The DataMaster Breathalyzer from National Patent Analytical Systems has been utilized throughout the State of Michigan for the better part of the past 20 years. Therefore, if you were asked to submit a breath sample you were doing so on a DataMaster whether at a local police department, county sheriff department, or a Michigan State police post. Now, it is anticipated that a new model will be released throughout the State within the next couple of months. Therefore, if you are facing a charge of Operating While Intoxicated or While Visibly Impaired, commonly known as drunk driving, it will be imperative that your attorney clearly understand this new machine in order to protect your rights and your future.
The DMT will be the new model used by Michigan. Interestingly, the new DMT essentially uses the same science and theory as its soon-to-be predecessor. The DMT also uses Infrared Spectrometry to estimate bodily alcohol content. Infrared Spectrometry is essentially a science of deduction for this purpose. Within the DMT, as in the DataMaster, an energy source creates wavelengths that are absorbed by hydrocarbon molecules, like the methyl group (which are a part of ethanol alcohol or common drinking alcohol), and thereby limits the amount of energy that reaches the opposite end of the Chamber. Now, these wavelengths, with the assistance of filters, travel at two distinct microns levels of 3.44 and 3.47, which are in theory specific for drinking alcohol rather than other possible alcohols. Therefore, based upon the amount of energy that fails to reach the opposite end of the chamber the computer computes a believed alcohol level contained within the particular breath sample analyzed. A simple analogy would be a light exposed on your living room wall, wherein you are able to compute how big your hand is because of the size of the shadow now on the wall, or more accurately how much light is still on the wall.
The new DMT’s main differences from the old DataMaster will be first apparent when looking at the unit. It will have a touch screen, which will be easier to use, and will allow a chart/graph graphic indicating the subject’s flow rate and believed bodily alcohol level during the test. However, at this time, it is unknown whether that information will be made available to defense counsel, as many functions of the unit can be limited by the State. Further, the unit will still require 3.8 Liters per minute flow rate and minimum 1.5 Liters of breath threshold before accepting a sample to be analyzed. The DMT will use an updated, yet not necessarily modern, processing system. Essentially, it has gone from the Atari to a Palm Pilot. Another apparent difference will be regarding Simulator Tests, or the weekly runs on the machine. Now, the DataMaster simulators tests are done weekly by “wet bath”. Wet Baths use distilled water and a known alcohol concentration that are heated to create a vapor that is manually blown through the machine to simulate a human breath and reach a result between .076 to .084. The DMT will discard the wet bath for “dry gas”, which will be housed within the unit itself. The dry gas will stream line the process, and limit many of the errors that minimally trained officers make during simulator runs.
Similar to the old machine, there are still many reliability and accuracy issues inherent with the science and method of computing the believed bodily alcohol level. The breath test will have a new sleek look and simply by appearance appear to be more accurate, but a skilled and knowledgeable defense attorney will still be able to tell the Real story of this Old Book with a New Cover.
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