Reader’s Question:

A friend of mine was charged with DWI here in Paterson, New Jersey after failing the breath test that he took when he was arrested. What I need to know is that, what are the guidelines that the operator of the breath test machine needs to follow? I’d like to find out these things in case the operator made mistakes, maybe my friend can use it as his defense.

Elton

Paterson, NJ

There has been some reported errors over the years in the breath test machines and these errors could have committed at the time of your friend’s testing when he was arrested for DWI in Paterson, New Jersey. Police officers are supposed to follow certain guidelines that direct the operator on how to avoid mistakes due to temperature.

The simulator solution of the breath test machine has to be kept at 34 degrees centigrade, plus or minus .02; otherwise, it would give inaccurate results. An example is that a decrease of one degree would cause a 6.8 percent decrease in the amount of alcohol, providing an inaccurately higher blood alcohol content (BAC) reading for tested breath samples. The human factor would further render the results unreliable as an operator is supposed to check the thermometer attached to the simulator. The sample chamber also needs to be heated to exactly 50 degrees; this must be monitored by the machine’s computer. Lastly, if the breath tube was not properly heated to 50 degrees, condensation could form in the tube, capturing alcohol during a test. So it would be possible that alcohol residue would show up in later breath samples from a previous DWI suspect’s test.

Tags: blood alcohol content, breath test, DWI, DWI lawyer