Irrefutable scientific proof that cycling drunk is safer than cycling sober

I've never had an accident while drunk and have had several accidents while sober. However, I do ride around all day sober whereas I only ride drunk for usually less than an hour, usually just a few times a week. My ultimate goal is to reverse these statistics.

I've cycled home pretty well when I was too drunk to stand still or walk in a straight line. I actually find it more difficult to walk or do other non-cycling stuff when pissed, than to cycle. Maybe I'm truly at one with my bike or similar pseudo-buddhist bollocks.

There was one time I cycled home while so hammered that when I stopped at traffic lights (which I was doing even on nearly empty roads because I was so pissed I couldn't take any risks), I would frequently nearly fall off my bike because I was unable to stand up. I think I'm just quite a clumsy person in general though, I mean I once fell out of a stationery car I was sitting in (while sober).

I love posting this.. listen to hippy, the voice of reason, don't drink and ride..

True, after some walka strongs, I fell off made my "arse sports" hat dirty, scrached up my brake levers and the spd pedals and ripped the fancy bar tape. NOT GOOD.

there have definitely been times when i've ridden home perfectly (and fucking fast) and not crashed, then opened my front door and walked straight into the wall.

this doesn't make it ok.

i also tend to take more risks when i'm drunk and riding home. it's just that it's generally late at night and there's less traffic which makes it less of a deathtrap.

I've never had an accident while drunk and have had several accidents while sober. However, I do ride around all day sober whereas I only ride drunk for usually less than an hour, usually just a few times a week. My ultimate goal is to reverse these statistics.

Do u think that's because theres less traffic by the time your drunk? What about getting pissed and riding in the rush hour, reckon you'll have an accident then? Rckon there's more of a chance, but hey, I've ridden drunk many a time and it unphases me and if I do fall it is less painful and more limber but thisnt the reason why I happen to be pissed in control of a bike, it's because I can't stand public transport and begrudge paying for it, also I know that it's my choice!! Driving is a different story though

Drink riding isn't clever, but I might not be clever ;)

Do u think that's because theres less traffic by the time your drunk? What about getting pissed and riding in the rush hour, reckon you'll have an accident then?

Yeah, that is quite likely to have an effect too. But if we're going to compare the number of accidents when drunk to the number of accidents when sober the main difference has to be the fact that most people will spend a vastly smaller amount of time riding drunk than they do riding sober.

Thinking about it, there have been a few times I've cycle drunk where I took ridiculous risks which even at the time I felt stupid for doing. There was also one occasion where I almost certainly shouldn't have cycled because I was pretty much off my tits on ketamine but because I was in such a state I cycled incredibly slowly and carefully, and the roads were almost empty, so the journey passed pretty much without event. I was fucking glad to get home though! I would certainly advise against it.

me and a few mates were pissed coming home from a club once and my mate crossed a dual carriage way ( with the rest of us but he was first), he got hit walking in front of us and a car hit him going 50 to 60 mile an hour and he fucking went miles no lie,

The most amazing thing happened!! He had no broken bones or anything LOL
One of my friends approached the driver and smacked him in the swede ( poor fella, in shock, didn't need a slap) considering it was my mates fault.

Then a most amazing statement was issued by the ambulance driver," boy your friend is lucky" , "why was that" I replied,
"cause if he was sober, he probably would have been severely injured or dead",my mate was up and about within 5 minutes of the ambulance arriving
Fucking amazing, apparently it was because he was so drunk and relaxed he flew like 'rag dolly anna' and was so limber he was unharmed, but if he was sober he would have been tense, an experience I will not forget!!!!

