To be fair, other studies have found that if you remove children from the crash statistics, as many as 90% of bicycle fatalities happen after dark and of those most are folks riding without lights and without helmets, the alcohol statistic could easily be background noise and a convenient red herring.
Return to your regularly scheduled fun. Now that my girlfriend has a bike, maybe I'll be able to get out to a ride again sometime.
gsbarnes
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:51 am
Joined: 15 Aug 2006Posts: 2666Location: No Fun Town, USA
Jesus Christ, every one of the stats in that article is meaningless.
They're all of this form: 97% of cyclists who died in an accident were not wearing a helmet.
Stats like this tell you nothing unless you know the equivalent stat for cyclists who didn't die in an accident. For example, if 97% of deaths occurred without a helmet, but only 1% of riders wear helmets, then wearing a helmet is more correlated with death than not wearing a helmet.
Someone needs to take an elementary statistics course.
_________________ I have always thought in the back of my mind: Cheese and Onions
joby
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:40 am
goes to elevenJoined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 3899Location: The Cloud
"21 percent of autopsies for New York City bicyclists who died within three hours of their accidents detected alcohol in the body"
21%. *detectable*. As in, any at all. What crap.
how about: "The vast majority of cyclists killed in New York city were stone-cold sober at the time of the accident".
lantius
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:52 am
1337Joined: 22 Jul 2005Posts: 6705Location: right over
could suck the fun out of a blowjobJoined: 23 Jul 2007Posts: 588Location: Ballard / Fremont
Overall I am disgusted at the lack of solid information on bike crashes. Too many of the available statistics, like the ones in this story, are crap but we repeat them because we don't have anything better.
My prediction is that someone is going to try to use these statistics to push Bicycling Under the Influence laws and enforcement.
lantius
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:12 pm
1337Joined: 22 Jul 2005Posts: 6705Location: right over
snyd3282 wrote:
My prediction is that someone is going to try to use these statistics to push Bicycling Under the Influence laws and enforcement.
i wonder if there is a comprehensive list somewhere of states that treat bicycling while intoxicated as a dui/dwi? a quick google didn't turn one up.
i legitimately worry about it every time i'm down in portland, although i know it's pretty rare.
key lime
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:43 pm
it never happenedJoined: 13 Mar 2008Posts: 1142Location: Wallenfjord
So, if it's a DWI do they have to arrest you?
Since I got rid of my car, I stopped worrying about getting tickets on bike. Oh no, my auto insurance is going to go up!
lantius
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 3:06 pm
1337Joined: 22 Jul 2005Posts: 6705Location: right over
oh, but very interesting thing i hadn't noticed before: oregon's implied consent law applies only to motor vehicle operators. so if you are pulled over on your bike for a suspicion of duii they can't give you a breathalyzer. they can still require you to perform a field sobriety test, however. i wonder if trackstanding can be considered part of that?
Sylvie!
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:23 pm
Joined: 10 Aug 2008Posts: 89Location: Cap Hill
[quote="lantius"]
snyd3282 wrote:
i wonder if there is a comprehensive list somewhere of states that treat bicycling while intoxicated as a dui/dwi?
I don't know about anywhere else, but back when I attended UC Davis, the cops pulled people over for BUIs (biking under the influence). I don't think anything ever happened to them for getting a BUI, other than staying overnight in prison (where there was a midget cop, incidentally). I just remember reading the police write-ups in the campus newspaper and finding the whole BUI thing entirely silly.
Eric_s
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:34 pm
Joined: 07 Mar 2007Posts: 1691Location: the dirty south
lantius wrote:
they can still require you to perform a field sobriety test, however. i wonder if trackstanding can be considered part of that?
Well, if you try that they'll probably tackle you off the bike, taze you, and then claim you didn't stop, because you're apparently not stopped if you don't foot down.
lantius
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:40 am
1337Joined: 22 Jul 2005Posts: 6705Location: right over
Sylvie! wrote:
I don't know about anywhere else, but back when I attended UC Davis, the cops pulled people over for BUIs (biking under the influence). I don't think anything ever happened to them for getting a BUI, other than staying overnight in prison (where there was a midget cop, incidentally). I just remember reading the police write-ups in the campus newspaper and finding the whole BUI thing entirely silly.
yes, california has a CUI (cycling under the influence) law. it's a $250 fine and maybe a night in the slammer, from what i can tell.
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could suck the fun out of a blowjob
Joined: 23 Jul 2007
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goes to eleven
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1337
Joined: 22 Jul 2005
Posts: 6705
Location: right over
it never happened
Joined: 13 Mar 2008
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Location: Wallenfjord
Joined: 10 Aug 2008
Posts: 89
Location: Cap Hill
Joined: 07 Mar 2007
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Location: the dirty south
