Alcohol and Driving - Walk Test and Breathalyzer

Alcohol content in the blood is usually measured by blood levels and by far this is the most accurate. However for convenience other test methods maybe used including the

• Walk Test

• Breathalyzer

Walk Test: In the walk test the suspect is asked to walk in a straight line since one of the initial effects of intoxication is lack of coordination and staggering. However with the advent of new technology sophisticated instruments such as breath analyzers are used to detect the BAC.

Breathalyzer is an instrument that is used to measure the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC). This instrument has a few flaws and some of the factors, can give a false positive result. Blood alcohol level is by far the most accurate method of measuring the amount of alcohol consumed.

Some people who drink believe that by using substances like breath mints, breath spray, mouthwash and onions they can fool the machine to show lower BAC. Although this may fool a person, it does not change the BAC, which will show up on the machine.

There are also a few legal provisions on the use of these instruments as various models have their own shortcomings. However hand held models can give a broad indication of the BAC.