A scenario
THIS IS BY FAR the most popular question on drink driving.
What the person is really asking is whether they’ll be over the limit after just one drink?
I mean, surely you can have one glass of wine with friends before you collect the kids later, right?
Don’t blame me: this is what people ask.
"But you’ve made a fatal miscalculation.
You’ve assumed that the roadside device
tests whether you’re over limit or not.
It doesn’t.
You blow into the device.
A green light now appears showing the word “FAIL”.
Imagine you’ve had that drink, picked up the kids, and come to a checkpoint.
You’re a little uneasy -after all you’ve had a drink- but it was only one drink about a half hour ago.
You should be under the limit, right?
Not an unreasonable assumption, I’ll grant you.
The Garda asks you to provide a roadside breath test.
They use a small handheld device, attach a new mouthpiece to it and ask you to blow into it.
But you’ve made a fatal miscalculation.
You’ve assumed that the roadside device tests whether you’re over limit or not.
It doesn’t.
You blow into the device.
A green light now appears showing the word “FAIL”.
The roadside breath device is not scientific.
Its job is to detect whether there is alcohol on your breath, not whether you are over the limit.
Now you’ll be arrested.
That’s 100% guaranteed: you will be taken away in a patrol car or possibly in a cage (yes, a cage) in the back of a patrol van.
Then you’ll be taken to the station to be tested.
It’s entirely possible that the test in the station (which is scientific) will reveal that you were under the limit after all.
The breath testing device will show definitively whether you’ve exceeded the legal limit or not.
Same for blood/urine tests.
But by the time you find that out you’ll have spent at least an hour in custody.
Longer if you have to wait for a doctor or nurse to arrive.
And what about your kids?
What happens to them if you’re arrested at the roadside?
In many cases the Garda will allow you to make a call to get someone to collect them at the scene before leaving.
You cant leave them on their own after all.
But think of the trauma they’ll experience while you wait in a Garda car or van.
And what if you can’t get through to someone?
Other traumas now lie ahead.
BECAUSE YOU WERE arrested on suspicion of drink driving with children in the car, the Garda will make an automatic referral to TUSLA, the child and family agency.
You’ll be getting a visit from them at some point.
And if you’re separated from the father or mother of your children, expect them to rush straight back into the family law courts.
So, can you have one drink and drive?
You already know.
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