Some scary news from the Sacbee: a DUI sweep last friday in South Sac and downtown netted 7 bicyclists! Yikes. I do this all the time. I have heard that it's treated the same as vehicular DUI. Could that possibly be true? DUI in this state is insanely expensive (I'm not saying it shouldn't be!). That would probably ruin my life. I guess I'll have to start taking our excellent public transportation. Or just walk through all our really safe neighborhoods.
From what I've heard, a BUI will cost you $570 total in fees and fines.
ReplyDeleteExcellent: there is no traffic violation you can perform on a bike that would get you a point on your driving record.
Bogus: they don't need to give you a breathalyzer or roadside test. If the cop thinks you're tanked, you're tanked. No word yet on what the cops would do if they pulled over a tandem with one cold sober rider and one that's three sheets to the wind.
well make sure you got your lights and that you can stay upright long enough for a cop to pass.
ReplyDeleteThe El Santo stuff is subtitled. The first one (on Monday), wasn't I guess, but supposedly all of the rest of them are.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's one tonight, one tomorrow and one on Friday.
I'm a true proponent of the drunk night ride, but if you are riding in such manner that it's obvious you are drunk, you probably shouldn't be riding on the street anyway!
ReplyDeleteAnd wear a fucking helmet. It's bad enough that no one in this town wears helmets, but especially bad when riding at night, and drunk.
got pulled over for drunk biking (and crossing a RR track when the gates were down) a few years ago, and the cop let me go because i was a journalist. didn't want any bad publicity? but yeah he said that it's the same penalty for vehicular DUI.
ReplyDeleteI was just talking to some students about riding a bike drunk in Japan. The roads are small and dark. Lights are tiny and really don`t work. And helmets, we don`t need no stinky helmets.Also most bikes here are "mama cherie" which are grandma bikes. Out in the countryside, Rice fields are great for face plants or these along the of street water corridors that have no fence or barrier for your protection. One hand full of yakitori take out and the other graspin` a cheap hoppushu, I think most Japanese policemen would think you had a hard day at the eikaiwa and wouldn`t bother you. They got yakuza and real drunks(Kyushu Danshii)to fight anyways. Yeah, It`s against law here but like everything here in it`s in a grey area..
ReplyDeleteJ
panialas--
BUS 51!!
ReplyDeleteThat route is off the curb!!!
j
miscons
Silver lining to this story and one in sn&r about fixies (a third example would make a journalistic trend):
ReplyDeletethe fact that the SacPD are bothering to pull bicyclists over in midtown means that bike riding has reached a critical mass of some kind.
Maybe too obvious to point out, but I live in Carmichael, so it seems significant from where I stand.
Are there really that many more bikes than there were three months ago when I left? I would hardly call the number of bikes that rode by my old place on 19th a level of a critical mass. The only noticeable thing I witnessed were the occasional drunken masses of 5 - 10 bicyclists occupying all lanes and/or going the wrong direction down N or 19th.
ReplyDeleteSeems more plausible that since they're sweeping areas at night when there is far less traffic than the average workday, they're probably testing the waters to see how viable it is to task police in wringing BUI money out of people. And if it's the same as being behind the wheel, the $500 and some odd dollars is just the fine without court fees, DUI classes MADD meetings, work project, etc., which nowadays all adds up to over $2000. The guy with a DUI while riding a horse ends up at those DUI classes, so I don't see it being any different for bicyclist.
Having known a number of bike messengers, if you ride like an asshole or drunk, cops will stop you anytime of day and have little sympathy in doing so.
Not saying I haven't partaken in any about town mass cycling shenanigans, I'm just sayin'...
-skpr
"Bogus: they don't need to give you a breathalyzer or roadside test. If the cop thinks you're tanked, you're tanked."
ReplyDeleteThis is also true for DUIs, though. The Vehicle Code section on DUIs covers both driving while under the influence AND driving with a .08 or higher BAC, and you can be "under the influence" at a lower level. It's just easier to prove a .08 level than to prove that your driving was impaired (since that is subjective and requires witness testimony), and when you get a California driver's license you consent in advance to BAC tests if you get pulled over. Bicyclists haven't given that advance consent so they can't do a routine blood/breath test as easily as they can with a driver.
Good point, Beth, but the vehicle code has a stipulation to allow the arrested person to require the officer to perform the same chemical test that drivers have given their implied consent to.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, the BUI code (CVC21200.5) also mentions that you can get a BUI for *any* drug. Think of the money the city could make nabbing Claritin users during allergy season!
I guess I should have linked to the article. The BUI arrests came as part of a bigger crackdown on all drunk vehicularizing. It's because there has been a lot of press lately about how we're the drunk driving capital of the state. I think it's great they are cracking down. It needs to happen. If they really got serious about it and people figured out they can't get away with it here I think downtown nightlife will really suffer. The whole plan is to attract people from the burbs to come here and drink so they have to get home somehow.
ReplyDeleteSharper, I've actually seen cases of DUI where the drug in question was Benadryl, although prescription drugs are more common. I think the law would technically allow a conviction for being so hopped up on caffeine that it impaired your driving, although maybe caffeine would not meet the definition of "drug." I do not volunteer to be the test case on that one.
ReplyDelete"And wear a fucking helmet. It's bad enough that no one in this town wears helmets, but especially bad when riding at night, and drunk."
ReplyDeleteIn Korea, babies sit on laps and they don't use car seats since that makes your kid grow up to be a sissy.
They have car seats, they just don't use them. Take that, sissy Americans!
Being extremely pro-choice, I think if someone chooses to drink and chooses to bike home, that person ought to also be allowed to make his or her own choices about personal safety. Helmets make young kids feel invincible, so I choose to be anti-helmet. As for what a "drug" is, I do believe it is a substance that alters the physical, mental and/or emotional state of the user.
ReplyDelete