Cycling after drinking alcohol in Norway
Have you sat on your bike after drinking alcohol? So you are not alone. Drunken cycling is not prohibited, but it is your responsibility to ensure that you ride your bike in a safe and prudent manner. If not, the police can intervene.
Unclear rules
- The law allows for interpretation. It is not strictly prohibited, but there is also no clear limit on when you are not allowed to ride a bicycle in an alcoholic condition, says Mathias Vestgård, who paid attention to the topic in his thesis.
Senior adviser Kurt Ottesen of the Norwegian Public Roads Authority agrees that the rules are somewhat unclear.
"As with all laws, the question is how far should authorities go in regulating the individual's freedom of action and judgment," says Ottesen.
Cycling has many positive effects, it is healthy for you and good for the environment. On the other hand, when we are in a drinking state, it can quickly have very negative consequences for you, but also for the people around you - with the police having various tools to deal with irregularities on the road.
Alcohol / presence in 10 percent of bicycle accidents
In 2014, 2138 patients were looked after in Oslo after a bicycle accident. Almost 10 percent of the patients were under the influence. The percentage of city bike damage was 17,5 - despite the fact that city bike stands are blocked between midnight and 6 a.m. Drunken cycling accidents occur especially at night.
As shown by the report prepared by the Oslo Damage Alert, which, on behalf of the Norwegian Public Roads Authority and the Norwegian Directorate of Health, mapped and registered all injured patients who were hospitalized at the Oslo Damage Alarm in 2014.
Most men ride in a “consumed” condition
- Research results show that drunk cycling is common, says Mathias Vestgård. Vestgård, who was recently hired as a public planner at Norconsult, for his thesis "Cycling under the influence - Who and why?" He examined the Norwegians' attitude towards drunk driving.
He spoke to cyclists both in pubs, on the street and through questionnaires to find out more about the before and after assessments they carried out. Eight out of ten have been intoxicated at least once in their life, and six out of ten have been intoxicated at least once in the past year.
The results showed that those who cycle after drinking alcohol are more likely to live in large cities in Norway (more than 50 inhabitants), while those under the age of 000 are more liberal.
Legislation has no exact limit
Most people know that there is a limit of 0,2 for drivers of cars, mopeds, motorbikes and other motor vehicles. This is due to section 22 of the Road Traffic Act. Probably fewer people are familiar with the rules for riding a bicycle under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicants or anesthetics.
Here, section 21 of the Road Traffic Act states that a vehicle may not be driven when it "cannot be deemed fit to drive safely". So there is no exact limit, but the evaluation will be whether you are in control, can adjust the speed and otherwise act responsibly.
Riding a bicycle, promille does not mean losing the driving license
There is no legal basis for withdrawing a driving license while operating a bicycle. However, not quite so. We encourage you to read the footnotes to the relevant paragraphs in the source document carefully article
https://www.vegvesen.no/om+statens+vegvesen/presse/nyheter/nasjonalt/atte-av-ti-har-syklet-etter-a-ha-drukket-alkohol
. What do you think about this, dear reader?
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