Contents
The rules of the road prohibit drivers from driving while intoxicated at any stage. This was not done in vain, since alcohol can provoke a person to lose control over the situation, deprive him of a sense of reality and cause an inadequate reaction to many things. To allow this while driving is like allowing a kamikaze to complete its task in an overcrowded place.
It is also impossible not only to get behind the wheel of a drunk person, but also to transfer control of a vehicle to a drunk person is also a violation of the law. In order to prove that a really drunk person was driving the car, some amendments were made to the legislation. Now, to confirm the fact of drunkenness and identify the level of intoxication on the road, it is necessary to undergo an independent examination for alcohol intoxication.
How is the evaluation
If during the examination alcohol was detected in the driver’s body, the law provides for a fine for this. However, if the direction for examination was provoked by gross violations of traffic rules, then the responsibility of the driver becomes no longer administrative. In some cases, such behavior is interpreted by the courts as a deliberate crime against the health and life of people. If the traffic police suspect that the stopped driver is drunk, he is sent for a mandatory examination, which will help to identify the presence and degree of his intoxication.
Such a procedure must be carried out. Experts can organoleptically detect alcohol intoxication by impaired coordination of the driver’s movements, the smell of alcohol from the mouth, redness of the skin, and tremor of the limbs. Also, a person can show his behavior, which is inherent only in drunken people. For the final identification of the liquid that the driver drank, it is clinically possible to produce an independent examination of the biological fluids of the person being examined. There should be no error in these studies, since they not only indicate intoxication as such, but are also designed to accurately determine the degree of intoxication. In order to improve the accuracy of the study in clinics, many different measuring instruments are used.
To detect alcohol, methods of physical or chemical analysis are used. Such methods will be able to reliably answer the question of whether there are alcohols in the driver’s blood, determine their chemical composition and the exact amount. Such analyzes are carried out in 2 stages – at the first, alcohol is determined or identified in the blood of the suspect, and at the second, its amount is measured. In the course of such analyzes, the error with which specialists will be able to determine the above indicators is also measured. The error is also taken into account when drawing up the final conclusion.
However, this technique has its downside. In modern conditions, the legislation does not clearly regulate how an error can be present in the conclusion. Instruments used for measurements usually have an error of up to 20%. At the same time, in the conclusions, taking into account such an error, one can often see data that the driver has from 2 to 3,3% alcohol in his blood. An alcohol rate of up to 2,2% is acceptable, since at this level it can be concluded that a person did not necessarily drink alcohol, he could only use some alcohol-containing health products, but a rate of 3,3% is already unacceptable . In this context, the legislation is not yet perfect and requires careful revision.
Sobriety control devices
Organoleptic tests are necessarily part of the procedure for determining the alcohol content in the driver’s blood. The medical report contains sections that indicate the characteristics of a person’s vegetovascular reactions, the features of his speech during the period of detention, and characterize his appearance. Urine and exhaled air are taken for analysis. Rarely is a blood test done. At the same time, it is important to know that the survey can be recognized as completed and carried out only if it was carried out in full and with instruments acceptable for this.
Laboratories today contain a lot of specialized devices for monitoring the sobriety of people. Modern research is also being carried out in the context of detecting alcohol and in the biological fluids of a suspect, for which certain tools are used. In the absence of some devices in the laboratory, experts use their simplest substitutes – tubes. According to metrological classifications, pipes cannot fully measure all those indicators that are necessary to establish the degree of intoxication. These tubes are called “sobriety control” tubes. They are applied as follows: first, the driver exhales the air, and if there is alcohol in it, the tube is painted. The action takes only 2 minutes.
The process of establishing the fact of intoxication
When breathing into the tube, the more the driver drank, the more stained the tube. In the course of such an experiment, it is possible to see exactly whether alcohol has been consumed or whether a person is completely sober. However, sometimes if the tube has a tint and the person is trying to prove that he is sober, he needs to be checked using other methods. The tube sometimes reacts with a change in color in case of various diseases in the oral cavity, as well as if the driver often uses some kind of medicine.
An instrument such as a pipe was previously widespread. Today, however, inspectors use devices with a higher degree of reliability. Recently, a microprocessor device has been introduced that provides data on the degree of intoxication and the amount of alcohol in the human body. However, such devices also have disadvantages – their error is too high and sometimes reaches 20%.
Chromatography is used to accurately detect alcohol. It is carried out in special clinics. However, this study makes sense to conduct only in the case when the fact of intoxication is already obvious, it does not need to be identified, but only the degree of drunkenness needs to be clarified. The specialist in the clinic must be highly qualified to make all measurements with a high degree of probability. Based on the results of the procedure, doctors give an appropriate conclusion.
The conclusion may indicate that the test driver is completely sober, or it may be indicated that the fact of intoxication was proven during the diagnosis, although no signs were identified. The third possible conclusion of such a procedure will be information that the fact of alcohol intoxication is confirmed, and the fourth – the driver’s coma. If it is impossible to conduct an examination, a urine or blood test is taken from the driver. This is done if the driver is unconscious or in serious condition.