BY BREATHALYSER I'M assuming you mean the device that the Gardai use at the side of the road?
And not the one that they use in the Garda station?
Ok then.
Firstly, you need to understand something about the Drager roadside breath device: they’re not very scientific.
Let me explain.
"The Gardai may even cheerfully tell you that its “your lucky day”.
Which, in a way it is, but by the time they tell you that
you’ll have been arrested and spent possibly an hour or more in custody.
That does rather 'put a dampener' on one’s night as they say"
The Drager device’s job is to detect whether or not there is alcohol in your breath.
That’s it.
They don’t tell whether you are scientifically over the limit or not.
That’s the job of the breath testing machine in the station (Evidenser) or the specimen of blood or urine that’s taken/provided in the Garda station.
But here’s ‘the kicker’, as our American friends say: if the roadside Drager device detects alcohol in your breath you will be arrested on the spot and taken to the Garda station.
You read that right: if you fail the roadside breath test you will be arrested.
You might provide a specimen of breath later in the Garda station that’s under the limit.
If that’s the case, you won’t be prosecuted for drink driving.
The Gardai may even cheerfully tell you on your way out of the station that its “your lucky day”.
Which, in a way it is, but by the time they tell you that you’ll have been arrested and spent possibly an hour or more in custody.
That does rather 'put a dampener' on one’s night as they say.
"How long will two beers show up on a breathalyser?
Its impossible to say with certainty, but if you have two
bottles (330mls) of beer, it will take your body
2 hours to process that.
That’s according to Drink Aware, the national charity
that works to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse".
SO EVEN THOUGH you may have been under the legal limit you will still be arrested at the roadside if you fail that breath test.
Because remember, the Drager device doesn’t determine whether you are over the limit or not, just whether there is any alcohol in your breath.
How long will two beers show up on a breathalyser?
Its impossible to say with certainty, but if you have two bottles (330mls) of beer, it will take your body 2 hours to process that.
That’s according to Drink Aware, the national charity that works to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse.
But the alcohol might be detectable in your breath for 3 or 4 hours.
So if you have two bottles of beer by 10pm and come to a checkpoint at 12am you should be under the limit, but you may fail the breath test.
Sitting in a Garda station making small talk while you wait for a doctor to arrive isn’t as much fun as it sounds you know…