How this “perfectly sober” driver blew over the limit
When Chris from Melbourne was stopped for an RBT at lunchtime on Australia Day, he thought he had nothing to worry about – after all, he hadn’t had a single drink.
So imagine his shock when the breathalyser returned a reading of 0.05.
“I was pretty much, ‘ah, what, when, how, ‘cause I haven't had a drink,’” he told 7 News.
He even began to panic that the reading was from the one drink he’d consumed the night before. “I was terrified, it gave me such a fright because you get asked to turn the car off, you have to get out of the car in front of all the other traffic, and a police officer moves your car off to the side of the road – it was embarrassing.”
Incredibly, it wasn’t a stubbie or glass of vino that pushed Chris over the limit, but rather Bonjela, a product used for soothing the gums of teething babies which, unbeknownst to him, contains a small amount of alcohol.
“While I was in the queue I put some Bonjela on an ulcer I had on my tongue, and a couple of minutes later when I was breath tested I blew over the limit,” Chris explained.
It was only after being questioned by police that he realised the ointment was the cause of his boozy result.
“I’m still really surprised, I just assumed a product for babies wouldn’t have had alcohol in it,” Chris told reporters.
According to the Victoria Police, however, such incidents aren’t all that uncommon – although secondary tests are always undertaken to confirm the reading.
“A positive breath test reading can be caused by the presence of residual alcohol in a person’s mouth, if a person has used mouthwash, breath spray or certain medicines that contain alcohol,” the police said in a statement.
Chris’ advice?
“If you are going to put Bonjela on, make sure it’s 15 minutes before you drive.”
Image credit: 7 News.