Do Personal Breathalyzers Prevent or Promote Drunk Driving?

Alcohol breath testing isn’t just for law enforcement anymore. One of the hottest tech items of 2014 was the personal breathalyzer. The small, handheld devices display the user’s breath alcohol concentration (BrAC), either on the item itself or by connecting to a smartphone app. In addition, some of the apps provide options to call a cab, contact a friend for a ride, or locate the nearest hotel.

Priced at $40–$150, the devices are marketed to the general public as an “accurate tool” for drinkers to track their drinking habits and evaluate their level of intoxication. And the devices are taking off in stores and online. One of the largest brands, BACtrack, states their devices are available at 15,000 retail outlets.

But the devices are coming under fire from a number of fronts. For starters, critics are concerned the devices could actually promote harmful levels of drinking by encouraging people to see just how drunk they can get, or to try to top their friends’ readings. Some users report incorporating the devices and BrAC readings into drinking games, and some devices that connect to smartphones even include games in their apps.

Equally troubling, the accuracy of the devices is questionable. A Fortune reporter recently tried out several of the most popular models and found they gave wildly different readings—varying as much as 0.03% from one brand to another. Other media outlets have had similar findings, with personal breathalyzers providing readings below those produced by corrections-grade breath alcohol testers.

That’s a problem when people may rely on portable breath testers as a guideline for driving. Law enforcement agencies and drunk driving advocates share that concern. The manufacturers state that people should not make driving decisions based on a reading. However, users who miss the fine print are likely to see a number of less than 0.08% as permission to get behind the wheel, even if they feel impaired.

Are personal breathalyzers a useful tool to help people better understand how their bodies react to alcohol, or could they actually encourage excessive drinking and impaired driving?

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4 Key Thanksgiving Driving Tips to Prevent Getting Arrested for Los Angeles DUI

Thanksgiving should be a time for celebration, communion, and reconnection with friends and loved ones. However, as we discussed in an adjacent post, the day before the Thanksgiving is also the worst day of the year for Los Angeles DUI arrests and accidents. So how can you protect yourself, your loved ones and other people on the road from injuries (and worse) this holiday? Here are 4 tips.

1.    If you are going to drink, make a plan well in advance of partying.

Studies suggest that once someone is the throe of merrymaking, judgments tend to go out the window. After you have already had two or three drinks is not the time to start to think rationally about how to get home. You need to “pre think” your exit strategy by identifying a designated driver in advance, hiring a taxi cab or just walking from place to place.

2.    Be careful to avoid walking while DUI as well.

Most people assume that if you walk instead of drive after consuming alcohol, you should be fine. However, as authors Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt point out in the book SuperFreakonomics, when you crunch the numbers, walking under the influence is, mile per mile, potentially more even dangerous than driving under the influence. The reason is that, when you make bad decisions as a pedestrian – particularly at night if you are wearing dark clothing — you can easily get seriously hurt or killed. If you are in a car and you get into collision, you at least can hopefully rely on the car’s safety mechanisms, like airbags and seatbelts, to protect you against the worst of the impact. As a pedestrian, you have nothing shielding you.

3.    Pay attention to near misses in the past.

Have you ever gotten into a DUI wreck before? Do you plan to hang out with anyone who has been arrested for that crime or who has gotten into serious injury accidents? The best predictor of future accidents is past driving behavior. Pick up on clues left by the past, so that you can more effectively manage your own behavior and minimize risk. For instance, say your cousin Arnie comes to town and wants to go bar hopping with you. But you know that cousin Arnie has two DUI priors on his record; you might want to aggressively suggest that everyone take a cab.

4.    Organize Thanksgiving events in a way that requires less driving overall.

One of the best ways to prevent problems is to negate temptations altogether. For instance, maybe you and your family typically go out to a restaurant that serves copious amounts of alcohol. Consider changing your plans this year, so that you all stay at someone’s house, so that you are not tempted to drink and then get behind the wheel.

For help dealing with the aftereffects of a crash or arrest, call a qualified Los Angeles DUI attorney with the Kraut Law Group today for a free consultation with a former Deputy District Attorney with nearly two decades of experience fighting on both sides of these types of cases.

If police stopped you for Los Angeles DUI, you may be worried and anxious. Contact Harvard Law School educated, ex-prosecutor Michael Kraut for assistance at (323) 464-6453 or online. Our team is located at 6255 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 1480, Los Angeles, California 90028.

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Magic City Classic Raises Awareness to Prevent DUI Accidents

Football season on college campuses means parties and drinking, which can also result in drunk driving and dangerous accidents. Alabama State University and Alabama A&M University students are familiar with the annual football battle between the two schools in their traditional Magic City Classic week.

