Amazon sells a wide range of home breathalysers so you can check your alcohol level before you drive.

Here are their top selling breathalysers and accessories this week:

We all love to have a tipple over the Christmas holidays and to toast in the New Year. Many people knowing that they will be drinking alcohol in the evening arrange to take taxis home to ensure that they are not drink driving.

You could still be drunk in the morning!

Lots of people forget that you can still be over the legal limit to drive when you wake up the next morning, even if you feel fresh as a daisy there is no guarantee that you are safe to drive.

Breathalyser tests getting more common in the morning

This is a huge risk, to help improve road safety and to try and raise public awareness of this problem the police are pulling over more and more cars in the morning and giving the drivers a breathalyser test. Many people who get pulled over in the morning are completely unaware that they could be over the limit and would have certainly decided to make alternative arrangements for travel had they realised. The problem is that it takes longer than most people think for the alcohol to get out of your system and you can’t tell if you are still over the limit by the way you feel. You may wake up feeling all fresh and rejuvenated but that is no guarantee that you are safe to drive. It really is a big problem, people who would not dream of purposely stepping behind the wheel whilst under the influence are accidentally drink driving, they are posing a threat to themselves and other road users and also putting themselves at risk of being stopped and potentially loosing their license.

How can I tell if I am still drunk?

One way to make sure that you are safe to drive is to buy a home breathalyser. That way you can test yourself in the morning before you set of to make sure that you are safe to drive. As technology has advanced home breathalysers have come down in price and are an affordable solution. While you could argue that your safety is worth any price, especially at this time of year it is good to know that you can get hold of a home breathalyser with out breaking the bank.

How do I know the home breathalyser is reliable?

There are many different breathalysers on the market but they vary a lot in accuracy, and lets face it, this is not the kind of test you want to risk having incorrect results from. One of the most popular manufacturers of home breathalysers on the market is Alcosense. They came first for accuracy when tested by the team at Fifth Gear, Channel Fives popular motoring programme.

If you want to know more you can read about the tests they carried out and watch the breathalyser test video.

Channel 5 motoring programme Fifth Gear carried out an independent review of breathalysers comparing them directly against the UK police breathalyser.

They test three breathalyzers which are available to buy on the highstreet: alcosense, backtrack and alcoscan to see which ones have the most accurate results the results are surprising.

Watch as crime reporter Jonny Fordham pared with the police to see how you need to drink to be over the limit.

He surprisingly and somewhat alarmingly managed to pass the breath test after drinking three pints. Although as the police confirmed:

“Even if you pass the breath test you can still be arrested if an officer believes you would be a danger behind the wheel,”.

Other than a breathalyser there is no accurate way of knowing your alcohol limit as everybody and every drink is different.
The safest thing to do is to not have a drink or to make sure you use public transport if you do drink.

If you are caught driving over the limit you will not get off lightly. With a minimum ban of 1 year and a potential fine of £5,000. In more serious cases you may go to jail.

While you may feel drunk and choose not to drink after a night out you should also be careful the next morning. More and more drivers are testing positive the next morning.

“If you’ve been out the night before and you’ve had a skinful, the chances are you will be over the limit and if you’re involved in a crash you will be asked to take a road-side breath test,” PC Weal said.

Drink Drive Survey

A new Drink Drive survey undertaken by Morning After Breathalyser manufacturer AlcoSense, revealed that no less than 96% of respondents underestimated the number of units of alcohol in a pint of ( 6%ABV) lager and 97% of respondents underestimated the number of units in a 250ml glass of wine (13%ABV). Both drinks in fact contain 3.4units. The most popular answer was 2 units, almost half of the correct alcoholic content. With the current Drink Drive law meaning that there is an effect a 2 unit limit, then people are totally unaware that they are putting themselves, their licences and the lives of others at risk, by driving while over the drink drive limit.

The survey questions were:-
To the nearest ½ unit, how many units of alcohol are in the following drinks?

