No one wants to get charged with drunk driving, and everyone understands that they’re not supposed to drive when they are over the legal limit. This limit is lower for commercial drivers or underage drivers, but most adults simply have to adhere to a blood alcohol content of 0.08%. The police can give you a breath test, a blood test or a urine test to see where this level is. Breath tests are some of the most common devices.
As such, people sometimes wonder if they should just buy their own portable breath test. They could then put it in the car and test themselves before getting behind the wheel. As long as they come in at 0.07% or under, they assume that they can drive without the risk of arrest. But is this a good idea?
There are 2 main problems
There are two issues with this, the first being that a personal breath test is not admissible in court. If you get pulled over, and the police administer a breath test that comes in at 0.09%, you can’t pull out your own device and its 0.07% reading to prove that you were not impaired.
The second thing to remember is that you can get a DWI even if you are not over the legal limit. If the police can show that you were impaired at 0.07%, they can still push for a DWI conviction. That doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed, but you also don’t want to assume that simply being under the legal limit means you have no risk.
Exploring your options
If you are facing potential drunk driving charges, be sure you know exactly what steps to take and all of the legal defense options you have.