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Lawrence Newman, DWI Lawyer
504 N. Aurora Street
Ithaca, NY 14850

       Phone: (607)229-5184
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WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE BREATH TEST

Tompkins County uses the BAC DATAMASTER machine for breath testing to measure (BAC) blood alcohol concentration levels. This Machine utilizes INFRARED LIGHT passing through a sample chamber (where the breath is passing through) and/or electrically charged “plates” (fuel cell devices) which attract and “count” ions of alcohol as their “measuring” tool. Like all “machines,” all breath testing devices are subject to variance, from systematic error, random causes, or mere sampling variability endemic to all breath testing devices.

The BAC DATAMASTER is a computer based on old technology. The
brains of this machine is a microprocessor which was introduced in the 1970s, more than 30 years ago. The microprocessor was the basis for some of the very first home computers and video games. In fact, this computer chip is the same chip that ran the old Atari video games.

After a person is arrested for DWI in Tompkins County, an officer will ask them to blow into a breath tube which leads to a breath sample chamber. The machine shines a light source (a light bulb) through this sample chamber. The filter wheel spins at the other end of the breath tube chamber. The
infrared light causes the alcohol molecules to "vibrate" or "absorb" light at a particular frequency. The filter wheels are "designed" to filter out potential contaminants. The machine filters out some contaminants better than others.

The amount of the breath sample and any reading of alcohol are very
small. (Between 81.4 ml and 82.2 ml). The machine must make a multiplication conversion to an amount great enough for us to understand. The difference in light emitted and received is computed through a computer program in the machine to come up a value that can be compared to a .08.

The machine is calibrated to assume that everyone tested will have a
blood/breath ration of 2100/1 (i.e. 2100 parts of alcohol in the breath for every 1 part of alcohol in the blood). If a person has a higher blood/breath ratio (i.e. 2400/1), the test will not be adversely affected by this assumption. However a person with a lower blood/breath ratio will be adversely affected because the machine will erroneously read too high. Thus, a person who should test at .05 or .06, could actually test well above a .08 Additionally, scientists have documented people with blood/breath ratios as low as 1100/1.
This ratio is merely an average and this ratio can vary from person to person and day to day in the same person. You should know that the temperature and your state of health can affect what the machine reads, and your body temperature has nothing to do with the amount of alcohol you may have or have not consumed. A person with a fever will have a higher breath test reading than an identical person without a fever. A person with bronchitis or an athlete will all have different readings on this machine.

There is much debate about the accuracy of this machine and the prosecutor’s expert will state that the machine will only read light absorbed by alcohol. We now know that the machine often misreads other substances commonly found in the breath as alcohol, thus giving an inaccurately high reading. Even more disturbing is the fact that the manufacturer of this machine does not warrant it for any particular purpose. The machine is not warranted for accurate and reliable breath testing.


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