How Long Does Alcohol Stay In Your Breath? | GA Breathalyzer Law

By: William C. Head, Board Certified Georgia DUI Attorney, Named Best Atlanta DUI Lawyer 2017

On June 23, 2016, the nation’s highest court determined that a breath alcohol test is NOT invasive and is a legal search incident to a lawful arrest for driving under the influence under the Fourth Amendment. This ruling, in Birchfield v. North Dakota, clarified a good bit of contradictory and confusing prior rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court. This decision came shortly after Missouri v. McNeely in 2013, which blocked the state of Missouri from getting blood involuntarily, without a judicial warrant.

Under this new ruling by the Supreme Court, a citizen under arrest for DWI or DUI alcohol can be requested to submit to a state breath alcohol (breathalyzer) test to check BAC amounts or risk harsh driver’s license consequences.

Plus, in about a dozen states, state DUI laws make refusing to submit to breath tests a CRIME and call for a person with a DUI refusal (after being convicted) to be put in jail or prison and fined for the “refusal” to submit, or BOTH.

Prior Alcohol Breath Test Decision From the Supreme Court Focused on Dissipation of Alcohol From the Body

The 2016 decision in Birchfield approved that type of law for breath alcohol testing but distinguished blood collection as being a more invasive test. Two earlier high court decisions, Schmerber and Breithaupt, focused on how alcohol breaks down and leaves the body.

The new Supreme Court ruling does not bode well for people who drink.

How Long Does Alcohol Stay In Your Breath?

Any alcoholic drink, like Scotch whiskey, beer, or grain alcohol, can make a person’s breath smell like alcohol for hours. It can take 12+ hours to get rid of beer breath or the odor of any other alcohol. Why?

Science. Even though you can quickly consume alcohol, you can’t burn it off quickly. The rate of burn-off (elminiation) is about 0.015 grams per hour. So, if a person drank enough to reach a 0.18 grams breath alcohol content, the alcohol would require about 12 hours to metabolize.

Many people get arrested after waiting just an hour or more after their last drink and think they are OK to drive. This happens because they do not understand how alcohol metabolism works. They may not know how long it takes for their body to be alcohol-free.

Some people are arrested the next morning on the way to work. The smell of alcohol can be used as evidence of recent drinking. This can lead to a drunk driving arrest, even if there is little proof of impairment in many DUI cases.

This is true even if the driver declined to blow into the alcohol breath tester a law enforcement officer seeks to use on the roadside.

How to Get Rid of Alcohol Breath?

After drinking any alcoholic beverage, the only surefire way to completely rid onself of the smell of alcohol is time. Enough time must pass for the liver to process all the poison in your system (yes, alcohol is a poison) and convert the poison into less toxic byproducts.

One byproduct, acetaldehyde, smells like alcohol breath. A police officer might wrongly think you are drunk even if your breath alcohol content is zero.

How to Mask Alcohol Breath?

Many myths exist about how to hide alcohol breath.

Since 60% of all Americans drink regularly and annual DUI arrests in the USA averaged over 1.6 million from 1991 to 2006, it is apparent that these ‘myths’ don’t work and that people don’t know how to mask the smell of alcohol very well.

There are five steps that have a real chance of hiding the alcohol smell:

1. Wait until your BAC level is zero. If you need to look at an easy-to-follow BAC calculator, this chart is quick and easy to understand.
2. Take a shower AFTER all alcohol has left your body. If you shower too soon, the odor of alcohol will ooze from your sweat to some extent.
3. Floss and brush your teeth thoroughly. To get rid of alcohol breath, you need to clean out any food particles soaked in your drink.
4. Don’t use an alcohol-based mouthwash as it can reintroduce alcohol breath.
5. Chew some gum to increase saliva flow and freshen your breath. The gum may help get rid of any lingering alcohol breath smell.

What If I Follow These Steps, but I’m Asked to Take a Breath Alcohol Test?

If you have properly calculated your BAC levels by using a reliable BAC chart, you should be fine to “blow.” Not taking the state breath alcohol test can lead to serious problems. You could lose your driving privileges or even face jail time, or both.

