A Breathalyzer exam is conducted to help officers and law enforcement agencies to count the BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) count of a suspected DUI violator. By law, and all of the 50 states have a proscribed amount of BAC, in the state of Florida, a legal BAC count is 0.08. Any figure above that is considered a DUI offense.
A DUI Breath Test is significant to both the defense and the prosecution. It can be used to prove that you are intoxicated and/or impaired. On the other hand, our attorneys will help you use this DUI Breath Test result to fight your offense. Such results are often considered inaccurate and are therefore ‘weak’ in the playing field of a DUI case. Great legal advice should take into consideration the different angles of breath testing and whether you should submit to the Breathalyzer or not.
Basic Breath Test Protocols
A DUI Breath Test is usually done before the actual arrest. The test is usually requested after you perform the other
common DUI tests on the roadside where you were pulled over. Sometimes the breath test is also conducted at a stationary machine in a law-enforcement building after the arrest. The arresting officer is required to inform the DUI suspect that the test is optional and not mandatory.
Types of DUI Breath Test:
Preliminary Breath Testing – PBT
A preliminary breath test is when a law enforcement officer requests you to blow and breathe into a hand-held Breathalyzer device The result of the initial test will determine whether or not you passed the legal percentage of 0.08% BAC. If you blow a blood alcohol concentration over the 0.08% this is considered a fail and the officer will most likely arrest you. You will then be asked to complete further chemical testing to back the DUI Breath Test. These results are then used by prosecution to build a case against you and confirm that the arrest was legal on all counts.
Breath Testing – Evidentiary
During this part, brands such as CMI (Intoxilyzer), National Patent Analytical Systems and Drager come into play for further validation and verification of test results.
Retain Your Driving Privileges
Not being able to drive and having your license suspended are just two of the possible outcomes if you refuse a Breathalyzer exam. Experience is everything. Our DUI lawyers in Jacksonville have successfully helped clients with license suspensions. How the breath test was obtained and the results administered are crucial aspects of every DUI case; our lawyers are thorough and take every step possible to make sure your individual rights were not violated during sobriety tests.
DUI Breath Test Realities
Submitting to a breathalyzer spells out “error” in most cases. Here’s why: Breathalyzer results are not 100% accurate. They are considered inconsistent. During a sobriety test, results are already affected by subjective influences, making it questionable whether the DUI breath test was truly needed or valid. It has been proven that breath results achieve a huge margin of error.