Before arresting you on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, officers are likely to ask you to provide a breath sample for roadside testing. If the testing device indicates you have a blood alcohol concentration over 0.08%, you may face criminal charges.
Questioning police technique can be awkward. Still, if you can show your breath test results are not reliable, you may avoid the many consequences that often accompany an impaired driving conviction. Here are some reasons you may want to distrust your breath test results.
You eat a specific diet
Breath tests work by registering the amount of alcohol in your bloodstream. Unfortunately, though, testing devices may struggle to distinguish between booze and certain foods. Eating ripe fruits, protein bars and even dairy products may interfere with the test.
Likewise, if you have a specific diet, such as the popular ketosis one, your body may produce ketones or other chemicals that a testing device mistakenly thinks are alcohol.
You have medical conditions
Indigestion, acid reflux and GERD may cause acid to build up in your stomach. Like with ketones, the testing device may confuse acid with ethyl alcohol. Similarly, the medicines you take to treat certain illnesses may confuse the testing device. This is especially true if medication has alcohol as an ingredient.
Along with cold medicine and cough syrup, inhaled albuterol may lead to false-positive test results.
You use personal hygiene products
In addition to measuring the alcohol in your system, the testing device may also detect ambient alcohol. If the personal hygiene products you use have alcohol in them, the test’s results may not be valid.
Accordingly, before providing a breath sample, you should tell the officer about your hygiene products, medical conditions, diet and anything else that may interfere with the test.
