Uni Pub Crawls

General
1

What are the legal issues in the UK regarding pub crawls on a unicycle? Is it a
risky activity? Over here in the US we would run the risk of getting a DUII
(Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants) or a UUII if we tried riding a
unicycle from pub to pub. They will charge bicyclists with a DUII and I’m sure
they would do the same for a unicycle. Blood alcohol content for a DUII is
typically 0.08% but can vary from state to state.

I’ve ridden my unicycle to some pubs while in college, but I was always careful
to make sure that I was able to “drive” home. It’s very difficult to have a
designated driver when you are on a unicycle.

john_childs@hotmail.com

Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

2

RE: Uni Pub Crawls

I am going to be in Manchester next month (flying during the Muni week-end
(sob!)) and it occurs to me that if we could get enough unicyclist to do a pub
crawl we could create an ad-hoc unicycling team called … Manchester
Uni-Knighted.

-----Original Message----- From: sarah@vimes.u-net.com
[mailto:sarah@vimes.u-net.com] Sent: Thursday, September 23, 1999 9:25 AM To:
unicycling@winternet.com Subject: Re: Uni Pub Crawls

John Childs (john_childs@hotmail.com) wrote:
: What are the legal issues in the UK regarding pub crawls on a unicycle?
Is
: it a risky activity?

Depends where you are riding and if you are in control of your uni or not We
had a short crwal at the BUC, 25 ish uniers riding around a small village in
north Wales, no problem. I suspect that 5 uniers rampaging drunkenly through
a town centre offending peole and endangering other people would attract
police attension

: Over here in the US we would run the risk of getting a DUII (Driving Under
: the Influence of Intoxicants) or a UUII if we tried riding a unicycle from
: pub to pub. They will charge bicyclists with a
DUII
: and I’m sure they would do the same for a unicycle. Blood alcohol content

: for a DUII is typically 0.08% but can vary from state to state.

As far as i know in the UK the charge would have to be drunk in charge of a
pedal cycle, and i beleive that drunk is not definded by blood alchol levels
rather by weather you are able to control your cycle safley. Someone else may
know the pricise wording.

Why, are you planing to come and drink with us brits soon, I ride fairly well
after lots of beer, so long as I can still walk I can uni.

regards sarah

3

Re: Uni Pub Crawls

In article <19990923062723.68587.qmail@hotmail.com>, “John Childs”
<john_childs@hotmail.com> wrote:

>What are the legal issues in the UK regarding pub crawls on a unicycle? Is it a
>risky activity? Over here in the US we would run the risk of getting a DUII
>(Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants) or a UUII if we tried riding a
>unicycle from pub to pub. They will charge bicyclists with a DUII and I’m sure
>they would do the same for a unicycle. Blood alcohol content for a DUII is
>typically 0.08% but can vary from state to state.
>
>I’ve ridden my unicycle to some pubs while in college, but I was always careful
>to make sure that I was able to “drive” home. It’s very difficult to have a
>designated driver when you are on a unicycle.
>

well its a bit of a tradition here at the Uni of York where there are 7 bars on
campus and we doa campus Yike Bar crawl, get very drunk, make balloon models,
juggle, get told off and generally have a good time. we usually have them at
start or end of term (or both!)

Ive been told by a cop to get off my yike when i was pissed (drunk) but that was
cos i didnt have lights :slight_smile:

– Rob.

… Rob Stone,
Dept Psychology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK See Anthony Gatto
perform at 13th British Juggling Convention.
13…16 April 2000 YORK, UK http://www.bjc2k.york.ac.uk/
…

4

Re: Uni Pub Crawls

I imagine the any coppers you met would be more amused than officious. No
accounting for overweening jobsworths though. When I met some police while
practicing (at night without lights) in a busy carpark - they just laughed and
made the usual wisecracks. I hadn’t been drinking though…

Arnold the Aardvark

5

Re: Uni Pub Crawls - Unis and the Law (UK)

This is from the Uni FAQ off unicycling.org. My guess is that you can unicycle
(on the pavement) while drunk – but you could of course be arrested for being
“drunk and disorderly”…

Emil

p.s. hi everyone, i’m new to this newsgroup - i’m from London and i play hockey
with the Lunis…

