How much would 35mg breath drop after 2hrs?

[Micky]

Hi all, I was stopped the morning after and blew 35 Micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath at the roadside (Scottish law 22) on reading up I understand that on average we burn one unit per hour?. So I was trying to work out how many micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath that equates too. ie would it take me under the Scottish 22 per 100?

I had blood taken just over two hours after the roadside reading (13hrs after last drink) and obviously trying to work out if my alcohol burn over those two hours would take me under the Scottish 22/ 0.5 blood?.
Male (225lbs /14st)

Thanks all.

 

[splodger]

I can't remember now what I learnt from the course but it will depend on when your last drink was as there is an absorption period before the period of units per hour dropping

 

[Micky]

I can't remember now what I learnt from the course but it will depend on when your last drink was as there is an absorption period before the period of units per hour dropping

Hi splodger. I was at a friend's dinner party that evening, last drink midnight and in bed by half past midnight. So I ate well. Woke after nine and had a full breakfast and couple of mugs of tea. Initial roadside was 11am and slightly over two hours got blood taken. Wasn't offered another breath test.
Hard to make any sense of the maths regarding units. As if 22mg in Scotland isn't even a pint (2 units) why is the UK of 35mg roughly 2 pints (4 units)? So if I deduct 22 from 35 that's equivalent to 18mg breath? So if the average person burns 1 unit per hour, then over the two hours I should have burned off 2 units.?

If that was the case on the breathalyser I would obviously hope I'd be under and if blood is a similar measure then I might be OK.?

Appreciate your help.

 

[price1367]

There are several different bits to this.
Firstly the roadside breath test may not have been accurate. They are not calibrated to the same standard as the police station ones so you cannot be sure that your starting point is 35.
IF it was 35, You were eliminating alcohol and on average this is one unit per hour. One unit produces a reading of 7 on the breath test so 2 hours later your reading could have been 21. Now it gets even harder. 21 in breath is the equivalent of about 48 in blood and the Scottish limit is 50. I must admit that I do not know how much is deducted by the laboratory before they send their result of: "not less than XXXXX" back to the police. In England they deduct 6. If it is the same in Scotland you should be OK.
So in conclusion.... it will be close! Was it exactly 2 hours or a bit longer... or a bit less? How regular a drinker are you? -if you drink regularly that can sometimes mean that your liver processes more than an hour, but there again if you took some paracetamol it could slow your liver down. I could go on, but you can see that it is not an exact science to the odd few mg in a result.
one more thing, stop kidding yourself. 225lb, 14 stone...... 225lb is 16 stone 1lb. I know because that is what I weigh. I had a check with the doctor last week and I am NOT overweight. The official diagnosis is that I am underheight. For a 7ft 6 inch man I am perfect.........

 

[Micky]

Thanks price1357. That's what I was trying to work out! I was thinking originally that if 22mg breath Scotland = 2 units and we roughly burn off one unit per hour then I was thinking that in two hours a person would be back to zero? But from what you said it's only a 14mg reduction after two hours!

So from the roadside test at 35mg two hours and ten minutes past before blood tests. Yeah and I'm 14.3 stone (200lbs)and a regular drinker.
This was thirteen hours after my last drink so I was shocked.

I didn't know that the labs deducted anything from the tests? I just submitted my own sample today and not sure if they follow the same procedure as police labs or will round it down?
So I should know within a fortnight either way, but was trying to work it out roughly so I can prepare for the worst.

 

[price1367]

The English system is that the police lab get a result, then do a deduction and say "hand on heart, take his licence away, not less than XXX."
when you sent a sample to the lab you say: "here is a hundred quid, how much alcohol is in this?" And they say: "XXX" with no deduction but you are right, check that the lab do give a 'true' result, not an adjusted one.

 

[Micky]

Thanks again price1367. I will check with my lab results when they come back. But I get what your saying, when the police lab sends them the results if it is 55 they can take 6mg from that to ensure its a safe result beyond doubt. Whereas mine will be 100% what the lab finds.

Im just trying to find out if the Scottish police do the same as my results could be marginal.

Appreciate the advice.