Random breath tests

MarinoMark

Came across 2 road checks recently, Even though I was not drinking I was planking it !!!...What it the machine is dodgy etc....Paranoid or what ?

Doctor DooM

Happened to me on Sat, first time, on my first provisional, shouldnt have been driving alone... shickked brits! was ok though.

wyk

I would rather see random breasts tests.

Doctor DooM

wyk wrote:

I would rather see random breasts tests.

I'd become a Garda reservist and volunteer for this duty. I answer Irelands call!

Mahatma coat

over here when the cop pulls you over the first thing they do is breathalyse you, its kinda a little less random cos ya know that if they stop you they'll breathalyse ya.

then there are RBT's which are just checkpionts on the road like you outlined above.

it does act as a deterent to drink driving IMO

Jigsaw

That is certainly a deterrent alright. Points are ****e.

Tighten him.

Reku

MarinoMark wrote:

Came across 2 road checks recently, Even though I was not drinking I was planking it !!!...What it the machine is dodgy etc....Paranoid or what ?

AFAIK even if the machine beeps positive they have to bring you to the station to use a better one and I think they take a blood sample too, so you might get a lot of hassle that time (i.e. there go your plans for the day/night) but you won't get convicted unless you are actually over the limit.

Sizzler

What gets me is ...they are random breath tests but yet when they set up a checkpoint they invariably test everybody that drives through it for the 20 minutes or so they have the checkpoint set up.

Hardly a random test if everybody gets tested ! I've seen it happen on Stephens Green!

Frisbee

I dont mind them personally.
I've been breathalysed at checkpoints twice and stopped once. Probably because of the 'L' plates in all honesty though...
It's better to have them than have eejits drink driving...

mise_me_fein

I know someone who had 5 pints and was ok coz he said he had a packet of orbit chewing gum. It said he just chewed on the whole pack and it only looked like he drank a bottle on the yoke. Happy days.

BeansMeansHynes

I got stopped about two minutes from my house last month on the way to work. Think it was 8.30 of a Friday morning. Was really terrified even though I wasnt out the following night or anything plus the bus stop full of people across the road staring at me didnt help!! I think the random testing is great and should be done more often.

Black Swan

Yikes!
*B!ue throws away alcohol-based mouth wash!*

_blank_

You should try not to be nervous at these things.

Studies in America have shown that the hormones released into the human system when feeling nervous break down in the blood the same way as alcohol does, and can give a positive reading on the breath checking machines.

jazoo

A guy i work with was stopped just down the road from our work he had just put in a 12 hour shift, he was breath tested and he failed the test.to his shock he said to the garda that he had not been drinking he was in work all day.Garda scratches his head says ok we will do it again test shows negative....The realy funny thing about this was that 2 weeks later he was pulled over again and the same thing happened, but the garda wasnt very happy this time,there is a flaw with them machines im all for random breath testing but they have to get it right.

Mahatma coat

do they have them in all the cars yet?

thats where I think it makes the difference, the knowledge that regardless of what it is the cop stops you for - speeding, runnin a light, even a dodgy indicator, the first thing they're gonna do is breathalyse you

Sizzler I dont think they mean random like that, more a caseof one can pop up at random, anywhere anytime.

mise_me_fein

jazoo wrote:

A guy i work with was stopped just down the road from our work he had just put in a 12 hour shift, he was breath tested and he failed the test.to his shock he said to the garda that he had not been drinking he was in work all day.Garda scratches his head says ok we will do it again test shows negative....The realy funny thing about this was that 2 weeks later he was pulled over again and the same thing happened, but the garda wasnt very happy this time,there is a flaw with them machines im all for random breath testing but they have to get it right.

That's why it's called RANDOM Breath testing

beans

mise_me_fein wrote:

I know someone who had 5 pints and was ok coz he said he had a packet of orbit chewing gum. It said he just chewed on the whole pack and it only looked like he drank a bottle on the yoke. Happy days.

Our survey says...

Wasn't there some sort of study done and it was discovered that random breathalysers have brought down the level of drink driving?

rubadub

mise_me_fein wrote:

I know someone who had 5 pints and was ok coz he said he had a packet of orbit chewing gum. It said he just chewed on the whole pack and it only looked like he drank a bottle on the yoke. Happy days.

They did all those tricks on mythbusters and they didnt work.

Drinking 5 pints does not mean you are over the limit etiher, it is all estimates. It is blood alcohol level. If an anorexic dwarf drank a half pint they might be over the limit.

Oriel

In the North/UK police aren't allowed to perform random breathalysers tests. They must have a suspicion that you have been drinking before doing so.

Trojan911

It is possible the machines were showing positive because the tube you blow into had not been changed and the person prior had drink taken. Always look to see the officer put a new tube on before you blow. Insist on a new tube if in doubt.

TJ911...

Reku

Trojan911 wrote:

It is possible the machines were showing positive because the tube you blow into had not been changed and the person prior had drink taken. Always look to see the officer put a new tube on before you blow. Insist on a new tube if in doubt.

TJ911...

If not for the sake of the test for the sake of hygiene! :eek: (seriously, have any of you seen someone so drunk they actually drool all over the place!? Euuch!)

ejmaztec

Oriel wrote:

In the North/UK police aren't allowed to perform random breathalysers tests. They must have a suspicion that you have been drinking before doing so.

One of my old bosses in the UK got pulled over because they said that he was weaving about a bit. That was in the days of the bag. They got a positive reading. He said "I wasn't weaving, you know!". The cop (with a big grin on his face) told him that it didn't matter whether he was or not, because they had him anyway.

seamus

farohar wrote:

AFAIK even if the machine beeps positive they have to bring you to the station to use a better one and I think they take a blood sample too, so you might get a lot of hassle that time (i.e. there go your plans for the day/night) but you won't get convicted unless you are actually over the limit.

Indeed. If the machine beeps this is sufficient to arrest you on suspicion of drink driving. Then they bring you down the station and the Garda can choose to have you provide a sample of your breath or a physical sample, or both. You can choose whether you want to give blood or urine, when asked.

Incidentally, failing to give breath, blood or urine are in themselves specific offences and you don't have to test positive on the breathalyser to be arrested on suspicion.