Bubble O'Bill helps man beath drink-driving charge
Elissa Hunt | January 21, 2009
A MOTORIST has licked any doubts about his claim that an ice cream gave him a blood alcohol reading.
A magistrate yesterday ordered him to buy and eat the offending confection to test his assertion that a Bubble O' Bill had given him a reading when he blew into his alcohol interlock device.
After a few bites the man recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.018.
The experiment took place after the driver applied to Frankston Magistrates' Court to have the interlock device removed from his car.
The prosecutor had queried why the machine had recorded a "fail", which stops the user starting their car.
But the man was adamant he had not been drinking and that the reading was caused by the Bubble O' Bill he had eaten when he stopped at a service station.
Magistrate Rod Crisp told the driver to put his claim to the test by heading across the road to buy one so police could check his story. A police officer conducted a preliminary test that confirmed he was 0.00.
The man consumed part of the icy treat, then police tested him again.
The reading of 0.018 was duly reported back to Mr Crisp, who granted the driver's application to have the device removed.
The man had not waited the recommended 15 minutes after eating or drinking before blowing into the machine.
The devices can record readings for alcohol when some food or drink residues are still present in the mouth.
Victoria runs one of the world's biggest interlock programs, said VicRoads spokeswoman Mary Fall.
"Thousands of trips where someone might have driven under the influence of alcohol have been prevented from interlock devices," she said.
"We certainly see them as an effective tool in terms of stopping drink driving."
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24940627-2862,00.html
