Careful with cold drugs and Listerine.
Watch what you take and don't get a DUI. Just read about a UPS driver who got a DUI while driving his own car. Wasn't fire but had to do random checks. Company made a check one morning and caught him with a blood alcohol rate of .03. He had been drinking the night before and used listerine in the morning. I never realized listerine could make you show a high blood alcohol rate. Also, you can still show residual blood alcohol after a nights sleep. Read more at:
http://www.browncafe.com/forum/ups_d...p_trouble.html Listerine 'Martini?' Facts vs. fiction about drunk driving. By Jeff McConnell and James Mennella, Attorneys At Law Don't laugh just yet. We've had a lot of drivers over the years call in from a pay phone, crying, wondering why they've just been issued a DUI (Driving Under the Influence) ticket even though they don't drink alcohol. What happened? How can you get a ticket for DUI when you don't drink? This article tells you about a very serious problem that can end your career as a commercial driver: a DUI conviction involving your truck or your personal vehicle. Take a close look at the items you've got in your truck right now. What's in your suitcase? Mouthwash, cold medicine, allergy pills, prescription drugs? Did you know that most mouthwashes contain alcohol? That some cough and cold medicines contain huge doses of alcohol? How long does alcohol stay in your system? How much alcohol do you have to have before you can (legally) get a ticket for DUI? We hope the following information will help answer these questions. Here's the truth. Question: About a week ago, I woke up feeling like I was coming down with the flu so I took some liquid cough and cold medicine to see if I could beat this one. About an hour later, I pulled into a scale house and the officer asked me to take breathalyzer test. I told him that I didn't drink and took the test anyway. The breathalyzer read .045 and the officer gave me a DUI ticket! What now? Answer: The good news is you didn't refuse to take the breathalyzer test. Never refuse to take a breathalyzer. Refusing a breathalyzer test is an automatic suspension of your CDL. The bad news is you're holding a DUI ticket with your name on it and now you're "in the system." So here you are. You've just got a DUI ticket. Your license to drive (at least in the state where you got the ticket) is now suspended. You have to get an attorney. You have to schedule a hearing at the local DMV. You have to plead "not guilty" at the local court. You have to stay up nights worrying about being convicted and losing your CDL for at least a year. All of this could have been avoided if you had taken a few minutes to go through your duffel bag, read your labels and thrown away anything with large amounts of alcohol in it. Get it out of the truck. The legal limit for commercial DUI is .04. That's not hard to get to, especially when you're using a mouthwash that's over 20% alcohol. Question: I had been out the night before for dinner and drinking with some friends. I got a good night's sleep, got up early the next morning and was asked to take a breathalyzer when I stopped at the port of entry. I blew a .04 and got a DUI ticket. Why was my BAC (blood alcohol content) still so high? Answer: "Residual Alcohol." This is the number-one problem we see. Residual or "left over" alcohol in your system will get you out of the truck faster than anything we know. If you're going to drink, remember that it takes your body a certain amount of time to process and get rid of alcohol. Depending on when you stopped drinking and your particular body, it's possible to still have a BAC hours later that could end up in a DUI charge. Question: A friend told me that if an officer asks me to take a breathalyzer test I should refuse it so there's no evidence to use against me later. Should I refuse? Answer: No. don't refuse a breathalyzer test. If you refuse a breathalyzer test, your license will automatically be suspended even if you're found "not guilty" at trial. Also, when you refuse a breathalyzer, your attorney is going to have an even harder time convincing the prosecuting attorney to agree to a plea bargain. Don't tie your attorney's hands before he/she gets started. Take the breathalyzer. Question: I got a DUI in my personal car and my company terminated my lease. Why does my company care what I do on my time off? Answer: What you have to remember is that you only have one MVR and any tickets, whether in your personal car or commercial truck, will show up on a single record. Your MVR determines what insurance rates you get. Bad MVR = Bad Rates. If your company is carrying your liability insurance, they'll want your MVR as clean as possible so their rates remain reasonable. We hope you can use the information in this column to help with everyday, real life problems you face on the road. We invite you to send us any questions or comments you may have regarding transportation law to ROAD LAW, 1330 N. Classen Blvd., Suite 215, Oklahoma City, OK 73106; fax to (405) 272-0558 or contact us through our website at www.roadlaw.net. We look forward to hearing from you. |
A person needs to be careful what they take for colds and other products they use that contain alcohol.
Many couch syrups and several brands of liquid cold medicines have an alcohol base to them, and if you take enough can cause you to fail a brethalizer test. Also as mentioned above, some brands of mouthwash have a high content as well. Quote:
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I'm curious as to why a breathalyzer or blood test would even be issued for someone who hadn't been drinking "real" alcohol. In the scale house example, do you know if the DOT man smelled something on his breath or was it completely random. Guess I didn't realize they did that sort of thing.
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I can understand things like cough syrup staying with you for awhile causing you to fail a breathalyzer, but Mouthwash? Being that most people don't swallow things like listerine, would it still show up on a breath test or even a blood test?
I can see an officer getting a positive breathalyzer test right after using the mouthwash, but how long would it actually stick with you? just wondering because I have used listerine in the past, but if it's going to get me busted for DUI I'll use something else :shock: :D |
That's what I thought. No more listerine or any other product that has alcohol in it.
