Friday, April 07, 2006

That's your last one buddy, you'll never keep that bike upright!

"Gerald Bordeaux was arrested in Sioux Falls on the afternoon of Oct. 2, 2004, when a witness called police after seeing Bordeaux repeatedly falling off a bike he was trying to ride on a city street. A police officer arrested Bordeaux, and a test indicated Bordeaux's blood-alcohol content was 0.225 percent, or nearly three times the legal limit. Bordeaux was charged with one count of driving or having actual physical control of vehicle while intoxicated and one count of
driving or having actual physical control of a vehicle while having a blood-alcohol content exceeding 0.08 percent."

In the latest edition of Bicycling (May 2006), there is a small blurb dedicated to a South Dakota bill (HB1190) which would allow intoxicated individuals the right to cycle home without legal ramifications. The original law holds that "bicycles" are considered "vehicles" and therefore the intoxicated individual is subject to "driving under the influence" laws. The bill seeks to "exclude" bicycles as vehicles, which has cycling activists concerned with access to public roads. The South Dakota Supreme Court eventually ruled against the bill in February 2006.


To take this one step further, who pays for the ticket if you're pulled over while participating in one of the dozens of Wine Country bicycle tours? (Go figure, a guy named Bordeaux gets pulled over!)

1 comment:

53rd Tooth said...

Rough start to the season. I actually was pulled over one time drafting a dumptruck at 45MPH. I was lucky and got off with a warning.

Friday, April 07, 2006

That's your last one buddy, you'll never keep that bike upright!

"Gerald Bordeaux was arrested in Sioux Falls on the afternoon of Oct. 2, 2004, when a witness called police after seeing Bordeaux repeatedly falling off a bike he was trying to ride on a city street. A police officer arrested Bordeaux, and a test indicated Bordeaux's blood-alcohol content was 0.225 percent, or nearly three times the legal limit. Bordeaux was charged with one count of driving or having actual physical control of vehicle while intoxicated and one count of
driving or having actual physical control of a vehicle while having a blood-alcohol content exceeding 0.08 percent."

In the latest edition of Bicycling (May 2006), there is a small blurb dedicated to a South Dakota bill (HB1190) which would allow intoxicated individuals the right to cycle home without legal ramifications. The original law holds that "bicycles" are considered "vehicles" and therefore the intoxicated individual is subject to "driving under the influence" laws. The bill seeks to "exclude" bicycles as vehicles, which has cycling activists concerned with access to public roads. The South Dakota Supreme Court eventually ruled against the bill in February 2006.


To take this one step further, who pays for the ticket if you're pulled over while participating in one of the dozens of Wine Country bicycle tours? (Go figure, a guy named Bordeaux gets pulled over!)

1 comment:

53rd Tooth said...

Rough start to the season. I actually was pulled over one time drafting a dumptruck at 45MPH. I was lucky and got off with a warning.