----------------------------- snip ---- Someone recently posted on
uk.rec.cycling implying that it is legal to ride a bicycle on the pavement (US
Sidewalk) as long as the wheel size doesn’t exceed 20". This got me wondering
whether it was true, and if so what the implications might be for unicyclists.
So, it was back to the library to look through the law books. The Highway Code
goes through the cycling laws and makes it fairly clear that there should be no
problem with riding on the road. But forget about The Highway Code, what it
doesn’t give is a legal definition of a cycle. That’s what I managed to find:

‘“Cycle” means a bicycle, tricycle, or cycle having four or more wheels, not
being in any case a motor vehicle.’

So cycle laws don’t cover a unicycle. There is nothing about unicycles anywhere
in the road traffic legislation. I’m not going to wade through the whole of
English law looking for any reference to unicycling, so if anyone knows of a
reference elsewhere I’d be interested. It seems that it is quite legal to ride a
unicycle on the pavement in England. Does anyone know what the law says in the
rest of the UK?

If anyone fancies getting a copy of this definition (you never know when it
might be useful), my source is:

Halsbury’s Laws of England, 4th edn, vol. 40 (Road Traffic), published in 1983
by Butterworths, London.

Danny Colyer bs1dwc@bath.ac.uk ----------------------------- snip ----

John Childs <john_childs@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:19990923062723.68587.qmail@hotmail.com…
| What are the legal issues in the UK regarding pub crawls on a unicycle?
Is
| it a risky activity? Over here in the US we would run the risk of getting
a
| DUII (Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants) or a UUII if we tried riding
| a unicycle from pub to pub. They will charge bicyclists with a
DUII
| and I’m sure they would do the same for a unicycle. Blood alcohol content for
| a DUII is typically 0.08% but can vary from state to state.
|
| I’ve ridden my unicycle to some pubs while in college, but I was always
| careful to make sure that I was able to “drive” home. It’s very difficult to
| have a designated driver when you are on a unicycle.
|
|
| john_childs@hotmail.com
|
| ______________________________________________________
| Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

6

Re: Uni Pub Crawls

John Childs (john_childs@hotmail.com) wrote:
: What are the legal issues in the UK regarding pub crawls on a unicycle? Is it
: a risky activity?

Depends where you are riding and if you are in control of your uni or not We
had a short crwal at the BUC, 25 ish uniers riding around a small village in
north Wales, no problem. I suspect that 5 uniers rampaging drunkenly through
a town centre offending peole and endangering other people would attract
police attension

: Over here in the US we would run the risk of getting a DUII (Driving Under
: the Influence of Intoxicants) or a UUII if we tried riding a unicycle from
: pub to pub. They will charge bicyclists with a DUII and I’m sure they would
: do the same for a unicycle. Blood alcohol content for a DUII is typically
: 0.08% but can vary from state to state.

As far as i know in the UK the charge would have to be drunk in charge of a
pedal cycle, and i beleive that drunk is not definded by blood alchol levels
rather by weather you are able to control your cycle safley. Someone else may
know the pricise wording.

Why, are you planing to come and drink with us brits soon, I ride fairly well
after lots of beer, so long as I can still walk I can uni.

regards sarah

7

Re: Uni Pub Crawls

On Thu, 23 Sep 1999, Sarah Miller wrote:

> Why, are you planing to come and drink with us brits soon, I ride fairly well
> after lots of beer, so long as I can still walk I can uni.

i tried once… i could uni better than walk… :wink:

> regards sarah
>

Kenny Johansson

8

Re: Uni Pub Crawls - Unis and the Law (UK)

Emil wrote :
> This is from the Uni FAQ off unicycling.org.
Followed by some legal stuff that I posted about 5 years ago.

A couple of years after that, I read about a new law that actually defined a
unicycle and defined to some extent what could and couldn’t be done. I never got
round to looking it up (my local library at the time didn’t have anything to
match the law books I had access to as a student).

Anyone have any useful info on that? The full details, or somewhere I might look
for the full details? Of course one day I may find time to visit the library and
look it up for myself.

