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N.J. drunk driver test

A new machine to help determine if drivers are drunk is generally reliable but is not perfect and can only be used with some adjustments and discretion, a New Jersey judge has said.

One of the adjustments may mean that thousands of people previously convicted of drunken driving could be let off the hook legally.

New Jersey has had a years long legal dispute over whether the Alcotest 7110 is a reliable successor to the old Breathalyzer machine. The state Supreme Court appointed retired Judge Michael Patrick King as a special master on the issue and asked him to make a recommendation.

Under state law, judges, not juries, hear all drunken driving cases and they are given practically no leeway: if a driver is determined to have a blood-alcohol level above .08 percent, he or she is guilty. Some defense lawyers contend that it is unfair to have a machine, rather than a person, determine guilt or innocence.

King suggested that judges should be able to consider other evidence on cases where the Alcotest readings are very close to the threshold. If the state Supreme Court accepts his recommendation, it would mean someone with a blood-alcohol reading as high as .085 percent would be found not guilty of driving under the influence.

The Supreme Court must now issue an opinion. Only then can at least 10,000 drunken driving cases be closed. Since January 2006, the sentences of first-time DUI offenders have been put on hold while the Alcotest issue is sorted out.

In the meantime, those people have been allowed to continue driving.