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Now...How does "drinking with a spoon" get you drunk faster? Your tounge absorbs 75% of the alcohol. So...You grab up that bottle of Listerine in the morning, pull off the cap and take a nice big swig, straight out of the bottle...work it back and forth for 45 seconds or so....presto chango...you have a high BAC. Get into a "Chicken Coop" first thing...and what does a smart cop smell? Doesn't matter if the cop knows it's only mouth wash...what Officer Intelligent knows...it's a "ticketable" offense...and he just popped you. |
sometimes i drink overnight and wake up feeling drunk but maybe thats just a hangover? :oops:
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I found this on Listerine....of course bear in mind this is the internet and the article is not a scientific peer reviewed article.
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doesnt chewing gum now have alcohol? wtf! :shock:
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It's not ethanol, but I don't know if it counts as "alcohol" or not. Would it affect a breathalyzer? Could it intoxicate me in some way? Damn, I sure hope not. |
Ok, then ditch the Listerine, and get a non-alcohol mouthwash. Actually I have a bottle of Crest non-alcohol mouthwash here at home. I don't like the alcohol type taste Listerine gives.
I bought it at walmart, and it had non-alcohol plastered all over the front in big letters. |
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Bad Laws Need Repealing
I can understand someone who gets tanked, then drives, then gets a DUI for what is an overtly obvious infraction.
However, I can not see anything more ridiculous than what might be termed a "mouthwash drunk!" A DUI just for having mouthwash alcohol on your breath? This is just asanine! I think it's time we demanded more accurate standards. Breath-level testing equipment has been around for a long time now and is reasonably accurate. But why not be able to tell the different types of alcohol and pass legislation that will allow for mollification of a person who has recently used mouthwash? Common Sense needs to be re-inserted into the legislative equation in this and other industries. Mouthwash use does not equal a person being drunk and should not be allowed to be used for the purpose of DUI ticket issuance, period! Warm regards, Firefishe |
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I remember about 16 years ago when I was in drivers education class, we had a city cop come in to give a presentation and he brought the breathalyser machine with him. He had one of the students gargle with mouthwash and blow into the machine. Right after he gargled and blew, he blew something like 15 times over the legal limit. he had him blow again after 1/2 hr and then again after an hour and he still blew like 4 times over the legal limit. Now, for a cop not to discern between somebody whos plastered and someone who just brushed and gargled is plain crazy! But keep in mind to look for that non-alcholic rince next time your at Wally world.
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From: http://www.dot.gov/ost/dapc/NEW_DOCS/part40.html?proc
Subpart M - Alcohol Confirmation Tests § 40.251 What are the first steps in an alcohol confirmation test? As the BAT for an alcohol confirmation test, you must follow these steps to begin the confirmation test process: (a) You must carry out a requirement for a waiting period before the confirmation test, by taking the following steps: (1) You must ensure that the waiting period lasts at least 15 minutes, starting with the completion of the screening test. After the waiting period has elapsed, you should begin the confirmation test as soon as possible, but not more than 30 minutes after the completion of the screening test. (i) If the confirmation test is taking place at a different location from the screening test (see §40.247(b)(3)) the time of transit between sites counts toward the waiting period if the STT or BAT who conducted the screening test provided the waiting period instructions. (ii) If you cannot verify, through review of the ATF, that waiting period instructions were provided, then you must carry out the waiting period requirement. (iii) You or another BAT or STT, or an employer representative, must observe the employee during the waiting period. (2) Concerning the waiting period, you must tell the employee: (i) Not to eat, drink, put anything (e.g., cigarette, chewing gum) into his or her mouth, or belch; (ii) The reason for the waiting period (i.e., to prevent an accumulation of mouth alcohol from leading to an artificially high reading); Annnnd from: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=108678 Interesting question! I just had a conversation with my brother-in-law the police officer, who was telling me that Listerine breath strips do, indeed, cause a false positive if taken just before a test. (During his training, some officers were asked to put some strips in their mouth and then take a breath-alcohol test...The results were positive.) "Breath sprays, such as Binaca, have a high concentration of alcohol in them. Binaca can even cause a false breath-alcohol test result of 0.811% BAC, which is nearly double a fatal dose of alcohol poisoning. Incidentally, Listerine mouthwash can cause a false breath-alcohol test result of 0.43% BAC, which is near the level of coma. These effects last as long as 30 minutes to an hour." (The Prohibition Times, JUNK SCIENCE: GOVERNMENT TESTS FOR DRUNK DRIVING by John Lee , http://www.geocities.com/prohibition_us/BacFst.html ) This legal article sites some of those statistics, too: http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache...hl=en&ie=UTF-8 However, I can find no stats online that *specifically* discuss the breath strips. Since they are made from an intensified version of Listerine, it is only natural that they, like the traditional Listerine, result in a false-positive. |
Re: Careful with cold drugs and Listerine.
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I'm willing to bet his DUI came from the drinks he had the night before, not the listerine. Sleeping doesnt necessarily get rid of alcohol in your system. Only time does. Your bodyweight is another factor, but figure one drink per hour that your liver can process. He doesnt go into detail about how many drinks he had the night before, but if he got up early, my bet is that he wasnt yet sober. I've been drunk at work at 11:00am the morning after a midnite booze session. Most folks have done the same but just dont realize it. If I had gotten stopped on the way to work, I would have gotten a DUI. Period. I think he's making excuses. Shouldnt have been drinking AT ALL before having to drive the next day. :roll: |
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No dice! :x |
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