Faulty breathalysers let drink-drivers evade conviction
At least 41 people caught drinkdriving were tested on faulty breathalysers and will have their infringements or convictions wiped.
This is not the first time this has happened. In 2015, at least 79 people had their fines or convictions overturned because of a breathalyser calibration fault.
A lawyer is again calling for a law change, saying defendants don’t have the ability to challenge the accuracy of evidential breath test results under the Land Transport Act.
Every police breathalyser device is tested and calibrated annually as part of quality assurance processes. During the most recent checks, 10 devices out of 3688 were found to read higher than the calibration standard for an alcohol reading, a police spokesperson confirmed.
‘‘Police has identified 41 individuals who have received an infringement or are subject to a prosecution based on the use of one of these 10 devices.’’
Police said the manufacturer’s engineers found environmental factors caused the issue, and a fix was being worked on.
Any affected infringements had been cancelled and active prosecution cases withdrawn.
Nobody had been sent to jail because of the latest faults, a police spokesperson said. Those who had paid fines would be refunded, and demerit points removed. Those who had already been convicted would have their records expunged.
‘‘It is important to note that all of these people were affected by alcohol and chose to drive. That is not the kind of behaviour we want on the road and we will continue to focus on removing risky drivers from the road.’’
Auckland defence lawyer Alistair Haskett, who specialises in criminal and traffic law, is calling for a change in the Land Transport Act.
‘‘It’s a real vexed issue. The difficulty for lawyers is that we’re prevented from challenging the accuracy of the evidential breath tests. We can’t tease out a defence case, which is a breach of the Bill of Rights.’’
He said people could have lost their jobs because of a conviction.
‘‘It’s completely unfair. I know these machines give wrong results, I don’t have any confidence they’re valid and defendants are entirely snookered,’’ Haskett said.
‘‘It’s completely unfair.’’
Alistair Haskett Defence lawyer