While I cannot speak for more than California laws, I just had to correct a few things here. (Note: I am a long time lurker on this board, and my "qualifications" for what I'm going to say are 1) Bar Owner (part owner more exactly) 2) Ex Law Enforcement 3) Someone who has gotten out of 3 DUI's. And before the haters start flaming, I was NOT drunk any one of the 3 times, my ex was killed by a drunk driver, and I do not drive after excessive drinking. I am just shy of 200 pounds and for even me 2-3 beers can show up as .08 BAC depending upon test timing.)
First in response to the topic starter, in California, when you originally get your drivers license you sign away your right to refuse to take any substance test. (I would assume most other places are the same.) You can claim you have an inner ear infection all you want to avoid the breathalyzer, but that would be foolish, bringing us to point two -
Ever wonder why an officer will make take a field sobriety test when even if you pass you still have to take a breathalyzer? Why wouldn't they just save everyone time and go straight to the breathalyzer? Because only 10% of alchohol is digested in the stomach, the other 90% in the intestines, and quite rapidly. Your BAC can go up as much as .0025 per minute after alchohol gets dumped into the intestines (per our training, obviously I cannot verify this, but from what I have seen I would concur.) Anyone who has ever gotten pulled over for a DUI knows how long it takes, giving your BAC even more time to go up. (At one point the average time spent on a DUI stop in my division was 34 minutes, while a domestic violence call only averaged 12 minutes.) In the gentelmans case who had gotten pulled over at 8 am I would agree to get taken in for a blood test as long as it had been more than 3-4 hours since your last drink, as BAC is declining. But for anyone having had any alchohol in the last 3 hours I would always recommend taking the breathalyzer. It will register as a lower BAC at that point, and calibration can be argued by a good lawyer, where as the blood testing results have never successfully been fought to the best of my knowledge.
Other points I would like to make -
While an officer obviously cannot force you to take a breathalyzer, they can and will force you to take get blood drawn. They can and will use physical force if necessary to accomplish this.
Listerine would not work. If a lawyer told you that, it was so they would have an angle to work from (i.e. it was the listerine registering, not beer). People can and do get DUIs over NyQUIL, Listerine would be the same. I have seen people get a DUI for taking a drug which their doctor perscribed, and had no driving indications on it. On the older alchohol saturation tests this may have worked as it would register a level beyond what a human body could sustain, but I would not risk raising the level, what if you were .07 and raised it a point by doing this? Not worth it IMO.
As far as whoever said trying to call an officers bluff and telling him "fine, lets ride down town", unless you live in an area with some serious **** going down you won't win that game. (And if you were in such an area I doubt they would waste time pulling you over in the first place.) Remember that in most places in the U.S. a shift change happens right around 2:00 am when bars are closing, this means you have one of two people who will pull you over 1) Someone looking for overtime, which a DUI provides plenty of (not only that night, but court, etc. and since almost half of a uniformed officers income will come from OT, they would love for you to say this.) or 2) Someone who just got on duty and has a hardon for getting some action. My advice, always take the breathalyzer, don't worry, you'll get your blood drawn if you get booked, and if the blood percentage is lower that is what will be used in court, but as I said, with very rare exceptions the BAC at the station will be significantly higher as more alchohol has had time to digest.
An officer will always ask where you were going to when he is about to give you a DUI test, the correct answer to this is always somewhere within a 2 minute drive. The logic behind this is that if you blow borderline (i.e. .08 - .09), your BAC could have been lower than that while driving had the officer not pulled you over and you reached your destination. (i.e. you are .07, and you would have been .072 had you reached your destination, both within "legal limits", but since the officer held you up your BAC raised above this.) This logic is the one I have seen most successfully argued in court.
Also please keep in mind that as of now, it is not illegal to drive tired. And aside from the smell of alchohol, symptoms are very similar to being drunk. (At least from the officers stand point, red eyes, glossed over, etc.) This is unfortunate I think (though I have no solution), as I personally drive worse after a night without sleep than I do after 3 beers.
And lastly, if CHP hits you with a DUI, you're not getting out of it, so it's probably wise in that case not to waste money on a lawyer. If PD or Sheriff book you I'd say get the lawyer, it will at least lower court fees, and annoy the deputy DA handling your case.
