Dahl, Fischer & Wilks, with the help of Xcite Media and Von Feldt & Beatty Investigations, put on a wetlab last week. What is a wetlab? We invited men and women of various ages, heights and weights for a happy hour. We tracked each person’s alcohol and food consumption and periodically tested each person’s sobriety level, administering roadside maneuvers and PBTs.
In total, we had seven test subjects, four men and three women. Each person performed roadsides before drinking or eating. To simulate a happy hour setting, each participant drank their alcoholic beverage of choice. Food was provided, but people were not required to eat. Approximately every 30 minutes, a PBT was administered and approximately one hour into the happy hour, a second set of roadsides was administered.
The purpose of the happy hour was to educate people. After awhile, an “expert” emerged from the group confident of their ability to beat the tests, but they failed like everyone else. Beware of the “Happy Hour, PhD!”
Many people were surprised by their breath alcohol level even after just a couple of drinks. People were also surprised how easy it is to fail the roadside maneuvers. The wetlab also prompted many questions related to DUI law.
Continue following our blog to learn more about roadside maneuvers, PBT’s, DUI law, and the results of the wetlab, including each subject’s BAC throughout the happy hour and whether each person would have been arrested before the officer knew the PBT result.