Beer and cycling - it's time for Poles to act

So not only can your car break the laws of physics, but your reactions are so superhuman that you notice the error, judge the response and take the appropriate action in 10 feet. On snow. In the dark. At 40km/h you're travelling at 11 metres each second; your car will not stop in 3metres.

There's little point discussing the "moral" and "unjust" elements of this topic if such flagrant bullshiit is going to be bandied about.

So we're clear then?

People on this board are happy to have their right to a happy jaunt continually threatened by the Polish filth.

You couldn't make it up.

lol what are you talking about? What filth? What happy jaunt??

Yes! A fundamental question arises: what do various idiots try to achieve by provoking discussions like that? It is neither serious nor amusing. What the heck? :)

It isn't even likely that their organs could be donated to the needy. Likely too polluted with alcohol to be of any use.

The funniest thing for me is that they can take someone's driving licence for riding drunk on a bike but then they can get on a scooter and drive it without a licence. Makes no sense really

No they can't - scooters can only be driven with a full car licence or cat. A (or - soon to be cat AM too).


Threatened?

I've never even been looked at by the police, yet alone questioned when riding a bike. Then again, I'm not swerving all over the road after a few beers.

As I said before - you have rights, but only when those rights don't infringe on others. You have no right to ride a bike drunk, even in the UK where a prison sentence of at least a month is possible.

So how can 14 - 16 yr olds drive them then??? Please dont tell me they cant, my nephew here has one and he is 15

I am not sure why the OP is all in arms that somehow Poland is an oppressor of idiots who like to get drunk enough to be noticed as under influence; even on bicycles and having laws in effect that protect the general public. BUT many states in the US consider bikes a moving vehicle and they are subject to the same trafic laws as motor vehicles. Technically they are to be on street following traffic and NOT on pedestrian walkway menacing the ones those thoroughfares are intended.

A guy I was dating (and for obviousl reason stopped) was arrested in WA state and jailed and fined for Drunk jaywalking (and nearly causing a bad accident on rainy night) ,public drunk and of course going all angry drunk saying "MY RIGHTS" =resisting arrest. He got an article 15 as well (military sanction).

I had to actually test and get a license to ride my bike to school 3 blocks away as a child under 18 in Burbank CA..a test run by the LA County Sheriff's Dept. back in the 70s. Many states do have requirements to ride on street in certain cities.

Many states have laws against drunk walking and cycling if it is on the road. And if they are safely off road.. it must be surely a bored and diligent (or reading playboy in a dark corner of field) officer to catch them !

I don't drink and operate anything. Boat, Car, Bike..... and I often offered my friends a ride anytime as a designated driver. I love my friends. Even when they are stupid.

and in old days when I wanted to get **** drunk? I hailed a cab or had a friend drop me off.

I say BRAVO! to treating ANY drunk on a road the same. Does it matter if an accident is caused by person behind wheel or in enviroment?

**my exp: US citizen lived in the states of CA WA AZ TX OK TN KY SC NC FL VA MI on and off post** Also am avid cyclist ; former DH Gravity Assist Racer sponsered by Luna bars and Amp and Rolf (don't know it all but know what I was required to do). and bar patron by reason of queen of karaoke/dart team/pool league player

Sorry - I forgot that English must be your second language.

Or are you being dumb and pedantic/North American :)

It's one of the two, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. The filth=the police. A jaunt is a pleasant trip.

OK now? :)

On second thoughts - just checked your profile. It's clear now - it's the patronising American syndrome again. Tut tut.

Reminds me of once loitering in a public park in a random Manchester council estate (the stupid things you do when teenagers...). A bunch of guys were obviously dealing drugs a few hundred metres away, when suddenly, a yell of "BACON" comes from a nearby house. Cue a bunch of blokes running off, only to get flattened by several burly coppers out of nowhere.

We made ourselves scarce, not wanting to deal with the inevitable questioning about why we were there and why we were nowhere near home. To this day, I can't look at a packet of bacon without thinking of that night :D

Just before the academic year started two years ago a young guy was driving his girlfriend and her friend from my town to the girls' new student accommodation in the nearest city. On the way a drunk cyclist caused the young guy to swerve in order to avoid him. An oncoming lorry got involved and the result was three dead young people. The lorry driver testified that the cyclist was all over the road (1000am). Oh, and the cyclist was never caught.

Filth? Is that how you see the Police?

Yes, but jd's right to get hammered and go for a happy jaunt on his bike is clearly more important than the lives of those young people.

What kills me is that cyclists seem to be invisible to the police. I've lost count of the times I've seen police vehicles simply overtake cyclists without lights. Someone told me yesterday that cyclists are supposed to wear a helmet by law. This can't be true, can it?

Nope - not hammered. I just want and employ the right to 3 or 4 beers over the period of a summer afternoon, with a bicycle picnic or whatever. Still - why not blow that out of all proportion?

As the Poles do................. :(

Shouldn't you put pressure on people to stop idiotically cycling when hammered then, so they can change the law for the better?

I must admit - I don't like the law personally. It sucks. But when you consider the vast amount of drunken old morons on main roads cycling, it - sadly - has to stay. Going to prison is the only language those people will understand.