Virginia Body Temperature Affects the Breath Test

It has been well established that breath testing devices suffer from a variety of flaws. One basic assumption these devices rely on is the subject’s body temperature. For example, if you had a fever and took a breath test, the results may have been artificially inflated as a result of your fever. This is certainly an issue to be concerned with, if you were sick at the time you were accused of DUI.

How does law enforcement determine intoxication?
Law enforcement use field sobriety tests, chemical tests, or a combination of the two to estimate a suspect’s blood alcohol content (BAC). In Virginia, .08 is the legal limit for a typical driver 21 or older. Virginia primarily utilizes chemical breath tests to determine an accuser’s alleged BAC, but will occasional draw blood instead.  Unfortunately, the machine used in Virginia to test an accuser’s breath is plagued with many flaws.

Let’s suppose you have been sick. While driving home you’re stopped by a police officer and suspected of DUI. They have you breathe into a breath testing machine as any other suspect would. Unfortunately, what the machine doesn’t know is that your body temperature is not the same as an average healthy individual. Without that basic assumption being met, the results could be totally fallacious. You may not know this and the officer may not either. Assuming your blood alcohol tests results are as valid as most others, the arrest continues as usual.

Defend and possibly eliminate your DUI charge!
If you feel that your breath test results could be false, it is important to discuss this with a DUI lawyer promptly. There are many factors that can influence and invalidate results from a Breathalyzer or similar machine. Any type of stomach, throat, or mouth condition needs to be disclosed with your DUI attorney. There’s a chance they may have resulted in an artificially high breath test result. Boone Beale can work with you on this issue and all of the other concerns you have relating to your DUI charge. This is a serious matter. Not only is your license is at stake here, your livelihood is! Contact Boone Beale today!