Commentary on History of DWI Enforcement: What Does It Tell Us About DUID Enforcement?

摘要

In 1952, Borkenstein announced the invention of the breathalyzer, the first practical device for police to use to collect evidential quality blood alcohol information on drivers arrested for DWI. For the first time, police officers could complete the investigation and arrest an impaired driver without sending urine or blood samples to an outside laboratory and waiting several days or more for the toxicology results to be returned. This increased the efficiency and lowered the cost of DWI enforcement, paving the way for the substantial growth in enforcement activity required to keep up with the expansion of traffic on the nation's highways. Recent technological developments for collecting and analyzing drugs in saliva and urine are providing officers in the field and at the police station with the tools to detect substance abuse in individuals arrested for impaired driving. This is ushering in an age in enforcement of DUID laws similar to that produced half a century ago by the breathalyzer, a device mat measured bream alcohol simply and reliably enough to be operated by officers and accepted by the courts as valid evidence in DWI prosecutions. Although the current DUID measurement methods are not yet accepted for evidential purposes by the courts, they give promise of doing so in the near future. Therefore, it is useful to consider lessons learned over the last half century in enforcing DWI laws with chemical test data.