e
l . ran
Capitm News Service
LAN I G- By Michigan.
. St te Police standards, drunk is
drunk.
Even stone-cold sober, the
only important difference be­
tween the two instruments MSP
use to measure drunkenness is
human error. But one of the in­
stru nts - soon to be headed
for dive rviee, promises to
eliminate that difference.
Breathalyzers, which have
been used in the state since
1967, chemically compare two
air mples. On sampl is the
air' the room and the other'
bre thed into the m chine by a
driver who is suspected of being
drunk.
The instrument automatical­
ly converts the breath alcohol
into blood alco 01. There .
practically no difference be­
tween the Breathalyzer
m ure and a blood te t.
The infrared lntoximeter
3000. which will be fully tc ted
in Kalamazoo County next
month, USC!; energy fr m light to
ccomplish the same ta k. .
Legally. both the lntoximeter
nd the Breathalyzer arc admi -
sible in cou as evidence of in­
toxication. However, with the
Breathalyzer the opportunity
Cor police to dial-a-drun or
tamper with a su peer' reading
i at ys there.
Th Intoximeter i complete­
ly automatic and require' only
th pu h of a tart button to take
the breath alcohol mea ure.
There is no way that a police of­
ficer, uspect, or anyone el c
could tamper ith the
Int imctcr's result ,according
to MSP.
Breathalyzers ta e between
20 and 30 minutes to run two
te t The administering officer
. must top after the fir. t test,
purge the machine. and then
run the second test. The In­
toximeter takes only five
minutes and the machine
automatically purges itself.
Dr. Ronald Thill, mamagcr
of MSP's Bre th Alcoh VDrug
Tc ling program id the In­
toxirnctcr is more economical
than the Breathalyzer because it
lake. fe er man-hours to run
the test. However, to th driver
who blov into the machin • the
di tinction will not be obvious.
"How's (the lntoximeter)
going to benefit. the drun
dri cr? He won't kno the dif­
ference' .. Thill said. "Ho s it
going to benefit the State of
ichigan? T e arresting officer
can get back to his normal
duties quic cr."
B ide the time it tak s to
run the test, police offi r will
not have to pend the extr
h ur in court t tifyin about
o
drun
I
driver
BREATHAlYZER
. I TOXIMETER
Breathalyzer
Infrared
Coet per
at
'12
'2
(2 aarnplea)
T
n
t
20-30
5minu
(2
Age of inatr
t
54 YIn
v-
Alt
Operation
tic
T
proof
Yea
�cy
the use of the equiptment.
II As far court testimony on
the part of the officer, what can
How
By lEN IFE ELiZANETH
F K
Qy!,;taJ News Service
(Editor's Note: Jennifer
Elizabeth Frank is Ii grtUbuUe
student in t�,e Michigan Stale
University School of 'Ioumalism.
Her area of speciatiuuion i
criminal justice and law enforce-
ment.} .
LA S1 G- Four shots of
vodka in 50 minutes ould ccr­
tainly lighten a girl' . mood, but
it might not make her drunk,
even if he'. only 5 feet tall and
128 pounds,
She could easily recite - or
even sing - the alphabet, and
counting b' ckw rds from 30
would be a real scream. Heel­
to-toe, left aft�r right, wa1king
straigh line is effortless.
Her nose is just ere she
kft it, even with her eyes closed.
he testify bout?" Thill said. "He
pressed a start button and told
someone to blow. Man-hour
drunk
She finds it quickly and with a
gracefrl weep of the rms,
touch it with her index fing rs,
Excep for the loud giggling
and bawdy joke , no one would
have suspected that the police
officers - and J - were drunk.
Even' the Breathalyzer missed
it. .
The officers - about 30 of
them - were learning to use
Breathalyzer equipment and
present its evidence in court
during a 32-hour Michigan
State Police training program at
Mt. Pleasant. Dr. Ronald Thill,
who man ge MSP's breath-al­
cohol program, invited me to
participate n I called to re­
search my tory.
