Anyone who has been caught and arrested on a DUI charge will likely find the entire process very difficult and stressful. Additionally, with the reported increase in accidents involving drivers under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances, authorities are doing their best to prosecute all violators. To demonstrate that a person is driving under the influence of alcohol, the police officer who made the stop has the option of asking the driver to take a roadside field sobriety test or to use a breathalyzer. A first course of action may be the field sobriety test, which involves simple tests such as walking in a straight line, lifting one foot off the ground, touching the tip of the nose, etc.
However, these tests are not entirely reliable and the most widely used option is the breathalyzer. A field breathalyzer is quick to use and basically involves breathing air into a device that is analyzed to determine if the driver has consumed too much alcohol to be on the road.
While breath tests are the preferred method of assessing blood alcohol concentration at a roadside stop, they are not as reliable or accurate as blood tests. But, for the case of DUI investigations, it is considered an acceptable option, as long as it is administered in the correct way.
Breathalyzer tests are not complicated and are a useful piece of portable equipment for analyzing a sample, but the result generated by this device may not be as reliable as authorities would like you to believe. In fact, neither the BAC (blood alcohol content) spectroscopic test nor the breathalyzer test has been reported to be 100% reliable. This is primarily related to the fact that alcohol does not affect everyone equally, with many people being able to consume quite a bit and still not be drunk.
Although the test may give a positive indication that the BAC reading is high, this does not actually confirm that the driver was under the influence of alcohol while in control of his vehicle.
Scientific studies have been conducted regarding the accuracy of breath alcohol tests, and their conclusion was that they are inherently unreliable. These studies have indicated that breath readings can be up to 15% outside of actual blood alcohol levels.
So in the event of being arrested on a DUI charge, you really don’t want the result of a breathalyzer to be the defining factor that determines the sentence issued. The best course of action is to contact a reputable and qualified DUI attorney who can use their knowledge of the law to help combat this crime.
A DUI charge is a felony that has the potential to result in a variety of legal consequences, which may include a jail term, attending alcohol or drug awareness classes, participating in community services, having to pay a high fine or the loss of your driver’s license. There are situations in which the penalty imposed is more severe, such as having a minor on board at that time or not being the first offense.
In the approach to defending the DUI charge that involves a breath analysis, any qualified criminal defense attorney will be aware that there could be several operational and theoretical problems. There are a variety of factors that can lead to the results of the blood alcohol test being considered unreliable and try to show that this type of data is not enough to process. By using an attorney, it is possible to get the bottom line with a closed case or a minimized sentence.