Criminal Law (1 viewing) (1) Guest
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Topic History of: Breathalyzer Question
Max. showing the last posts - (Last post first)
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LK311
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A little off topic, but I came accross this bulliten from the NHTSA when they are doing there national crackdown campaign on drunk drivers a couple of weeks ago. Its interesting to me because it reads like a script. Just thought I would share it.
National Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. Crackdown
August 15 through September 1, 2008
Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. (August 15 through September 1, 2008) is an annual nationwide enforcement effort to crack down on impaired driving and reduce roadway fatalities. The law enforcement effort is supported by $31 million in national and State advertisements funded directly or indirectly through Congress. The national ads, produced by NHTSA in English and Spanish, are targeted to young male drivers and motorcycle riders who are the most common perpetrators of this deadly crime.
Key Messages:
 Impaired driving is a deadly crime that’s still prevalent throughout America and is especially common among young males age 21 to 34.
 To crack down on impaired driving — which is especially common in the summer — police in every State and most U.S. towns and cities will be out in record numbers from mid-August through Labor Day (August 15–September 1).
 More than $30 million in State and Federal funds will be spent on radio and television advertising in support of this year’s Labor Day impaired-driving crackdown. Also, $20 million will be spent to step up police enforcement.
Statistics:
 All 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have established a threshold making it illegal per se to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or higher.
 Yet nearly 13,500 people in 2006 were killed in U.S. highway crashes involving a driver or motorcycle rider with an illegal BAC of .08 g/dL or higher, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics.
 In 2006, 6,471 passenger vehicle drivers 21 to 34 years old were killed in motor vehicle crashes. Of those, a total of 3,158 (49%) had illegal BACs of .08 or higher.
 Alcohol impairment among drivers involved in fatal crashes was four times higher at night than during the day (36% versus 9%).
 Thirty-one percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes on weekends were alcohol-impaired, compared with 15 percent during the week.
 In 2006, 32 percent of motor vehicle driving fatalities involved a driver or motorcycle rider with a BAC of .08 or above — an average of one fatality every 39 minutes.
 The percentage of drivers with BACs of .08 or above involved in fatal crashes in 2006 was highest for motorcycle riders (27%), followed by drivers of light trucks (24%) and passenger cars (23%).
 Forty-one percent of the 2,007 motorcycle riders who died in single-vehicle crashes had BACs of .08 or above.
 The age groups of 35 to 39 and 40 to 44 were those with the highest percentages of impaired (BAC of .08 or higher) motorcycle riders killed in fatal crashes — 41 percent and 39 percent, respectively.
Soundbites:
 Impaired driving is not an accident — it’s an epidemic of careless disregard for human life.
 Each year, more than 13,500 die on our roads due to impaired driving. That would be equal to more than 33 jumbo jets crashing each year.
 No one should ever get that late-night phone call from the police telling you your loved one has died due to an impaired driver.
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norton
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You can call the state police and they will tell you, or if you get a client ask for the information, model number and components of the machine and they have to disclose it to you.
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Samantha
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how do you find out if any given state maintains this core memory or not?
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norton
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The states that do not participate in the memory "dump" portion of the machine make it almost impossible to test the credibility of the machine. It would seem you could use that to make the machine results inadmissible, but this drunk driving stuff is such a sensitive issue these days that no judge is willing to be the one that let a potential drunk driver off the hook. Does not seem fair.
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Sumo
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There are few experts on this but, each state has a contract with a company that produces these things, there are two or three. Each state determines if they want a feature which is basically a long-term memory of all the breath tests taken. A state, and many do, opt not to have this memory, meaning it is basically impossible to test the long term functionability of the machine. Without this core, you are limited to the immediate test and cannot sample it against others. You are left with calibration records, but are not able to tell if an error occurred between calibrations. The prosecution experts somehow claim their machine is 100% accurate. If you can beleive that. its all a scam. There is no such thing as a 100% accurate machine. I have played with this argument before.
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et non
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The breathalyzer machine is not 100% accurate. They're supposed to perform regular maintenance on it and keep a log documenting such maintenance. They often either forget to do the maintenance, or forget to fill out the log. Make them produce that log in court. Ask about the calibration for the Breathalyzer machine itself, the testing log for the breathalyzer and the operator's certification. The machine should be calibrated once a week, if i remember correctly.
Supposedly, if the breath contains alcohol, it reacts with the chemicals to create a result. But ask if things other than alcohol cause this reaction. Ask if the officer is familiar with how long it takes the body to absorb the alcohol (anywhere from 5 minutes to 4 hours). Ask for any notes relating to the administration of the test.
Then ask technical questions about how the test was administered. Go throught the manual itself and make sure they didn't miss a step.
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