The festivities mark one of the biggest celebrations in Birmingham, attracting tens of thousands of fans statewide. One family who lost their son in a Magic City drunk driving accident 21 years ago has used the occasion to raise drunk driving awareness and to prevent future accidents and injuries.

In Leeds and throughout the state, parents, administrators, and safety advocacy groups, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board are encouraging students to be drug and alcohol free this season. If students do decide to take part in drinking activities, they are encouraged to drink responsibility. MADD has made it a priority in Alabama and nationwide to raise awareness and to help prevent underage drinking and driving accidents. The last week of October is also known as “Red Ribbon Week,” a time for supporters to join together to curb incidents of impaired driving.

Drinking and driving poses hazards on the road, but it can also be a life-changing event for those behind the wheel. Our Birmingham drunk driving defense attorneys are experienced in helping college students and their families navigate the criminal justice system.

We know that a DUI can shift a student’s academic and professional career. Our priority is to help college students defeat or reduce drunk driving charges and penalties in the event of an arrest. We also hope to raise awareness to prevent future drunk driving arrests, accidents and injuries.

For students facing DUI charges, experienced counsel and advocacy can help to prevent serious penalties and fines, including jail time, loss of license and lost future job opportunities.

Sadly, drunk driving accidents have impacted the lives of thousands of residents in Alabama. Most of us know someone who has been involved in a DUI or who knows someone who has been affected by a drinking related accident.

According to federal statistics, there are 5,000 alcohol-related deaths every year, including under aged drinking, drinking and driving and related accidents.

MADD and State Farm Insurance partnered together this year to raise awareness to fight drunk driving, and representatives from the Alabama ABC Board warned students of the legal consequences of underage drinking and drinking and driving.

This football season, students should remember the law and their rights. The legal drinking age is 21 in the state of Alabama.

ABC board launched an initiative last year known as “Under Age, Under Arrest,” which targeted underage drinking and binge drinking. While underage consumption and DUI are a significant safety hazards, persons arrested and charged for either offense should also remain aware of their rights. Challenging a DUI allegation is critical to prevent getting overcharged or over-penalized for a drinking and driving offense, especially if the driver was underage or involved in a car accident.

If you have been arrested for DUI in Birmingham, call Defense Lawyer Steven Eversole at (866) 831-5292.

More Blog Entries:
Penalties Will Increase for Fatal DUIs, Feb. 8, 2014, Birmingham DUI Defense Lawyer Blog

New DUI Defense: Too Drunk to be Prosecuted? Oct. 12, 2013, Birmingham Underage DUI Defense Lawyer Blog

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What group is against ignition interlock to prevent DUI? (Hint – it isn’t DUI Lawyers!)

A night on the town could be a thing of the past

As a DUI Lawyer in Orange County, I try to keep ahead of developments in breath and blood testing.  But technology from the automotive world might be a game changer as far as how DUI s might be handled, or prevented, in the future.

Several automotive manufacturers have been meeting with, partnering with, and developing experimental technology to detect alcohol, including alcohol emitted from the skin in sweat through the steering wheel, or from the breath.

In 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched a 5-year campaign to develop ignition interlocks as standard equipment in all vehicles. NHTSA and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety—which is funded by auto manufacturers—have budgeted $10 million to solicit research and development on the widespread use of this in-vehicle technology.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has asked Congress for another $60 million to be allotted annually for alcohol detector development.  So there is big money behind this.

The group opposing this?  It’s the American Beverage Institute, which fears this would prevent people from going out for even one drink.  Of course, as my fellow Orange County DUI Lawyers know, a machine is only as accurate as the maintenance, calibration and margin of error for the device allows it to be, assuming no deviations from standards.  Garbage in, garbage out, as they say, and in this case, a false positive or machine malfunction could have serious consequences to the driver.  The Beverage Institute’s newsroom is here at:  http://abionline.org/newsroom.cfm?t=inthenews

By the way, if you want to to be kept in the know for the latest DUI checkpoints, check out this blog frequently, or subscribe to the Orange County DUI Checkpoints Blog, or like our Orange County DUI Checkpoints Facebook page.

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Alcohol, American Beverage Institute, Driving under the influence, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, orange county, Orange County California, orange county dui arrests, Orange County DUI Attorney, orange county dui attorneys, orange county dui checkpoint locations, orange county dui checkpoints, orange county dui lawyer, orange county dui lawyers

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 19th, 2012 at 11:42 am and is filed under Dui Checkpoints, DUI News, DUI politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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