I truly hope that no one on this board would be stupid enough to drive after excessive drinking. Even if it's not you that hurts someone else, you can't react as fast to avoid another driver if they do something stupid. Put your keys in the back seat, and fall asleep in the passenger seat if you refuse to leave your car there.
First in response to the topic starter, in California, when you originally get your drivers license you sign away your right to refuse to take any substance test. (I would assume most other places are the same.) You can claim you have an inner ear infection all you want to avoid the breathalyzer, but that would be foolish, bringing us to point two -
Ever wonder why an officer will make take a field sobriety test when even if you pass you still have to take a breathalyzer? Why wouldn't they just save everyone time and go straight to the breathalyzer? Because only 10% of alchohol is digested in the stomach, the other 90% in the intestines, and quite rapidly. Your BAC can go up as much as .0025 per minute after alchohol gets dumped into the intestines (per our training, obviously I cannot verify this, but from what I have seen I would concur.) Anyone who has ever gotten pulled over for a DUI knows how long it takes, giving your BAC even more time to go up. (At one point the average time spent on a DUI stop in my division was 34 minutes, while a domestic violence call only averaged 12 minutes.) In the gentelmans case who had gotten pulled over at 8 am I would agree to get taken in for a blood test as long as it had been more than 3-4 hours since your last drink, as BAC is declining. But for anyone having had any alchohol in the last 3 hours I would always recommend taking the breathalyzer. It will register as a lower BAC at that point, and calibration can be argued by a good lawyer, where as the blood testing results have never successfully been fought to the best of my knowledge.
Other points I would like to make -
While an officer obviously cannot force you to take a breathalyzer, they can and will force you to take get blood drawn. They can and will use physical force if necessary to accomplish this.
Listerine would not work. If a lawyer told you that, it was so they would have an angle to work from (i.e. it was the listerine registering, not beer). People can and do get DUIs over NyQUIL, Listerine would be the same. I have seen people get a DUI for taking a drug which their doctor perscribed, and had no driving indications on it. On the older alchohol saturation tests this may have worked as it would register a level beyond what a human body could sustain, but I would not risk raising the level, what if you were .07 and raised it a point by doing this? Not worth it IMO.
As far as whoever said trying to call an officers bluff and telling him "fine, lets ride down town", unless you live in an area with some serious **** going down you won't win that game. (And if you were in such an area I doubt they would waste time pulling you over in the first place.) Remember that in most places in the U.S. a shift change happens right around 2:00 am when bars are closing, this means you have one of two people who will pull you over 1) Someone looking for overtime, which a DUI provides plenty of (not only that night, but court, etc. and since almost half of a uniformed officers income will come from OT, they would love for you to say this.) or 2) Someone who just got on duty and has a hardon for getting some action. My advice, always take the breathalyzer, don't worry, you'll get your blood drawn if you get booked, and if the blood percentage is lower that is what will be used in court, but as I said, with very rare exceptions the BAC at the station will be significantly higher as more alchohol has had time to digest.
An officer will always ask where you were going to when he is about to give you a DUI test, the correct answer to this is always somewhere within a 2 minute drive. The logic behind this is that if you blow borderline (i.e. .08 - .09), your BAC could have been lower than that while driving had the officer not pulled you over and you reached your destination. (i.e. you are .07, and you would have been .072 had you reached your destination, both within "legal limits", but since the officer held you up your BAC raised above this.) This logic is the one I have seen most successfully argued in court.
Also please keep in mind that as of now, it is not illegal to drive tired. And aside from the smell of alchohol, symptoms are very similar to being drunk. (At least from the officers stand point, red eyes, glossed over, etc.) This is unfortunate I think (though I have no solution), as I personally drive worse after a night without sleep than I do after 3 beers.
And lastly, if CHP hits you with a DUI, you're not getting out of it, so it's probably wise in that case not to waste money on a lawyer. If PD or Sheriff book you I'd say get the lawyer, it will at least lower court fees, and annoy the deputy DA handling your case.
I truly hope that no one on this board would be stupid enough to drive after excessive drinking. Even if it's not you that hurts someone else, you can't react as fast to avoid another driver if they do something stupid. Put your keys in the back seat, and fall asleep in the passenger seat if you refuse to leave your car there.
