Citation

Isaacs MDJ, Emerson VJ, Fuller NA, Holleyhead R. Proc. Int. Counc. Alcohol Drugs Traffic Safety Conf. 1981; 1981: 442-455.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, The author(s) and the Council, Publisher International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The instruments, the intoxilyzer 4011a, the gas chromatograph intoximeter mk.iv and the breathalyzer 1000 were extensively tested in the laboratory with eighty six cooperative drinking subjects with blood alcohol concentrations up to 160 milligrams per 100 millilitres. Comparison of the instrument results with capillary blood concentrations enabled the blood-breath relationship to be deduced. Four examples of each type of instrument were circulated amongst twelve police stations throughout Great Britain and trained police operators at each location used each type of instrument for at least a two month period. The subjects were motorists who had been arrested for drinking/driving offences, who provided a blood specimen for laboratory analysis and who volunteered to provide two breath specimens as soon as possible after the blood sample was taken. Pairs of breath instrument results were obtained in this way from nearly 1000 individuals with blood alcohol concentrations up to 400 milligrams per 100 millilitres and have been compared with the venous blood concentration. The results allowed assessment of the variations in blood-breath ratios as measured by these instruments in laboratory and field circumstances. (TRRL)