Can We Rely Drunk Driving Breath Tests?

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by Maria Palma

Drunk driving defense lawyers and law enforcement have been constantly battling the reliability of drunk driving breath tests. Lawyers believe that we can't depend on breathalyzer tests because most of the time these devices detect other chemicals in the body and mistake them for ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, a compound found in alcoholic beverages. A person could be found to have a high blood alcohol content (B.A.C.) when in fact there is very little if any ethanol in his body.

Many of the breath tests used today by law enforcement are infrared breath analyzing devices. They are not as reliable or accurate as blood tests, but these devices have been accepted as standard instruments to find out if someone has had too much to drink.

The main issue presented is that these breath analyzing devices are not designed to detect the molecule of ethyl alcohol. Most breathalyzer tests can only find a presence of a part of that molecule. The breathalyzer test assumes that the methyl group is part of an ethyl alcohol compound. Think about the different compounds that are found on someone's breath. Isn't it possible that the breathalyzer instrument could mistake a combination of these compounds as ethyl alcohol?

This leads to the problem that approximately 70 to 80 percent of compounds found on a person's breath contain methyl groups and in order for someone to be convicted for a DUI, the prosecution must show beyond a reason of a doubt that ethyl alcohol was in the body at the time of the breath test. The prosecution must provide proof that the ethyl alcohol is responsible for the results produced by the breath analyzing instrument.

There has been much research to prove that breath alcohol analysis is certainly not enough to be used in the courts to convict someone for a DUI. Moreover, there have also been many studies conducted to prove that breath tests are not as reliable as blood tests. In one study, members of the toxicology section of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene discovered that only 33 percent of the breath test results correlated with corresponding blood tests. What is most profound about this study is that in 11 of the cases, the defendant was shown to be intoxicated using one of the tests but not intoxicated when using the other.

The question remains: Who really stands to gain from these breath analyzing machines? Is is the manufacturers who sell these devices to law enforcement? How do we know that these manufacturers have indeed developed perfect machines? Machines are only as perfect as the humans who have created them. These devices are run by computers and we all know that computers can often break down or have technical issues. Law enforcement says that we should put our faith in these machines to provide accurate results, but can we truly rely on them?

Maria Palma is a freelance writer committed to helping people with their San Diego DUI. Make sure to hire a professional and experienced San Diego DUI lawyer.

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