Cycling under the influence of alcohol-criminal offenses in a German metropolis

• Published in: International journal of legal medicine 2022-07, Vol.136 (4), p.1121-1132
• Main Authors: Bothorn, Jan-Bernd, Schwender, Holger, Graw, Matthias, Kienbaum, Peter, Hartung, Benno
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accidents; Accidents, Traffic; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Alcohol use; Alcoholic Intoxication - epidemiology; Alcoholism; Automobile Driving; Bicycles; Bicycling; Bicycling - injuries; Blood Alcohol Content; Breath tests; Crime; Criminal law; Criminals; Ethanol - analysis; Female; Forensic Medicine; Humans; Injury analysis; Intoxication; Male; Medical Law; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original; Original Article; Police; Traffic accidents & safety
• ISSN: 0937-9827; 1437-1596
• DOI: 10.1007/s00414-022-02828-8

Introduction Real or simulated cycling tests under the influence of alcohol might be biased by laboratory settings. Accident analyses consider incidents with injuries only. Herein, criminal offenses consisting of drunk cycling are evaluated in detail to fill this gap. Material and methods All police-recorded cases of cycling under the influence of alcohol that took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, from 2009 to 2018 were identified. A total of 388 respective prosecutor’s files were available for analyses. Results Mean blood alcohol concentrations were approximately 2 g/kg in both men and women. Men were overrepresented (6:1). Almost 60% of the cases were recorded between Friday and Sunday (the “weekend”). The average blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at night (01:00–05:59) was 0.39 g/kg lower than that during the day (06:00–17:59). Drinking after cycling allegations appear almost irrelevant among (German) cyclists. On average, the legal outcomes show 33 daily rates (median: 30). Additionally, the presented data raise doubts about whether the utilized medical tests or the ways in which they are carried out reliably discriminate between different grades of intoxication. Negative tests did not exclude high BACs, nor did positive tests correlate well with BACs. Discussion/Conclusion In practice, CUI is seen with BACs above 1.60 g/kg in most cases. BACs below 1.60 g/kg either seem to be a minor problem or they have been incompletely addressed thus far. In summary, to be prosecuted, drunk cyclists have to ride their bikes in either a highly insecure or rude manner or they must cause an accident.