Evaluation of Portable Breath Test Devices for Screening Suspected Drunken Drivers by Police in Hennepin County, Minnesota

NHTSA - Behavioral Safety Researchhttps://doi.org/10.21949/15248771974PDFResearch PaperRosen, Stuart D.Sielaff, Bruce H.Romslo, FloydWeckwerth, Vernon E.Lowery, ForstMons, Richard A.Kramer, Duane M.Schaefer, David A.Hennepin County Alcohol Safety Action Project (Hennepin County, Minn.)United States. National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationUnited States. National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationMinnesotaAlcohol breath testsDrunk drivingEquipment testsPortable equipmentLaw enforcementDOT-HS-801-161NTIS-PB233808DOT-HS-048-1-064Final reportThis evaluation report examines use in the field of portable breath test (PBT) devices by police in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Thirteen Brog-Warner J2 and J2A-200 "ALERT" devices were deployed by seven enforcement agencies. This report is presented in five parts. Part I provides police officials and administrators, public officials and other concerned with traffic safety an informal summary of information emerging from the PBT field evaluation. Part II is an analysis and discussion of data collected during the PBT field evaluation. Part III reports on maintenance and performance problems. The attitudes of officers. PBT calibrators, and supervisory personnel toward the PBT and the concept of pre-arrest screening are summarized in Part IV. Part V reports on an attempted controlled study which did not yield sufficient data. The results indicate that pre-arrest screening devices are accepted by and useful to the police and that the models tested functioned accurately and dependably. /Abstract from report summary page/129