Everyone has heard of DUI, but not everyone is aware of the related crime of PUI or peddling under the influence. One Esticada man recently found out about this law the hard way though. The man was riding his bike while under the influence when he apparently got into a serious accident. Police found the man knocked out in the middle of a lane. After calling for a life flight, police charged the man with biking under the influence.
As I described in an earlier post about riding a horse while intoxicated, in Oregon a bicycle counts as a vehicle for the purposes of the DUI statute. Therefore, it is perfectly legal for prosecutors to charge people with riding a bike while under the influence.
Biking under the influence is not a commonly charged offense. For one thing, police seldom stop bikers. Therefore, there is not the same opportunity to identify intoxicated bicyclists as motorists. Also, biking while under the influence does not pose the same risk to the public. For that reason, there is not as much political pressure to crack down on it.
As the case in Esticada highlights, the greater danger is from injury then criminal prosecution. Biking while intoxicated is more likely to result in an injury to the biker than to anyone else. Nevertheless, in case fear of injury is not enough of a deterrent, Oregonians should be on notice, the they can be charged with a crime whenever they get behind the handlebars after drinking.