As "guinea pigs," about 15 of­
ficers and 1 drank for an hour
and then spent the next two
being tested. I was given 128
milliliters of vodk: - about one
milliliter per pound - which I
gladly mixed with orange juice.
According to calculation, that
amount �as upposed to make
me legally drunk.
Every 10 minute for the next
two <hours, an officer would at­
tach a terile mouthpiece to the .
rubber hose on the breathalyzer
unit. He would hold it as I blew,
hands clasped behind my back
as though I were suspected
criminal.
In Michigan, a per on is con- .
idered legally drun with' a
blood alcohol content (BAC) of
. 10 percent. The level for im­
pairrnent is .08. Drunken
drivers with a BAC of .10 per-
· cent are considered to be
QUIL, operating under the in­
fluence of liquor, and would
face automatic revokation of
their licen e if caught.
time in court would be
reduced."
The officer who administers
the lntoximeter test pushes a
start button and then enters in­
formation about the suspect
and the arrest. Once the infor-
. mation is knownm, the com­
puter tells the officer to have the
suspect blpw into the mouth­
piece connected to a tube on the
machine.
The computer takes a couple
of minutes to give a re ding.
purges the machine, then tells
the officer to have the suspect
blow again. If the second read­
ing is more than 10% higber or
lower than the first reading. the
computer automatically asks
for a third test.
Once completed, the In-
•
IS
toximeter types a printout
which the officer can take to
court as evidence. Bre thalyzer
depends on the officer's ac­
curacy to record the test by
hand, and later enter it into a
computer.
Police agencie in
Kalamazoo County will begin
using the lntoximeters in about
a month .. If there are no
problems in Kalamazoo Coun­
ty, the rest of the tate will plug
into the system which har its
main computer in East Lan ing.
Infrared bre th alcohol tech­
nology' about 10 years old and
44 states are already using it.
drunk?
My BA ' peaked at .0 8
about half an hour after I�y first
test, It stayed in th .( range
for m re than an hour, before it
began its decline to sobri ty.
During the peak of my
drunkenne , I felt relaxed
and comfortable. The sober of­
ficers in the room showed me
some of the sobriety test they
administer on the road. I easily
be able to tell how many
pede trians were anding by
my r. Ju t because I wasn't
legally drunk, didn't mean I w�
afc to drive.
Bethany Goodm n from
Mothers Against Drunk
Dr iver s said sh wa not
surprised that during th t t - .
ing. I felt uncomfortable at th
pr peel of driving a car.
passed all of them, except for
the one which tested my
peripheral vision.
An officer told me to focus
on the pen he held in front of my
nose. He moved t e pen out
toward my ear and told me to
follow it without turning my
head. At the very edge of my
peripheral vi ion, I could no
longer focus and suddenly aw
two pens.
According to the officer, my
eye didn't move as smoothly a,
they would have if I wer sober
and he gue cd that my BAC
would be over the .10 limit.
While hi gue was wrong,
the test blew my alcohol-in­
duced confidence th t I could
outwit any of thest officer on
the road. I knew I could walk,
talk, b lance nd touch my
no e, but I w n't sure if I would
"Alcohol in the body affects
activiti s on a lowoevcl, uch ,
reaction time, judgement and
peripheral vi ion," Goodman
said.
William Lopez of Bay City
was apparently overlooked by
the 17-year-old girl who car
caused hi death. The girl, who
blew only a . 4 on the
breathalyzer, made a weeping
turn into a Krnart parking I in
o coda late n a July vening in
1987 and hit Lopez' motor-
ycle head on,
Lop z, 22, I oft t 'hind thre .
children, ag '!-. (" ,and 1. Hi ...
mother, Anna Lopez of Sa
'ily, ha. cu tody ol p "z' eld­
e t on, now . Anna. aid . he
believe that I wering th ) gal
BA would deter p opl fr m
driving drunk, and would
I Conunu d on p