Spanish motorcyclist prosecuted after being unable to repeat breathalyser test

Prosecuted for not blowing with a collapsed lung and seven broken ribs

On 29 March 2024, the week brought three breathalyser stories: a driver on the run at seven times the legal limit, a butane gas truck driver at more than double, and a motorcyclist from Paracuellos prosecuted for being unable to repeat the test. The first two were able to blow. The third had a collapsed lung and seven broken ribs. He did not refuse: he could not.

The alternative route that was not used: blood test

One point of the protocol is drawing attention: when a driver cannot repeat the breathalyser test on exhaled air, the usual practice in accidents is to take them to hospital to draw a blood sample. If they are conscious, consent is requested; if not, the court authorises it. In this case, according to the information published, that second option was not applied or there is no record that it was effectively offered. The refusal was not voluntary, it was physical.

The legal limit: proof of intoxication?

The reading of 0.47 mg/l in exhaled air has peine another front. Some argue that exceeding the 0.25 limit by 88% is enough to consider that the rider was driving under the influence of alcohol. But it has also been pointed out that this threshold is an administrative criterion, not a medical indicator of clinical intoxication. The degree of impairment cannot be deduced from the number alone, and the second confirmatory test is precisely what allows the result to be nuanced. Without that second measurement, the case rests on a single sample.

The road in poor condition: another reading of the accident

The state of the asphalt and the location of the breathalyser checkpoint have fuelled the version that the crash was not solely the motorcyclist's fault. Mention has been made of a checkpoint with poor visibility in an area where serious accidents had already occurred. The local administration, blamed for road maintenance, does not appear in the prosecution. For some, the focus should be on who created the conditions for a drunk rider to end up crashing, and not only on his behaviour.

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The case remains open. The motorcyclist faces proceedings for refusing a test he could not take, with a perforated lung. The regulations provide for blood as an alternative, but the fine print of how it is applied on the ground remains, as usual, a minefield. Nobody disputes that drinking and riding a motorbike is reckless. The question is whether the system is equipped to distinguish between those who refuse and those who cannot.