Kansas’ breathalyzer of choice faces scrutiny
Suspected drunken drivers in Kansas might want to cross their fingers or rub a lucky rabbit’s foot before taking a breath test to determine their blood-alcohol level. That’s because Kansas law-enforcement agencies use the Intoxilyzer 8000, a blood-alcohol testing device that’s gaining a reputation for being more of a slot machine than an accurate test of someone’s level of intoxication.
The Intoxilyzer 8000 has been the source of headaches for officials and courts in several states, and it might be just a matter of time before the same issues hit Kansas. Here’s how the machine works: It collects a driver’s breath through a tube attached to the side of a large gray box. The device then shines infrared light, which alcohol absorbs, into the breath. The machine takes a reading of the light using a proprietary source code to calculate the blood-alcohol content, then prints a sort of receipt displaying the information.
