Factors That Can Affect Blood Alcohol And Sobriety Test Accuracy
Many individuals may have health conditions which can act as contributing factors to obtaining innacurate results in breath or blood alcohol tests. Diabetes causes a change in metabolic reaction products to produce acetone and other chemicals in the digestive tract which are released in the breath. This may give an unusual odor to the breath. Alcohol may not be converted as quickly into other products and may take longer to leave the blood. Oral conditions such as periodontal disease, dentures, and faulty bridge work can cause alcohol to be trapped in the mouth and give erroneuosly high readings on breath analyzers. Gastric reflux disease can cause alcohol to be sent up into the esophagous from the stomach, increasing the concentration of alcohol on the breath. Other challenges to breath tests are: the users ongoing failure to operate, maintain, or calibrate the device or machine; tests implemented when the subject's body temperature was above 98.6 degrees; and tests performed within 2 hours of last drink.
The test subject's phyical have a significant impact on their performance of field sobriety tests. If the detainee is weakened by conditions such as the flu, fever, pre-menstruation or menstruation, cardio-pulmonary disease, inner ear infections, leg, head or back injuries, even attention deficit disorder, these conditions may act as challenges to field sobriety test results. Other factors can also contribute to a sucessful challenge to a determination of intoxication based upon results of a field sobriety test such as: the failure of the officer to use standard NHTSA tests; failure to instruct the subject properly on how to perfom tests; the officers lack of training on how to administer tests; and the possibility that the officer administered the tests under poor conditions.
The test subject's phyical have a significant impact on their performance of field sobriety tests. If the detainee is weakened by conditions such as the flu, fever, pre-menstruation or menstruation, cardio-pulmonary disease, inner ear infections, leg, head or back injuries, even attention deficit disorder, these conditions may act as challenges to field sobriety test results. Other factors can also contribute to a sucessful challenge to a determination of intoxication based upon results of a field sobriety test such as: the failure of the officer to use standard NHTSA tests; failure to instruct the subject properly on how to perfom tests; the officers lack of training on how to administer tests; and the possibility that the officer administered the tests under poor conditions.