When other countries (notably Europe) use roadside ‘Breathalyzer’ test machines? It seems a high-functioning drunk could get away with DUI in the US, when they wouldn’t in France or the UK?
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There are two main reasons. The first is that a roadside breath test only detects alcohol but a driver can be impaired by other substances.
The second is that the actual results of a roadside breathalyzer are generally inadmissible in a criminal trial outside of specific circumstances. Normally an officer can only testify that the PBT detected the presence of alcoholic beverage, not the actual number. I was a local cop at two different agencies, neither issued PBTs for this reason.
Case law in the US considers the roadside olympics to be more accurate than the roadside breath test.
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