San Bernardino & Riverside County DUI Lawyers

The Draeger Alcotest 7110

Experienced DUI attorneys in San Bernardino and Riverside County are familiar with the Draeger Alcotest 7110. All police agencies in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties use the Draeger Alcotest 7110 for DUI suspects who are arrested and then elect to take a breath alcohol test.

"Draeger Safety" is a German company that manufactures medical, underwater and aerospace equipment. Draeger Safety entered a contract with the counties of Riverside and San Bernardino to supply the Alcotest 7110 for use in DUI cases.

The Draeger Alcotest 7110 employs both infrared spectroscopy and a fuel cell as means of measuring a DUI suspect's breath alcohol level. The infrared analysis takes a DUI suspect's breath sample and measures the extent of energy lost at two particular wavelengths: 3.4 microns and 9.5 microns. Measuring the infrared energy loss at 9.5 microns is intended to address the problem of interfering substances-such as acetone-being mistaken for ethanol at 3.4 microns.

The Draeger Alcotest 7110 also uses electrochemical oxidation (a fuel cell) to measure the drunk driving suspect's BAC. The fuel cell converts alcohol to an electric current that is thought to correspond to the DUI arrestee's breath alcohol level.

As with all DUI breath testing machines, the Draeger Alcotest 7110 is plagued with problems that can lead to falsely high BAC readings. These problems include contamination from residual mouth alcohol, interfering substances, and radio frequency interference.

San Bernardino & Riverside DUI lawyers familiar with the Draeger Alcotest 7110 and its shortcomings can evaluate the extent to which these problems render particular breath alcohol readings unreliable.