'Morning After' Information

Morning After Information

How Breathalysers Work

The AlcoSense™ breathalyser measures the concentration of alcohol vapour in a persons breath. Contrary to popular belief the alcohol is not coming from residue in the person’s mouth but is actually evaporating from the blood that passed through the lungs when breathing. The amount of alcohol evaporating from the lungs is directly proportional to the amount of alcohol in the persons blood stream making it possible to accurately judge the persons level of intoxication.

How Alcohol Is Processed by the Body

When you drink, alcohol is absorbed into the blood stream through the stomach and small intestine. The more you drink the more is absorbed. After approximately one hour the alcohol is distributed equally around the blood stream.

As blood flows round the body around 90% of the alcohol it contains is broken down in to water and carbon dioxide by the liver in a process called oxidation. The remaining 10% of the alcohol is passed through the lungs and kidneys. A healthy liver typically breaks down alcohol at a rate of one hour per unit of alcohol but the more alcohol that is consumed the longer it can take for the liver to process each unit.

When you stop drinking your level of intoxication may stay constant or if you have been drinking heavily it could even increase for around 2 hours afterwards. This is because of the time it takes for alcohol to reach the bloodstream from the time you actually had the drink. If you have eaten food this can also increase this time as the release of alcohol into the bloodstream can be slowed by being absorbed by the food in the stomach. This is the reason why we do not recommend the use of this breathalyser just after finishing drinking because there are so many factors that influence the reading. The ideal time is the morning after.

The Crashes

On average 3,000 people are killed or seriously injured each year in drink drive collisions
Nearly one in six of all deaths on the road involve drivers who are over the legal alcohol limit

Police Breath Testing

17% of all drink drive prosecutions are in the morning
Half a million breath tests are carried out each year
On average 100,000 are found to be positive
40% of people are estimated to have driven the morning after, unaware they are still over the drink drive limit

The Body

There is no way to guess when you are fit to drive again
The legal limit in the UK is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. (0.80‰ BAC)
There is no failsafe guide as to how much you can drink and stay under the limit
It depends on many factors including the type of alcoholic drink, your weight, sex, age, food intake and metabolism
Alcohol affects your ability to judge speed and distances and increases your reaction times dramatically
People who drive at twice the legal alcohol level are at 50 times more likely to be involved in a fatal car crash

The Law

Minimum 12 Month Driving Ban
Up to 6 months in prison
Up to £5,000 fine
An endorsement for a drink-driving offence stays on your licence for 11 years
The penalty for refusing to provide a specimen of breath, blood or urine for analysis is a maximum 6 months' imprisonment, up to £5000 fine and a driving ban of at least 12 months
Causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison, a minimum 2 year driving ban and a requirement to pass an extended driving test before the offender is able to drive legally again

Cheap Breathalysers Exposed by Fleet News - AlcoSense Commended

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Fleet News and Parkers tested a number of cheap breathalysers and has blown the wistle on their lack of accuracy. AlcoSense on the other hand was commended.

Hunter Abbott, Managing Director of AlcoSense called for legislation and safety standards to be created for breathalysers which will ban dangerous models on the market.

Quoted in Fleet News and Parkers, Hunter Abbott said: “We desperately need to see regulation of [personal use self-test] breathalysers in the UK. At the moment there’s a free-for-all and there’s no test for accuracy or consistency, which means anyone can sell a device in the UK as a breathalyser – it doesn’t actually have to be accurate. When you are potentially talking about the difference between life and death regulation is imperative.”

To read the full story click the link below:

http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/External_Link/?sl=http://www.parkers.co.uk/drive
http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/story/?nID=48871