But saying that aside, statistics are fine as long as they can be predicted but they can't

I used to ride home all the time, drunk, no lights, no helmet, never had an accident. I put that entirely down to luck. I very rarely drink and ride nowadays, getting hit by a car when its not your fault sucks, but at least you can claim some money from their insurance. If you're drunk you'll have a pretty hard time getting anything ... unless you're really good at acting sober ;)

The worst kind of hangover would be waking up in the morning to find my a twisted pile of steel where my bike lives :'(

I used to ride home all the time, drunk, no lights, no helmet, never had an accident. I put that entirely down to luck. I very rarely drink and ride nowadays, getting hit by a car when its not your fault sucks, but at least you can claim some money from their insurance. If you're drunk you'll have a pretty hard time getting anything ... unless you're really good at acting sober ;)

The worst kind of hangover would be waking up in the morning to find my a twisted pile of steel where my bike lives :'(

That's when it all sinks in, next day you sucking cock for rock to buy a new bike LOL

I love posting this.. listen to hippy, the voice of reason, don't drink and ride..

Says the posterboy for city types to get hammered and ride across London thinking of midgets?

...if we're going to compare the number of accidents when drunk to the number of accidents when sober the main difference has to be the fact that most people will spend a vastly smaller amount of time riding drunk than they do riding sober.

Do u think that's because theres less traffic by the time your drunk?

...it's generally late at night and there's less traffic which makes it less of a deathtrap.

Yes, yes, and yes. But come on, let's not let sense get in the way of pseudoscience. I'm trying to convince the media to report that drunken cycling is safer so we can all have a laugh about how stupid, gullible and lacking in scientific knowlege some journalists and editors are.

...getting hit by a car when its not your fault sucks, but at least you can claim some money from their insurance. If you're drunk you'll have a pretty hard time getting anything ... unless you're really good at acting sober ;)

Good point.

when your body is drunk (or if you are asleep) you have little or no reflexes. hence if you fall off you don't put your arm out and break your wrist/collarbone.

I wonder how many drunk drivers have had the same thought?

I dunno, do many of them even consider their actions? I suppose the ones that do, do use that excuse as justification.

me and a few mates were pissed coming home from a club once and my mate crossed a dual carriage way ( with the rest of us but he was first), he got hit walking in front of us and a car hit him going 50 to 60 mile an hour and he fucking went miles no lie,

The most amazing thing happened!! He had no broken bones or anything LOL
One of my friends approached the driver and smacked him in the swede ( poor fella, in shock, didn't need a slap) considering it was my mates fault.

Then a most amazing statement was issued by the ambulance driver," boy your friend is lucky" , "why was that" I replied,
"cause if he was sober, he probably would have been severely injured or dead",my mate was up and about within 5 minutes of the ambulance arriving
Fucking amazing, apparently it was because he was so drunk and relaxed he flew like 'rag dolly anna' and was so limber he was unharmed, but if he was sober he would have been tense, an experience I will not forget!!!!

But saying that aside, statistics are fine as long as they can be predicted but they can't

Ambulance driver speaks the truth, when your pissed you just don't react to getting hit so don't tense up all your muscles and just sort of tumble around straining things instead of snapping bones. I'll never forget watching a drunk guy getting hit by a taxi at 60km/hflying through the air then bouncing back up of the road and having a go at the driver before heading straight into a night club.

I dunno, do many of them even consider their actions? I suppose the ones that do, do use that excuse as justification.

Apart from the obvious differences (size/speed/weight) of a car over a bike, is it not equally as irrisponsible. You are just as impaired on a bike as you would be in a car and could cause the same amount of carnage.

Sorry to sound dull, but in a world where we as cyclists spend alot of time whining about car drivers should we not be trying to keep clear of any areas which could result in bad press for cyclists?

Sorry to sound dull, but in a world where we as cyclists spend alot of time whining about car drivers should we not be trying to keep clear of any areas which could result in bad press for cyclists?

Doesn't sound dull to me, if you're always in the right, then it's not your fault if you get hit. If you're in the wrong and so is the other guy it'll make it a lot harder to prove it was their fault.

Actually that does sound dull, but I've been hit before, its not something I'd care to repeat.

getting hit by a car when its not your fault sucks, but at least you can claim some money from their insurance. If you're drunk you'll have a pretty hard time getting anything .