These three rules will help you have your best chance not getting convicted of DWI-DUI:

1. Remain silent. The police officer is only entitled to know your name and address.
2. When agreeing to take the breathalyzer test, advise the officer of your desire to get an independent blood alcohol content test after the state’s test. You should allow the independent test, but you must pay for it, so prepare yourself.
3. After you take the GA officer’s breath alcohol test, say that you want an attorney present. Make it clear that you will not answer any questions without your attorney. Be ready to call a lawyer for DUI.

Protecting your legal rights matters more than how to get alcohol off your breath.

People can be accused of drunk driving in situations when they have not committed any traffic violation. In every state, a driver who is asleep in a vehicle on a highway or shoulder of the road that is part of the right-of-way will be investigated by a law enforcement officer.

Police have the right to assure public safety as part of “community caretaking.” Asking if a driver is OK is part of that job.

In some states, like Georgia, police can arrest someone for DUI. This can happen even if the person is on private property. Other states are not ready to give police that power. However, parking lots of restaurants and other businesses are often “fair game” for police patrols.

What About DUI Checkpoints? Will the Smell of Alcohol Justify a DUI Arrest?

Another time police MAY encounter a suspected DUI driver is at a DUI checkpoint. Police roadblocks are legal in about three-fourths of all states, and the District of Columbia. At a roadblock, an officer will ask you to roll down your window. You need to show your driver’s license, insurance, and maybe your registration.

In states that approve DUI checkpoints tonight, this can lead to an officer claiming you are driving under the influence.

These five tips may assist you to assert all of your legal rights to minimize being convicted of DUI:

1. Only crack the window an inch or two and slip the needed license and paperwork out the crack. Your door should stay locked because some officers will pull your door open.
2. If ordered to roll the window down all the way, just remain silent. If the officer escalates the situation, ask “Am I under arrest?”
3. If you are threatened with forcible entry or arrest, roll down the window before the officer breaks it out. Leave your door locked unless you have been ordered out of the vehicle.
4. If ordered out of the vehicle, say nothing and DO NOT DO field sobriety tests—NONE. Ask for a lawyer, and slowly raise your hands to show submission.
5. If arrested, remain silent. Go back and re-read the three tips about submitting to the alcohol breath test and demanding both an independent test and a call to your attorney.

   After an Arrest, Act to Protect Your Right to Drive and Other Legal Rights in Georgia

   Don’t settle for just any DUI attorneys. Speak to Bubba Head, the criminal defense lawyer whom those in law enforcement and people who work within the court system routinely call for legal advice when their friends and family members are facing a DUI offense.

   

The veteran criminal defense attorney Atlanta and his two law partners Larry Kohn and Cory Yager (who have been with Mr. Head since graduating from Law School), have handled well over 10,000 Georgia DUI cases in the last 25 years of legal service. For a FREE analysis of your criminal charges, please complete our online case evaluation form.

Hire The Best DUI Lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia

Call today (404) 567-5515 and talk to DUI book author and highest lawyer ratings Atlanta DUI attorney Bubba Head or his Super Lawyer partners at the DUI law firm today and get honest answers to all your questions. Tell us everything that happened and everything you remember about your DUI arrest. The sooner you call us, the better chance we have to win your case.

Don’t just guess at law practice skills and select a cheap DUI lawyer from the law firms with no litigation experience. You would not use such poor judgment in hiring a surgeon.

Remember, you only have 30 DAYS to file a license suspension appeal or apply for an ignition interlock device or your driver’s license will be suspended for up to one year! Talk to Bubba Head, Larry Kohn, or Cory Yager now during your free lawyer consultation. Our criminal lawyers are available 24 hours a day, on weekends, and all major holidays. Call 404-567-5515 now.

Call 43-year veteran Sandy Springs GA DUI attorney Bubba Head at his Sandy Springs law office and get honest answers to all your questions during your free consultation. Tell our lawyers in Atlanta everything that happened and everything you remember about your DUI arrest. The sooner you call us, the better chance of success for our criminal justice attorneys in the courtroom. Our best goal is to win your DUI case or get your DUI charges reduced to reckless driving or dismissed.

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SPRINGS, GEORGIA:

5600 Roswell Rd

Building H, #210

Sandy Springs, GA 30342

(404) 567-5515

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Suite 400

Atlanta, GA 30303

(404) 567-5515

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in Cobb County, GA:

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Suite 103

Marietta, GA 30060

(888) 274-6288

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LOCATION

in North Fulton County, GA:

33 S Main St

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Alpharetta, GA 30009

(844) 867-2889