Why care about alcohol breath testing standards? Annually, about 900 persons are charged with OVI in Massillon Municipal Court alone. Most defendants have breath alcohol testing used against them as the state’s sole evidence of impairment.
On February 18, 2008, the National Safety Council (NSC) established "Acceptable Practices for Evidential Breath Alcohol Testing". The NSC is a non-profit, charitable public service organization dedicated to educating and influencing people to prevent accidental injuries and deaths.
NSC recommends (GREAT ADVICE BY THE WAY): “If you are drinking, do not drive. If you plan to drink, designate a non-drinking driver. Support the strengthening and vigorous enforcement of impaired-driving laws. These laws save lives. Young drivers are at particular risk to be involved in alcohol-related crashes. If there is a young driver in your family, strictly enforce a zero tolerance policy with alcohol.”
Ohio fails to meet national NSC standards on many levels; two most critical are:
1) Dual breath alcohol testing. Ohio law only requires one test for use in court. NSC recommends: “breath alcohol measurements should be conducted on at least duplicate independently exhaled end-expiratory breath samples.” Aren’t we always taught to measure twice and cut once? The same applies here—to ensure that the results agree.
2) Concurrent instrument checking. Ohio law only requires an instrument check once every seven days. NSC recommends: “at least one control analysis should be performed as a part of each subject test sequence as an assessment of within-run accuracy and/or verification of calibration.” Didn’t we learn in high school science that every experiment needs a control? The same applies here—to ensure that the machine is functioning properly at the time of the breath test, not within a week before or after.
So how reliable are breath alcohol test results in Ohio? Scientifically, the results are not reliable. Shouldn’t our legal system keep up with science?
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