Retail breathalyers give wildly different reading to cops

Motorists are being urged to avoid relying on retail breathalysers that sell for as little as $30 to determine if they are safe to drive home from a Christmas party.

Tests conducted in Brisbane by the Royal Automotive Club of Queensland show the devices bought over the internet produce wildly different results compared to a police breathalyser.

Volunteers Jess and Shaun submitted were breath tested by retail and police breathalyers 15 minutes after they had consumed two glasses of wine, and the results are sobering.

However a retail breathalyser 

Jess blow 0.082 when tested by the police device in Brisbane, putting her well over the 0.05 legal blood alcohol limit.

However, a device bought online showed she had a blood alcohol concentration of just 0.02, which would have given her the impression it was safe to drive home.

Shaun, a larger man, had a reading of 0.053, putting him very marginally over the limit.

Like Jess, he blew a 0.02 result.

Volunteer Jess had wildly different readings from three different retail breathalysers

On a police device, Jess blew a reading of 0.082 putting her well over the legal alcohol limit

Sergeant Brett Sweeney said the wildly different results demonstrated why motorists shouldn’t rely on them. 

‘After having seen the results from the privately purchased devices my advice would be if you are going to have a drink, please plan not to drive afterwards, as you simply can not trust the results from these devices,’ he said.

The three retail breathalyers tested by the RACQ also produced wildly different results, with one device telling Jess and Shaun they were eight times over the limit on 0.4 with another showing a reading of 0.16.

Another device showed 9News reporter Tim Arvier with a reading of 0.05 even though he was sober.