When you are charged with driving under the influence, one of the most important pieces of evidence against you will be your blood-alcohol level. Many people know the legal limit is .08, so a jury is going to want to see that proven. This is why it is crucial that blood alcohol tests be as accurate as humanly possible. Unfortunately, the accuracy of these tests can be off by as much as 10%, meaning 10% higher or lower than the actual number. For someone right on the cusp of .08, this can be the difference between innocence and guilt.
Ensuring the Reliability of the Test
All the over the country, states are taking a hard look at the way they test blood-alcohol levels. There is a lawsuit in New Jersey, in fact, that claims their testing method produced consistently high results. Because states have begun to rely on the revenue generated from drunk driving arrests, there is incentive to make BAC tests just a little higher. While this is great for state coffers, it is terrible for those who are wrongly convicted.
