DWB

[Levy.Dave at epamail.epa.gov]

     I think a lot of these drunk bikers are drunks to start with.  When
they lose their drivers license, they go to scooter- motor bikes and
bicycles.  Thes cycles do not require a license or helmet for riding.
(Horse riding doesn't either!)

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Tuesday February 20 4:00 PM ET
Study Finds Drinking And Cycling Don't Mix

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Riding a bicycle after just one alcoholic drink
increases the risk of fatal or serious injury by five
times, while five drinks raise that risk twentyfold, researchers reported
on Tuesday.

Previously published studies had indicated that about a third of all U.S.
bicycle deaths were alcohol-related, but details of
the risk had not been assessed until now, said the study from Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Susan Baker, one of the study's authors, said she was surprised at how much
impact drinking had on bicycling.

``The people who have blood alcohol concentrations of .08 or higher ...
were 20 times as likely to be killed or badly injured
as the bicyclist who had not been drinking ... a huge effect,'' she said.

The report added that just one drink increased the risk of a fatal or
serious injury about fivefold.

One drink can lead to a blood-alcohol concentration of .02 percent, while
four to five drinks can result in a concentration of
.08 percent, the legal level in many states at which a driver is considered
to be impaired by alcohol.

The researchers said they studied the death records of 124 bicyclists aged
15 or older killed in Maryland from 1985 to 1997
and also took breath tests from 342 other cyclists during roadside surveys
in the state in areas where bikers had been injured
in previous accidents.

``Riding a bike requires a higher level of psychomotor skills and physical
coordination than driving a car, so alcohol has an
even stronger effect on bicyclists than drivers,'' said Guohua Li, lead
author of the study.

The study, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical
Association, found that only 5 percent of injured
cyclists who had been drinking wore helmets.

``It's a double jeopardy. Those who ride under the influence are most in
need of protection, yet in our study, they were least likely to wear
helmets,'' Li said.

Thirty percent of injured cyclists who had elevated alcohol levels in the
study had a history of driving a car while
intoxicated, the report said, adding that some probably used bicycles for
transportation because their driver's licenses had been suspended.

The study also noted that while the number of fatal accidents involving
children had decreased by 70 percent since 1975,
fatalities involving adult riders rose by about 65 percent during that
period. That might be due to laws requiring children to
wear helmets -- something that perhaps should be extended to adults, the
study said.