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Don't drink and Cycle
The study looked at the cause of 466 fatal bike-riding accidents. They found in more than one-third of the cases, the person had an increased blood alcohol level. They also found that a blood alcohol level of .08, the legal level of intoxication in many states, increases a person's risk of a fatal accident on a bike by 2,000 percent. One problem, they say, is that drinking tends to reduce the level of helmet-wearing by bike riders. Another problem, many of the people involved in the accidents already had a history of drinking problems and were likely using the bike as their mode of transportation after losing their license. "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," says Dr. Guohua Li.
Researchers suggest the problem may be even more serious than this study even found. They did not include accidents at night, which is when 56 percent of bicycle accidents occur.
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We all know the dangers of drinking and driving, but now researchers from Johns Hopkins University warn against the dangers of drinking and riding a bike. In this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, Guohua Li, M.D., Dr.P.H. and colleagues report on the number of fatalities and injury accidents among people who were riding a bike while intoxicated. 
These people need even more protection form a helmet, yet, as the study found, are less likely to wear one. Also, helmet laws in most states do not cover adults, only children. While the number of fatal bike-riding accidents in children has gone down by 70 percent since 1975, it has gone up 65 percent in adults. This, say researchers, is a sign that helmet laws should cover adults as well.
