The dangers of cheap breathalysers

Parker’s, producers of the Car Price Guide, have warned that thousands of motorists risk losing their licences and endangering the lives of others because they rely on the cheap do-it-yourself breathalysers which have become widely available – especially over the Internet.

The testers, which are mass-produced to low standards to make them as cheap as possible are, police state, mostly useless in indicating whether a driver is under or over the limit and as a result could be providing many drivers with the false security that they are fit to drive when in reality they are not.

The police say many motorists have bought the cheap devices from shops and garages in the mistaken belief that they tell them if they are safe to drive. Most give false readings more often than not because the efficiency of the devices falls away almost immediately after they have been used for the first time with the result that incorrect readings are produced. Many are able to be affected by the slightest contamination.

Parker’s, in conjunction West Yorkshire Police and Medacx (who supply breathalysers to around 20 per cent of UK police forces) tested a range of inexpensive devices and compared the results obtained with those from the West Yorkshire Police’s own Home Office-approved equipment. Not only did all of the ones tested fail to match the reading of the police machine, but more worryingly more than half gave a “safe-to-drive” reading when the official equipment showed the user to have more than the legal limit of 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres in breath. Anyone trusting these machines may not be fit to drive, which could result in a failed police breath test and potential arrest.

From a driver’s point of view it should be borne in mind that the fact that a handheld breathalyser has been used and relied upon will be no defence in court if the driver subsequently fails a police breath test – even where the device was used in good faith. The fact that drivers test themselves before getting into a car and drive in reliance on that test will have no bearing on the court case whatsoever. Those stopped for drink driving will, as a very minimum, lose their licence for 12 months and if death results then they are potentially facing a 14-year prison sentence.

The advice from keepmedriving is that you should not drink and drive at all. There is no safe limit as such since people respond differently to alcohol and what might be acceptable to one person need not be to another. The only safe way is to save the money you would have spent on a breath test machine and put it towards the cost of a taxi instead. It is not worth risking your licence and someone else’s life.

If drivers have been charged with an offence of drink driving, they should contact keepmedriving immediately for professional legal advice and assistance.