Ten years have elapsed since the Swedish police began to use breath-alcohol testing for evidential purposes. The Intoxilyzer 5000S, a quantitative infrared analyser, has been the only instrument approved for legal purposes during the past decade. The statutory alcohol concentration limits for driving in Sweden are 0.20 mg/g in blood or 0.10 mg/L in breath. The concentration of alcohol per se is used for prosecution and probable cause and tests of impairment are not necessary. Evidential breath-alcohol testing has been well received by the media, the police, the prosecutors and the courts despite a 50-year tradition in Sweden of only accepting blood-alcohol concentration as evidence of impaired driving. The Intoxilyzer 5000S has proved to be a reliable instrument for enforcing the low breath alcohol concentration threshold in Sweden of 0.10 mg/L.
Samenvatting