Tag: PBT log

Preliminary Breath Test Logs Strike Again

Carroll, Carroll County, Iowa.  A commercial vehicle driver’s driving privileges were spared and the Operating While Intoxicated accusation was dismissed outright after it was discovered that the preliminary breath test (PBT) log did not comply with Iowa requirements. A preliminary breath test device is the breath test that law enforcement requests out on the road, prior to making a decision to bring a driver in for further testing.  It does not have all of the built-in safeguards that the DataMaster breath test has at the station.  Because of what the court has described as “inherent unreliability” of the PBT, law […]

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Dry Gas Expiration Date . . . The Weakest Link of the PBT Log

As part of our pretrial discovery process, GRL Law routinely scrutinizes the contents of PBT logs. Why? Because record keeping errors can prevent the PBT from triggering implied consent.  If there’s a defect in the implied consent process, then the driver’s operating privileges won’t be revoked.  The breath test or refusal may also be inadmissible at trial in the companion criminal case. Last spring, this administrative regulations for PBT logs added for the first time the expiration date of the standard used to the list of required information. Did law enforcement agencies get the memo?  From what we can tell, […]

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