Not Guilty Verdict 87 Minutes After Last Drink
"Time for Intoxication to Rise... Blood Alcohol Level Likely Lower While Driving"
A court ruling has determined that if the blood alcohol concentration measured between 30 and 90 minutes after drinking matches the legal limit for drunk driving detection, the driver cannot be punished.
Mr. A (51) was charged with driving 4.7 km on a road in Cheongju after drinking alcohol around 12:05 AM in October 2022. At that time, his blood alcohol concentration measured by breathalyzer was 0.03%, which is the threshold for license suspension.
However, on the 14th, Judge An Jae-hoon of the Cheongju District Court Criminal Division 2 announced that Mr. A was acquitted of violating the Road Traffic Act (drunk driving).
The court stated, "There were 87 minutes between Mr. A’s last drinking time and the end of driving," adding, "This corresponds to the rising phase of blood alcohol concentration when intoxication increases, so we found no guilt."
Generally, blood alcohol concentration peaks between 30 and 90 minutes after drinking and then decreases by about 0.015% per hour on average. Therefore, the court judged that Mr. A’s blood alcohol concentration at the time of driving was likely lower than 0.03%.
Additionally, although the police submitted an investigation report stating that Mr. A was found asleep while driving in the middle of the road during the crackdown, the court ruled that this was difficult to accept as evidence of guilt. The court explained, "Considering that the police officer who first stopped Mr. A testified that he appeared calm except for a flushed face, and that the investigation report inevitably involves some subjective judgment by the officer, it is difficult to conclude that the defendant was driving with a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit."
Last year, there was also a case where Mr. B, in his 30s, was acquitted of drunk driving for the same reason after hitting a parked car while driving on a road in Jungnang-gu, Seoul, after drinking.
At that time, the police measured Mr. B’s blood alcohol concentration at 0.035%, which exceeded the drunk driving punishment threshold of 0.03% by 0.005%. This measurement was taken 87 minutes after his last drink and 42 minutes after the accident.
At the time, legal experts analyzed, "If the defendant’s blood alcohol concentration at the time of measurement had been significantly above the license suspension threshold, around 0.1 to 0.2%, the investigation agencies or the court would have judged him to be in a drunk driving state. However, the slight excess of 0.005% made it difficult to consider it drunk driving."
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