Breath Test..

Teledude · 17 May 2006 at 14:04

Not wanting a thread about child killers etc just a quick question

Do police need to be in uniform to carry out a road side breath test?

chrislusty · 17 May 2006 at 14:08

Not sure, but if you refuse a breath test you get a ban.

G.O.A.T · 17 May 2006 at 14:24

In theory you should never be in the posistion to need to know this.

Teledude · 17 May 2006 at 14:25

Thanks for the random replys

Sp00n · 17 May 2006 at 14:27

G.O.A.T said:
In theory you should never be in the posistion to need to know this.

In theory you should never be in the position to get pulled over... but it happens.

I'm pretty sure any copper can give you a breath test but they have to have good reason to do so.

[TW]Fox · 17 May 2006 at 14:27

G.O.A.T said:
In theory you should never be in the posistion to need to know this.

Why not? It is often routine to breath test everyone involved in an RTA, even non-fault drivers.

G.O.A.T · 17 May 2006 at 14:33

[TW]Fox said:
Why not?

Well if you drink enough you probably can't tell the difference.

needmorespeed · 17 May 2006 at 14:47

chrislusty said:
Not sure, but if you refuse a breath test you get a ban.

no you dont you get arrested and taken to the station for a blood or urine test

chrislusty · 17 May 2006 at 15:01

A friend of mine just got a 12month ban for refusing to give another breath test, he had giving four, one was borderline, the other three didnt register.

He refused a breath test at the station, and he was charged for not doing the test.

stoofa · 17 May 2006 at 15:19

needmorespeed said:
no you dont you get arrested and taken to the station for a blood or urine test

Which you can also refuse.

happytechie · 17 May 2006 at 16:13

and the penalty for refusing to perfomr a blood test is the same as that for DD iirc. the roadside test is only used as an indicator I believe and it's the blood test (which they can back track in time to test how drunk you were 3 hours ago etc) which is used in court.

Paul

Freefaller · 17 May 2006 at 17:07

I was stopped about 5 years ago - just a random check, this was on the way home from a dropzone and I did have a couple of people in my car who had been drinking. They felt it best to test me just to be safe, obviously I was fine, as was my driving. They were very professional and nice about it - which is no surprise, they also let me know of a speed trap they had setup further down the road which was nice of them.

They were in uniform however. I'm sure an undercover traffic cop car has every right to do a breath test, but I don't think there would be many undercover cops bothering to do that sort of thing? A lot of unmarked cars are driven by uniformed officers.

stoofa · 17 May 2006 at 17:13

However as I feel that anybody who is over the alcohol limit and behind the wheel of a car should instantly have their license taken away and never returned and a few months at Her Majesty's pleasure I'm all for cops uniformed or not being able to carry out the tests - and also to be able to continue with the random tests.

Freefaller · 17 May 2006 at 17:14

stoofa said:
However as I feel that anybody who is over the alcohol limit and behind the wheel of a car should instantly have their license taken away and never returned and a few months at Her Majesty's pleasure I'm all for cops uniformed or not being able to carry out the tests - and also to be able to continue with the random tests.

Agreed. I *hate* drink driving. There is just no excuse for it at all.