VIC breath vs blood alcohol test

[Scruff]

sorry yes I meant kgs.

Thought that might be case. It's a difficult question, but I'll have a crack at it.

Can you answer these:
1. How many drinks you had? (we're stuffed if you can't remember that one)
2. The time you started drinking? (if you don't know, try to remember what time you went out, then add how long you estimate it took to get there and how long you waited before you started drinking - that should give a close enough start time)
3. The time of the accident? (this should be easy - it should be on the paperwork from the Police)
4. The time of the breath test? (same as #3 - if you don't have this one, we'll just add 45 mins to #3)

If you can answer those questions, then you can calculate how many drinks it would have taken to get to a particular BAC level - and it should be pretty close too, because having that info along with the breath test result, means that you can calculate the required number of drinks based on the rate you were actually absorbing alcohol at the time.

Mate I'm willing to bet you're gonna get a lower reading on the blood test. Keen to hear the result though...

That's got me really curious too.

With intake stopped 45 mins earlier; the blood test 1.5 to 2 hours after the breath test; and the fact that most people burn off alcohol at around the same rate (regardless of body size), I calculate that the blood test should return a BAC of around 0.078 to 0.086. So I'm really interested to see if it's actually within that range.

 

[sammy01]

I reckon it will be... I wonder if the police prosecution will make a big deal of the fact that 0.078 would put you in low range... What then? Will they make mention of the fact that clearly you were higher than that at the time of the crash? let us know how you go.

 

[Scruff]

I wonder if the police prosecution will make a big deal of the fact that 0.078 would put you in low range... What then?

That's a really good point Sammy.

0.11 puts the OP is in the range 0.10 =< 0.15.
We've been looking at the next range up, which is 0.15 or higher, which is 0.04 away.
But the next range down now appears more likely, which is 0.07 =< 0.10 - which is only 0.01 away.

There's also another thing. The OP stopped intake sometime before driving, but we don't know how long that was - so there's additional burn off time there as well. If the time between the last drink and the blood test was around 3 hours or more, then the blood test could return a result under 0.07, dropping the OP two ranges instead of one.

I don't think it will happen, given the time and result of the breath test, but it's not impossible either. It really comes down to how the OP's absorption rate changes over time (which is different for everyone) and that depends on a whole bunch of things, including how much you eat before and/or while drinking - stomach contents are a big part of it. The big "but" though, is that both absorption and metabolism were both already occurring long before the breath test, which is why I think dropping two ranges is unlikely - these things were already in play at the time of the first test. It's certainly a fun topic to explore though.

@Bea - Stay on top of the blood test. You should make sure you get the results as soon as possible and well before your court date. If the results are ouside the range to 0.10 =< 0.15, then I would advise engaging a lawyer straight away because it puts you into a different penalty bracket.