Do Breathalyzers Work? Are They Accurate or Not? Can Breathalyzers Be Fooled?

August 9, 2010 0 Comments

For a myriad of reasons to ensure safety on the road, you can be pulled over by the police when you’re out driving. You might be speeding, having a hard time maintaining the proper lane position or even driving with a broken taillight or failing to signal correctly. Because of these and many other acts, the police might think that you’re driving under the influence.

When you’re suspected of driving under the influence, the police will have to question you at your vehicle, ask you to submit to a field sobriety test and ask you to take a field breath test. To determine if you’re really driving under the influence, police officers carry with them breath testing machines called breathalyzers. With this little gizmo, it can be determined if your blood alcohol level is above the legal limit that’s set in the state of Nevada.

For the great service these little gadgets provide society with determining if a person accused of DUI is guilty or innocent, the readings on breathalyzers are taken as strong determinants. However, there has been a question as to these devices really working. Do they give accurate readings on BAC levels? In the state of Nevada, the traffic police carry the Intoxilyer 5000. It has been seen that determination of blood alcohol content using this device has many hazards. The devices have to be well maintained to ensure that it gives accurate readings and it should be used properly in order to get the right BAC level.

With regard to breathalyzers working, this has been the bone of contention in that these devices are incapable of distinguishing ethanol from other chemicals on your breath. If for example, you’re taking some kind of medication, it can affect your breath in that you get a false positive reaction. With the way the some police officers use the breathalyzer, they might be holding their finger over the exit port on the device while taking your BAC reading. This increases the reading up to 0.08 or more, leading to another false positive that could hurt your DUI case.

It has also been said that you can fool a breathalyzer if you’ve been out drinking by the way you breathe into the machine. Studies show that if you hold your breath for 30 seconds before exhaling, you get a higher blood alcohol level reading. So if you hyperventilate before breathing into the breathalyzer, it can give a lower read figure for your BAC.