Two Views of the Digital Alcohol Tester
As more and more young people have chosen to rely on a digital alcohol tester, the organizations ready to prosecute anyone caught DUI, driving under the influence, have stepped up to the plate. Such organizations want young drivers to realize that the reading on a digital alcohol tester can not be presented in a court case. Anyone caught serving alcohol to a minor stands a chance of being charged with the crime of contributing to a DUI.
The makers of the AlcoHawk ABI, a digital alcohol tester, have reason to take pride in the device’s semiconductor oxide sensor. Their web site explains that such a sensor undergoes an increase in its resistance, following its exposure to normal atmospheric conditions. If, however, the atmosphere contains a reducing gas, such as alcohol vapor, then the sensor exhibits a decreased resistance.
The resistance in a circuit determines the amount of current in that circuit. By putting that sensor in a digital alcohol tester, the makers of the AlcoHawk ABI have found a way to measure the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream of a drinker. The tester does not actually look at a blood sample; it determines the blood alcohol level by measuring the alcohol content of the exhaled air from someone who has been drinking.
Advertisements for the digital alcohol tester emphasize the ease with which a reading can be made. The measured level shows-up digitally on the tester’s screen. The tester also offers the user an easy control mechanism. Use of the tester requires the pressing of only a single button.
From the viewpoint of the heavy drinker, the digital alcohol tester seems like a perfect way to avoid a run-in with the law. In the mind of the heavy drinker, the digital alcohol tester often seems to offer a guaranteed indication of a drinker’s readiness to get behind the wheel. The tester should, as judged by the heavy drinker, allow someone at a party to ascertain whether or not he (or she) has a blood alcohol content that has risen above the legal limit.
However, from the viewpoint of someone eager to rid the highways of drunk drivers, the digital alcohol tester looks more like a curse than a blessing. In fact, the reading on a digital alcohol tester can not be used in court to prove someone’s readiness to drive a car. The reading on the digital alcohol tester should be seen as only a red/green signal. It signals the drinker when his or her blood alcohol level has risen above the level at which he or she should be able to drive safely.
Of course the digital alcohol tester does not come with a conscience, a sort of Jiminy Cricket. The manufacturers of the tester assume that a drinker will avoid driving if the reading on the tester’s digital window rises to a certain level. When the drinker fails to heed his or her conscience, then the digital alcohol tester becomes a much less valuable piece of equipment.
That is the message put out by those groups seeking to rid the road of drunk drivers. That is not the message that comes across to the public in the printed and posted ads for the digital alcohol tester.
The makers of the AlcoHawk ABI, a digital alcohol tester, have reason to take pride in the device’s semiconductor oxide sensor. Their web site explains that such a sensor undergoes an increase in its resistance, following its exposure to normal atmospheric conditions. If, however, the atmosphere contains a reducing gas, such as alcohol vapor, then the sensor exhibits a decreased resistance.
The resistance in a circuit determines the amount of current in that circuit. By putting that sensor in a digital alcohol tester, the makers of the AlcoHawk ABI have found a way to measure the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream of a drinker. The tester does not actually look at a blood sample; it determines the blood alcohol level by measuring the alcohol content of the exhaled air from someone who has been drinking.
Advertisements for the digital alcohol tester emphasize the ease with which a reading can be made. The measured level shows-up digitally on the tester’s screen. The tester also offers the user an easy control mechanism. Use of the tester requires the pressing of only a single button.
From the viewpoint of the heavy drinker, the digital alcohol tester seems like a perfect way to avoid a run-in with the law. In the mind of the heavy drinker, the digital alcohol tester often seems to offer a guaranteed indication of a drinker’s readiness to get behind the wheel. The tester should, as judged by the heavy drinker, allow someone at a party to ascertain whether or not he (or she) has a blood alcohol content that has risen above the legal limit.
However, from the viewpoint of someone eager to rid the highways of drunk drivers, the digital alcohol tester looks more like a curse than a blessing. In fact, the reading on a digital alcohol tester can not be used in court to prove someone’s readiness to drive a car. The reading on the digital alcohol tester should be seen as only a red/green signal. It signals the drinker when his or her blood alcohol level has risen above the level at which he or she should be able to drive safely.
Of course the digital alcohol tester does not come with a conscience, a sort of Jiminy Cricket. The manufacturers of the tester assume that a drinker will avoid driving if the reading on the tester’s digital window rises to a certain level. When the drinker fails to heed his or her conscience, then the digital alcohol tester becomes a much less valuable piece of equipment.
That is the message put out by those groups seeking to rid the road of drunk drivers. That is not the message that comes across to the public in the printed and posted ads for the digital alcohol tester.
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