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Breathalyzers: Accurate Beyond a Reasonable Doubt?

By Lawrence Taylor

I?ve written repeatedly in the past about the inaccuracy and unreliability of the various breath machines used to estimate blood alcohol concentrations.  See, for example, How Breathalyzers Work (and Why They Don?t), Why Breathalyzers Don?t Measure Alcohol and Breathalyzer Inaccuracy: Testing During the Absorptive State.   Yet, our MADD-influenced laws increasingly ignore scientific evidence and rely upon these machines to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt — assisted by more laws that now presume guilt based upon a reading over .08% from one of these machines.  See Whatever happened to the Presumption of Innocence?.  Even more laws presume that the blood-alcohol level at the time of testing was the same as when driving, say, three hours earlier...continue to full post

Full post as published by DUI Blog on May 28, 2008 (boomark / email).