Police test for drink driving

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dmarshall

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi everyone - This is a good one and I dont know the answer to it and wondered if anyone does on here ?

I went on a course a few months ago , and a person on the course did make the point that if you get stopped by the police and are asked to do a breath test you must let the officer know you are on insulin becouse it can affect the result ,,,,,,,,,,, Not that I drink and drive , but this time of year in our area police carry out road blocks and do random tests so would like to know if this is true or not , :D
 
wow, I never knew that...is that definite?

personally, and I don't even think it's anything to do with my diabetes, I don't drink at all if I am driving, but that's just personal choice.
 
I wouldn't have thought being on insulin would have anything to do with a breath test - everyone is on insulin, just that some of us inject it 🙂
 
could it be that if you are high, maybe, it might show something up?? or maybe if you are high you're breath might smell 'sweet' and therefore they might jump to the wrong conclusions?? doesn't sound likely I know, but just trying to think of reasons why they would have said this!!
 
Forgot to say , the person that brought it up on the couse was a police officer ,,,,,,,,must admit was a shock to me when she said it ,,,,,would just like to know one way or the other ???????????
 
The police can only pull you over for a reason, ie, eratic driving. So if that's what you are doing and your breath test is clear then you will be requested to test your blood sugar. If you are low then you are arrested for driving under the influence.... the rest is history as is your driving licence. 🙄

When my mate is on line later I will ask her opinion as she is a traffic cop
 
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I remember hearing a while ago that the old breath test sometimes mistook ketones for alcohol and some people even found out they were diabetic from the test as they swore blind they hadn't been drinking but never heard of insulin causing a problem!
 
Sue - in our area they carry out random road tests , as they always do this time of year ,,,,,,,and I must admit I agree with them ,
Upto now I have not been asked to do a test but would not mind he asked to do and agree to a test !
 
They do random stops round here to every Christmas and New Year.
 
I Think it is getting to be a standard over the whole country
 
I've never heard of insulin effecting a breatherliser before.. But there again it's something I've never needed to think about as I don't drink..

Normally daily procedure a police officer has to have a reasonable excuse to haul you over.. such as driving standard, defective lights etc..

But they can with permission being granted via the chief constable do a preplanned random road sides checks...

Where they haul over a car random cars for various reasons..

Drink Driving
Tyre checks
Driver Licencing checks
MOT/Tax?insurance checks (really done now as they have kit that flag these up in their cars..
Immigration status checks (carried out with immigration department)

All these are legal and above board..
 
I suspect it's more that if a person on insulin was found to be hypoglycaemic as well as / instead of being over the drink drive limit, then they could also be done for driving under the influence of drugs. In any case, a further blood test would be needed for alcohol (unless a breath test is given at police station) and blood sugar levels.
 
Just spoken to my PC friend who say's the only way to fail a breath test is by drinking alcohol 🙂
Diabetes has nothing to do with the result at all.
 
There is nothing in the DVLA guidelines that says that if asked to do a breathalyser you must tell the officer you are on insulin. Or if there is I have completely missed it.

I seem to recall reading but can't remember where that old breathalysers could give false positives with ketones but that the newer ones didn't have the problem. I can't remember where I saw it though.
 
dmarshall said:
There lies a problem , 2 police officers and both saying different things ? 🙂
Click to expand...

Well my mate is a traffic cop so should know right from wrong.
She said the only reason to mention your diabetes is if you were pulled over for driving eraticaly sp* and that was the reason for it. Then obviously help would be given and bye bye to your licence at the end of it so to speak.
Driving under the influence of either drink or drugs (insulin) is treated in the same manner by the courts.
 
Sue , the girl on the course was in traffic ???????????
so that is 2 traffic cops both saying to different things ,,,,,that is scary 🙂
 
Ultimately, a second test is done, and usually a blood alcohol test as well when you arrive at the station.......this would confirm your innocence.........:D

Not speaking from experience fortunately..........
 
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