can I get this to a non alcohol crime because I was on a bicycle. The officer told me he would not have ticketed me if I hadn't crashed. He also never took a breathalyzer or blood test. Then he let me walk home. If I was so impaired how on earth should he have let me walk home?

A good attorney can get this reduced to something else. The fact that they let you walk home is an indicator of that.

I have seen the results of several drunk when biking accidents. It usually involves the bicycle swerving erratically on the road and causing other motorists to wreck. I have also seen horribly maimed 'good samaritans' who stopped to help a fallen drunk cyclist in the roadway at night only to be hit by oncoming traffic.

[CdwJava]

Letting you walk home is not, by itself, proof that you did not operate the bicycle impaired. One can be too impaired to operate a vehicle and still not too drunk to be out in public. Yes, it could play in to your favor, as can the lack of a chemical test, but if this is common practice in your state or jurisdiction, then it may have little impact on the end result.

But, I suspect that you cal plead down to some lesser traffic violation.

- Carl

[paguy88]

[QUOTEJust the fact that someone was injured proves that your inability to properly operate even a bicycle was impaired][/quote]

I dont know.. that would scare the SH** out of many who are not drunk I am sorry.

IMO this is absurd. I see all these highways Statistcs on how many people get killed on the road way.

how many deaths from DUI happen while operating a bike powered by human power not a engine? And I don't want to hear one person say they could across the road drunk and get hit.. that can happen to a person walking who is drunk, and at best they would get a public intox(not with standing getting run over). I get the car can be a deadly weapon... A bike please... that is a joke and merlry a manpulation of words by the law makers in your state for who knows what reason.

However moving past the absurdness of this.. you still have a issue and need a lawyer to handle it.

[CdwJava]

In my state DUI on a bicycle does not hold the same punishment as DUI on a motor vehicle.

A bicycle DUI holds a greater potential for damage than a pedestrian by virtue of their speed and the likelihood of greater injury if they crash. And, yes, I have been present for a fatal bicycle DUI crash ... guy bounced his wheel off the curb, and then did a header onto the pavement cracking his skull. He lived for a couple of days but eventually died.

It may seem absurd to you, but I'd stand a greater chance of avoiding injury from an approaching drunk staggering on foot than an approaching bicyclist.

- Carl

[lenny71]

Originally Posted by CdwJava

But, I suspect that you cal plead down to some lesser traffic violation.

- Carl

My assumption on his being able to plead to a lesser charge with counsel is based on the assumption that they did not impound the bicycle, but rather left him in control of the vehicle.