In January 2007, a Wisconsin DUI lawyer, Rick Petri, 64, got a call from a client that he was arrested for DUI.  He went to the station to bail him out and blew a 0.09.   The lawyer who had consumed alcoholic beverages earlier in the evening felt fine and thought the alcohol had worn off.

Breath alcohol is not blood alcohol.  Age, weight, lung capacity, sex, hematocrit, lung to blood ratios, body temperature all can affect breath alcohol levels.  Thus, no one really knows what their true blood alcohol is especially after a breath alcohol test.

I have a portable breath tester.   On a recent evening, I tested my breath after each of four beers consumed over 4 hours while watching a pro hockey game.  I never felt impaired.   After the first beer, I blew a 0.05.  After the second beer, I blew a 0.077.  After the third beer, I blew a 0.117.  After the fourth beer, I blew a .099.  The beers were consumed on a beer an hour interval and I consumed a small pizza during the second hour.  My friend blew a 0.002 after two beers in four hours (yes that is two zeros or a two-thousandth of g/210l).  Needless to say, he drove! What is the difference? Who knows the tests are just as arbitrary as the 0.08 limit itself.  I guess I am guilty of being a lightweight.