• A 250ML glass of 13% ABV wine 2.8% CORRECT (3.4 units)

• A pint of medium strength lager 6% ABV 4.1% CORRECT (3.4 units)

Commenting on the results of this survey, Hunter Abbott CEO of AlcoSense said, “This is worrying for the evening, but even more worrying for the morning after as people are vastly underestimating just how much alcohol they have consumed. Only 4 of these drinks could put you over the limit the following morning. In both instances the only way to tell if the alcohol has left your system is to use an accurate personal breathalyser like AlcoSense.”

Sarah Fatica, General manager, Brake said, “AlcoSense’s survey results are extremely alarming and demonstrate that drink-driving remains a very real threat. As part of Road Safety Week (10-16 November 2008) we urge drivers take a moment to think of the reality of road death and injury, take a hard cold look at our behaviour on roads and improve it, for the sake of our own loved ones and others. If you’ve been drinking don’t drive. If you are still unsure the ‘morning after’ using an accurate personal breathalyser can help to determine whether you are safe to drive.“

What is AlcoSense?

AlcoSense™ is a mobile phone-sized breathalyser developed to quickly and accurately measure if you are near or over the UK drink driving limit. Working in the same way as a Police breathalyser AlcoSense detects the concentration of alcohol in your breath, enabling the unit to provide an accurate and discreet Blood Alcohol Concentration reading and alert you if you are above the UK drink drive limit. This is aimed to help people avoid putting lives at risk by driving the morning after a night of drinking, when they are unaware that they are still under the influence of alcohol.
Supported by road safety charity Brake, AlcoSense is much more compact than other breathalysers and able to give highly accurate readings through its superior technology. The ultra-quick and discreet result makes it ideal for use the morning after a night out.

AlcoSense Elite costs £59.99; the new Lite is £34.99. They are available from Alcosense. Fresh hygiene tubes are available in packs of 20 priced at £4.99.

A drunk man thought he had found a way to avoid taking his car’s ignition breathalyzer test.
He made his son blow into the breathalyzer to get the car started.

Police caught him and when he failed the breathalyzer test he was arrested.
His son told the police that his dad had made him to blow into the breathalyzer.

A bus driver was arrested today after he finishing his route. Alcohol tests showed that he was under the influence of alcohol. He had driven about 50 students to school and police said that he tested positive for alcohol in his system and had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .12 when a random alcohol test was carried out.
The police were notified at noon. He was then arrested on charges of driving under the influence (DUI) and 50 counts of child endangerment.
He was tested by police two hours after the first test and was found to have a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.07.

A woman crashed her car into a tree whilst nine times over the legal blood alcohol limit.
Her lawyer said that she was going to plead guilty to seven driving offenses. She is believed to now hold the Australian record for a female drunk driver – not something to be proud of.
She had apparently drunk four cans of a vodka-based mixed drink soon before she hit a tree and rolled her car
The impact was os great that her hat ended up in a tree 6m off the ground.

Her blood alcohol level was tested while she was treated in hospital.

She is thought to have had the highest reading for blood alcohol content level in Australia.
Police were so dumbfounded that forensics were asked to check the result twice.

She was charged with: reckless conduct endangering life, careless driving, driving under the influence, exceeding the prescribed concentration of alcohol and driving in a dangerous manner to which she plead guilty.
She was very lucky to be alive.

How do you know when to stop drinking?

Here are some typical responses:

“I drink until I feel like I reached my limit, then I stop”

“If I feel like I’m losing control or I’m not able to thinking straight, then I’ve probably drunk too much to drive.”

Some people go out in a group of friends and have a designated driver. However, sometimes the driver would like a drink and if they drink until they have had enough, they may have had too much to drink. How would you know if  the driver is over the limit?
Many people are using breathalyzers to make sure that they don’t drink too much and then drive.
Most breathalyzers work the same way but not all are as accurate as others.
You need to be confident that the brand of breathalyzer you choose is accurate. If you are not sure it is correct  and it shows you are over the limit are you going to think ‘I need to get somebody to drive me home,’ or are you going to think ‘the breathalyzer test result is probably wrong, I’ll drive anyway.”

Channel five’s Fifth gear carried out a review of personal breathalyzers even comparing them with breathalyzer used by the police. The results of the breathalyzer reviews were shocking.

So can a breathalyzer save your life?

Well, that really depends on how accurate the breathalyzer is. If the reading is not correct you may drive when you are over the limit