The worst kind of hangover would be waking up in the morning to find my a twisted pile of steel where my bike lives :'(

these are the two thoughts that go through my mind when I'm a drunk cyclist...

the sobre me frowns on drunk cycling and assumes that any night I go out with my bike, the only cylcing I'll be doing is to the nearest train station... the sobre me has destroyed 3 bikes in accidents and broken a collar bone...

the drunk me thinks it's fine and has only fallen over whilst still or riding very slowly on the pavement...

I fell of my bike while I was pissed on Tuesday at London bridge then carried on riding to hampsead, woke up the next day an I couldent move my wrist. After several hours in minor injuries at guy's turns out I'd fractured my wrist. Alcohol saved me from the pain. Pretty dumb, but a good story.

Apart from the obvious differences (size/speed/weight) of a car over a bike, is it not equally as irrisponsible. You are just as impaired on a bike as you would be in a car and could cause the same amount of carnage.

Sorry to sound dull, but in a world where we as cyclists spend alot of time whining about car drivers should we not be trying to keep clear of any areas which could result in bad press for cyclists?

you are just as impaired, but there's no way you could cause as much carnage as in a car.

it is stupid to get really pissed and ride around though.

I've undertaken a long-term study of cycling while under the influence of alcohol and other narcotics. My findings are intriguing: cycling while sober is actually more dangerous than cycling while drunk. Out of the entire sample group, all of the cyclists had crashed at least ten times while sober, whereas none of them had ever crashed while drunk. This is proof that to avoid cycling accidents, everyone should only cycle while drunk.

As a scientist... I have to argue that your sample population is all wrong. As someone here suggested the time of riding drunk does not equal time of riding sober. Hence your stats are all wrong.

Even if it is safer for you to cycle drunk (lack of reflex etc etc...) how about other people? Yesterday I was cycling back home from west drinks a saw a car almost crash to avoid a drunk cyclist... (car almost hit me...)

cheers hippy, hic!

you are just as impaired, but there's no way you could cause as much carnage as in a car.

it is stupid to get really pissed and ride around though.

Drunk cyclist falls off, car swerves to avoid him/her, hits peds at bus stop/other car etc. You can quite easily cause just as much carnage.

Don't try a skitch a ride home at night from a double decker bus when you've been boiling it on whiskey since midday. It won't end nicely.

The only time I ever fell off whilst drunk was the night before my 18th birthday. I don't remember what happened but I left my mate's flat at about 3am and woke up half a mile down the road, in the gutter at 4am. Picked myself and rode home OK.

My mum came into my bedroom in the morning, to wish me happy birthday. imagine her dismay to see me in bed, fully, clothed, with vomit on and around my head and hair. Adding to the general ambience was a damp patch in the middle of the carpet that stank strongly of alcoholic urine.

Bright times.

I am much more grown up these days - I have learned to ride drunk and stay on my bike.

Probably the stupidest but ulimately exhilarating thing I have done on a bike has been whilst very very pissed. It started out at 1 am in the morning after a massive piss up, yeah let's go for a rinse around town, there'll be hardly any cars and it's really quiet it'll be sick. We end up deciding it'll be a good idea to have races down Kingston Hill, this isn't the steepest hill but it's steep enough to really max out your speed as it's pretty long. By the time we've had a few practise runs we're bombing down at what must have been approaching 50mph (we were all spinning out on our topmost gear). Seeing the world go past you when you are riding a bike, and even moreso whilst pissed, is a fucking buzzing experience. It then turned into 'who can ride down in the most fun way' I opted for standing up, no hands, thighs gripping the saddle which was a real rush at the speeds we were going. After an hour or so of fucking around we decided to head off home when a car approached from behind going just a touch faster than we were all riding and I think there was a collective unconscious decision to race the car because we all sped up at the same time. We ended up all beating the car to the bottom and as we slowed up the car pulled up and slowed down with us and the guy rolled down his window and told us we were nutters and that at one point we were going 58 mph, he drove off laughing heartily.