PRELIMINARY OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS AND ACCEPTABILITY CRITERIA FOR THE COOPERATIVE BREATH ANALYZER

This report presents a series of criteria and requirements relevant to establishing user acceptability for the cooperative alcohol and analyzer being developed by the Transportation Systems Center. The major conclusions may be summarized as follows: The analyzer is expected to find a great deal of use as a field screening device. An increasing number of law enforcement agencies plan to conduct such screening tests as a means of enhancing the officer's judgment as to whether or not the suspect has violated a drinking driving ordinance. Significantly, relatively few (and minor) design modifications would be required to prepare the instrument for this application, assuming design goals regarding reliability, maintainability and accuracy are satisfied. In order for the Analyzer to prove useful for evidential purposes, its configuration faces significant modification and it must be compatible with a number of procedural requirements. These factors do not arise primarily from any engineering deficiencies; instead they relate to points of protocol imposed by the judicial system upon devices used to gather evidence. The Analyzer will probably prove least applicable as a field-evidential device, simply because very few police departments have any need for conducting evidential tests at the site of an arrest. In most cases, suspects can easily be transported to a police station and tested on a stationary Breathalyzer or Intoximeter within an acceptable time span. Moreover, law enforcement officials hesitate to submit evidence obtained under "uncontrolled" conditions since they consider it extremely susceptible to challenge.

• Corporate Authors:

  Dunlap and Associates Incorporated

  One Parkland Drive
  Darien, CT  United States  06820
• Authors:
  • Oates, J F
  • Jacobs, H H
• Publication Date: 1971-9

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 22 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Acceptance; Alcohol breath tests; Consumer behavior; Drunk driving; Hydrographic surveying; Instrumentation; Traffic law enforcement; Traffic violators
• Uncontrolled Terms: Acceptability
• Old TRIS Terms: Hydrographic surveys; User reactions
• Subject Areas: Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00098454
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Safety Council Safety Research Info Serv
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 18 1975 12:00AM