What is DWI/DUI?

DUI stands for driving under the influence. This can be either through a prescription/nonprescription, drugs, alcohol or other inhibiting substances that effects the drivers ability to drive in a negative/dangerous way. Of all accidents, approximately 30% - 40% involve alcohol. This increases during the holidays where alcohol is involved in over 50% of all accidents. There are many surprising facts regardinging DUI and the legal issues and conflicts regarding them.

Driving under the influence of alcohol and other substances is a dangerous epidemic in our society. Education regarding DUI will never be able to prevent such events. Most likely if you were involved in a DUI, you've already learned a scary lesson. If you are guilty, or not guilty, or even if you're not sure, the true ability to determine 'how drunk one was' is a difficult process which can leave large margins for errors or inaccuracies.

• Law enforcement officers can and do influence BAC readings.

  "By far, the most overlooked error in breath testing for alcohol is the pattern of breathing.... The concentration of alcohol changes considerably during the breath...The first part of the breath, after discarding the dead space, has an alcohol concentration much lower than the equivalent BAC. Whereas, the last part of the breath has an alcohol concentration that is much higher than the equivalent BAC. The last part of the breath can be over 50% above the alcohol level....Thus, a breath tester reading of 0.14% taken from the last part of the breath may indicate that the blood level is only 0.09%." - Prof. Lawrence Taylor (University of Washington)



• Alcohol breath testers don’t actually measure BAC, which can only be done by analyzing a sample of blood. They attempt to measure alcohol in the breath in order to estimate the concentration of alcohol in the blood.


• Hypoglycemia causes acetone in the breath, which the Breathalyzer will record as alcohol on the breath. Unfortunately, about one of seven drivers is diabetic and at risk of false arrest and conviction for DUI/DWI.


• The human body produces its own supply of alcohol naturally on a continuous basis, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s called endogenous ethanol production. Therefore, we always have alcohol in our bodies and in some cases people produce enough to become ilegally intoxicated and arrested for DUI.