–
Danny Colyer (remove your.head to reply) “A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful
to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black,
stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit
that is bottomless” - James I of England on tobacco

9

Re: Uni Pub Crawls

On 23 Sep 1999 13:36:59 -0700, sven2@algonet.se (Kenny Johansson) wrote:

>> Why, are you planing to come and drink with us brits soon, I ride fairly well
>> after lots of beer, so long as I can still walk I can uni.
>
>i tried once… i could uni better than walk…

Tried more than once, but yes ride better than walk.

York Uni’s crawls are more problems with porters than police, but only when
there’s jugggling involved!

Regards, Colin.

10

Re: Uni Pub Crawls - Unis and the Law (UK)

> Emil wrote :
> > This is from the Uni FAQ off unicycling.org.
> Followed by some legal stuff that I posted about 5 years ago.
>
And I responded:

> A couple of years after that, I read about a new law that actually
defined a
> unicycle and defined to some extent what could and couldn’t be done.
I
> never got round to looking it up (my local library at the time didn’t
have
> anything to match the law books I had access to as a student).
>
> Anyone have any useful info on that? The full details, or somewhere I
might
> look for the full details? Of course one day I may find time to visit
the
> library and look it up for myself.

Well, I’ve done it. I started with Halsbury’s Laws of England (the 1995 edition
this time, Road Traffic and Highways), but found nothing about unicycles. I then
went through statutes currently in force from 1987 onwards. I checked the
statutes for Road Traffic, Environment (because I think I read about that above
mentioned law in connection with the Countryside Act) and something else, I
can’t remember what but I thought it might be relevant. Nada.

As far as I could determine, unicycles are mentioned nowhere in English law.
There has been no change to the legal definition of a cycle, meaning a cycle
with 2 or more wheels. Therefore I still interpret English law as effectively
giving a unicyclist the status of a pedestrian.

I could be wrong, I may have missed something, IANAL, if anyone has more
information I’d be interested.

I discovered a couple of other interesting things though. I’d always understood
that cyclists had the legal right to ride on bridleways, but I found a legal
definition of a bridleway as a path where the public had right of way on foot,
or walking or leading a horse, but no other rights of way. I may do more
research on that one.

Also, did you know that you don’t need insurance to drive a car? Deposit £15,000
with the court accountants and you’re covered. I may have misinterpreted that
one, I couldn’t be bothered to read it properly.

–
Danny Colyer (remove your.head to reply) “A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful
to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black,
stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit
that is bottomless” - James I of England on tobacco

11

Re: Uni Pub Crawls - Unis and the Law (UK)

Danny wrote:

> As far as I could determine, unicycles are mentioned nowhere in English law.
> There has been no change to the legal definition of a cycle, meaning a cycle
> with 2 or more wheels. Therefore I still interpret English law as effectively
> giving a unicyclist the status of a pedestrian.

To quote a mail from the news group of several years ago:

> The riders of a pedal cycle are also provided with additional statutory
> rights, such as the right to ride on special cycle lanes on the
carriageway of a
> public road (Traffic Sign Regulations 1994 S.I. 1519, appendix 7) in
> regulation 4. This regulation also contains the definition of a pedal
cycle;

> "Pedal Cycle means a unicycle, bicycle, tricycle, or cycle having four or more
> wheels, not being in any case mechanically propelled…"

I have also talked the Home Office about the legislation that was bought in to
law last year, where a standard fine of £20 for cyclists riding on the pavement
was introduced. The civil servant I talked to believed that the law did include
unicycles, but thought this was not the spirit of the law and asked to be
informed if it were used in this manor. He did not think it ever would be.

Sorry to muddy the water a little bit more.

Roger

12

Re: Uni Pub Crawls - Unis and the Law (UK)

On Tue, 19 Oct 1999 Danny Colyer <danny@mosyour.head.clara.net> wrote:

>Also, did you know that you don’t need insurance to drive a car? Deposit
>£15,000 with the court accountants and you’re covered. I may have
>misinterpreted that one, I couldn’t be bothered to read it properly.

No, you read it right. I believe it’s used by (eg) foreign diplomats who
consider that they do not want to enter a contractural arrangement with a
company acting within UK law.

Airport fire-engines don’t need road fund licence, but can use public roads.

Dunno what it’s got to do with unicycles though.

regards, Ian SMith