6 ms·

I would take a bikeshare then :) In Holland we're pretty accustomed to cycling home drunk, and drivers are pretty aware of hazardous bikers :) Especially becau

I would take a bikeshare then :) In Holland we're pretty accustomed to cycling home drunk, and drivers are pretty aware of hazardous bikers :) Especially because Taxis are unaffordable in the Netherlands.

doctor_lollipop 5y ago
In Switzerland you can lose your driver's license when cycling drunk. I think I prefer your system.
- BrandoElFollito 5y ago
  It's strange that you lose an authorization to do during because you misbehaved somewhere else. I wonder if you also lose your pilot license :) Or the sailing one.
  - elygre 5y ago
    Cycling drunk probably involves a violation of the same laws that are managed by your driving license. So it’s somewhat like “since you can’t obey the license-free part of this law, we will not allow you the licensed privileges”.
    - GekkePrutser 5y ago
      The same law perhaps, but a lot less endangerment of others and a bit more endangerment of self. Still not great but still a lot more responsible towards others IMO. Regarding the endangerment though I would generally be very very cautious while cycling drunk. E.g. stopping at every crossroads to check if anything was coming even if nothing was. I never even had a near miss (at least as far as I can remember, to be fair my memory is a little vague :P ) One thing that was kinda surprising is that I seemed a lot better at cycling on icy roads somehow. I'd be more relaxed as sober I'm usually super worried about slipping and tend to overcorrect etc. I've fallen lots of times sober and only once while drunk.
- nicbou 5y ago
  Same in Germany
nkrisc 5y ago
In the US you can still get a DUI even when cycling drunk. Safer than driving drunk, sure, but not safer for you legally.
- usrusr 5y ago
  Germany has a surprisingly reasonable compromise: you can get a DUI, lose your driver's license and all that, but the threshold for BAC is set twice as high for cycling as it is for driving. Actually these days the limit is more than three times that of driving, because apparently when they dropped the driving threshold from 0.8 to 0.5 the cycling threshold did not get automatically updated like in some excel formula. Fortunately, because I was afraid that the difference might disappear entirely when the driving threshold gets dropped to zero (only a matter of time I think, given how much drunk driving is perceived as a "boomer thing"). When I'm out on the bike, not drunk at all, I'd rather cross paths with a hundred wildly inebriated cyclists than even just one moderately tipsy driver.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    Hmm, this would not have saved me back in my partying days. I'm sure I would have been many times over the threshold :P
    - usrusr 5y ago
      The good news is that cycling is apparently much easier than walking (don't ask me how I know!), so they'd likely underestimate your BAC if you're beyond trying funny stuff.
- greyface- 5y ago
  This varies by jurisdiction. In Washington State, cycling drunk is legal.
  - nkrisc 5y ago
    True. I said "in the US" which is almost never going to be a completely accurate statement for anything that follows.
usrusr 5y ago
The magic ingredient that makes cycling home drunk surprisingly safe (I carry various scars documenting the limitations of that safety) is that it usually happens at night during a time of very low traffic intensity. Be very, very careful about applying drunk cycling confidence earned in the night to the odd daytime drinking occasion. Far too many things happening at the same time to keep aware of, feels like running out of RAM. Low traffic intensity is a two-sided sword, it can lead to speeding and to inattentiveness. But those downsides are much less pronounced for cycling than for driving: for speed it's obvious (yet all of my scars from cycling drunk are purely from liking to go fast, nobody else involved), but the difference in terms of inattentiveness is even more pronounced: sitting out in the wind on a two-wheeler that almost but not quite balances itself is so much different from sitting in a comfy chair surrounded by entertainment electronics peeking out at the world through small windows and a set of mirrors that even the sober rarely use to is full potential.
- nicbou 5y ago
  Don't forget good bicycle infrastructure

doctor_lollipop 5y ago

In Switzerland you can lose your driver's license when cycling drunk. I think I prefer your system.

BrandoElFollito 5y ago
It's strange that you lose an authorization to do during because you misbehaved somewhere else. I wonder if you also lose your pilot license :) Or the sailing one.
- elygre 5y ago
  Cycling drunk probably involves a violation of the same laws that are managed by your driving license. So it’s somewhat like “since you can’t obey the license-free part of this law, we will not allow you the licensed privileges”.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    The same law perhaps, but a lot less endangerment of others and a bit more endangerment of self. Still not great but still a lot more responsible towards others IMO. Regarding the endangerment though I would generally be very very cautious while cycling drunk. E.g. stopping at every crossroads to check if anything was coming even if nothing was. I never even had a near miss (at least as far as I can remember, to be fair my memory is a little vague :P ) One thing that was kinda surprising is that I seemed a lot better at cycling on icy roads somehow. I'd be more relaxed as sober I'm usually super worried about slipping and tend to overcorrect etc. I've fallen lots of times sober and only once while drunk.
nicbou 5y ago
Same in Germany

nkrisc 5y ago

In the US you can still get a DUI even when cycling drunk. Safer than driving drunk, sure, but not safer for you legally.

usrusr 5y ago
Germany has a surprisingly reasonable compromise: you can get a DUI, lose your driver's license and all that, but the threshold for BAC is set twice as high for cycling as it is for driving. Actually these days the limit is more than three times that of driving, because apparently when they dropped the driving threshold from 0.8 to 0.5 the cycling threshold did not get automatically updated like in some excel formula. Fortunately, because I was afraid that the difference might disappear entirely when the driving threshold gets dropped to zero (only a matter of time I think, given how much drunk driving is perceived as a "boomer thing"). When I'm out on the bike, not drunk at all, I'd rather cross paths with a hundred wildly inebriated cyclists than even just one moderately tipsy driver.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Hmm, this would not have saved me back in my partying days. I'm sure I would have been many times over the threshold :P
  - usrusr 5y ago
    The good news is that cycling is apparently much easier than walking (don't ask me how I know!), so they'd likely underestimate your BAC if you're beyond trying funny stuff.
greyface- 5y ago
This varies by jurisdiction. In Washington State, cycling drunk is legal.
- nkrisc 5y ago
  True. I said "in the US" which is almost never going to be a completely accurate statement for anything that follows.

usrusr 5y ago

The magic ingredient that makes cycling home drunk surprisingly safe (I carry various scars documenting the limitations of that safety) is that it usually happens at night during a time of very low traffic intensity. Be very, very careful about applying drunk cycling confidence earned in the night to the odd daytime drinking occasion. Far too many things happening at the same time to keep aware of, feels like running out of RAM. Low traffic intensity is a two-sided sword, it can lead to speeding and to inattentiveness. But those downsides are much less pronounced for cycling than for driving: for speed it's obvious (yet all of my scars from cycling drunk are purely from liking to go fast, nobody else involved), but the difference in terms of inattentiveness is even more pronounced: sitting out in the wind on a two-wheeler that almost but not quite balances itself is so much different from sitting in a comfy chair surrounded by entertainment electronics peeking out at the world through small windows and a set of mirrors that even the sober rarely use to is full potential.

nicbou 5y ago
Don't forget good bicycle infrastructure