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Kjesse · 12-12-2017, 12:09 PM

In law school a couple decades ago, while being oriented to do trials for all kinds of offences including impaired driving, we had a seminar from a breathalyzer technician.

The law school had us place our alcohol orders, and on a Friday afternoon starting at 4:00, the seminar started and our alcohol orders were provided. We started drinking while listening to the breath tech who taught us on how the machines work. He had a couple roadside screening devices and a full sized machine for us to play with during the lecture.

The technology behind the machines is very precise but the main machine in particular must be calibrated using ampoules of an alcohol solution at a particular temperature. It was clear the roadside devices were somewhat accurate but a properly calibrated full sized machine was very accurate, and also more things could go wrong with the reading given the steps one would have to take to get a valid reading on the full sized machine.

Anyway, my point is, in the class (about 12 of us) we were all surprised at how much you had to drink to hit 0.08. All of us were showing visible and obvious signs of impairment well before hitting that number, and even getting there took some effort. Some in class never hit 0.05 but still would never be in shape to drive. One person was behaving as if they were ####-faced and blew 0.03.

As the night rolled on we wanted to see what it took to get to an even greater level, and a couple of us started having shots of whisky. You wait the required 20 minutes to get rid of the mouth alcohol and blow, and I managed to hit around 0.13 by the end, and I was plastered, as in, I'm not going out tonight, I'm going to bed. EDIT: one guy took a shot and blew right away, something like .4.

In the weeks that follow, we start getting the cases rolling in. People coming in with readings over 0.2 while insisting they only had a "couple beers".

It was an eye-opening experience.

If you're a seasoned drinker I've come to understand you might not show visible signs of impairment even at 0.08, but in general, if you follow the BAC charts, they tend to be loosely reliable even though people eliminate alcohol in their blood at different rates.

You want to err on the side of caution, and make absolutely certain you are not over 0.08 and also not over 0.05.

The handheld breathalyzers you can buy are not that reliable.

In all cases if even in slight doubt, never drive.

12-12-2017, 12:09 PM	#15
Kjesse Retired Join Date: Oct 2003 Exp:	In law school a couple decades ago, while being oriented to do trials for all kinds of offences including impaired driving, we had a seminar from a breathalyzer technician. The law school had us place our alcohol orders, and on a Friday afternoon starting at 4:00, the seminar started and our alcohol orders were provided. We started drinking while listening to the breath tech who taught us on how the machines work. He had a couple roadside screening devices and a full sized machine for us to play with during the lecture. The technology behind the machines is very precise but the main machine in particular must be calibrated using ampoules of an alcohol solution at a particular temperature. It was clear the roadside devices were somewhat accurate but a properly calibrated full sized machine was very accurate, and also more things could go wrong with the reading given the steps one would have to take to get a valid reading on the full sized machine. Anyway, my point is, in the class (about 12 of us) we were all surprised at how much you had to drink to hit 0.08. All of us were showing visible and obvious signs of impairment well before hitting that number, and even getting there took some effort. Some in class never hit 0.05 but still would never be in shape to drive. One person was behaving as if they were ####-faced and blew 0.03. As the night rolled on we wanted to see what it took to get to an even greater level, and a couple of us started having shots of whisky. You wait the required 20 minutes to get rid of the mouth alcohol and blow, and I managed to hit around 0.13 by the end, and I was plastered, as in, I'm not going out tonight, I'm going to bed. EDIT: one guy took a shot and blew right away, something like .4. In the weeks that follow, we start getting the cases rolling in. People coming in with readings over 0.2 while insisting they only had a "couple beers". It was an eye-opening experience. If you're a seasoned drinker I've come to understand you might not show visible signs of impairment even at 0.08, but in general, if you follow the BAC charts, they tend to be loosely reliable even though people eliminate alcohol in their blood at different rates. You want to err on the side of caution, and make absolutely certain you are not over 0.08 and also not over 0.05. The handheld breathalyzers you can buy are not that reliable. In all cases if even in slight doubt, never drive. Last edited by Kjesse; 12-12-2017 at 12:15 PM.