Alcohol breath testing in patients with respiratory disease.

The Road Safety Act 1967 introduced in Great Britain the concept of a statutory limit to the amount of alcohol legally permitted in a driver's body. Under this Act the maximum legal limit was set at 80 mg/100 ml in blood and 107 mg/ 100 ml in urine. The motorist was required to take a screening roadside breath test and if the result was positive the subject was arrested and taken to a police station for a blood or urine test. In 1974 the Blennerhasset Committee recommended that breath analysis should replace blood analysis, and evidential breath testing came into force in May 1983. At present the law concerning drink and motor vehicles is defined in the Road Traffic Act 1988, sections 4-11.'