Breathometer is a portable breathalyzer that analyzes the users' breath for blood alcohol content. The device plugs into an iPhone for display and readout, with the intent of informing the user of their BAC so they can make a more informed decision about whether it is safe for them to drive or not.
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The device is available on Indiegogo, a crowd funding platform, for $20. At that price, the Breathometer has an estimated ship date of January 2014 for most funders, though some higher funding levels may get their units earlier.
Breathometer is both a device and mobile app that will transform iPhone and Android smartphones into a breathalyzer. Breathometer provides options beyond informing users of their impaired state and plans to connect to local transportation services to quickly connect with a cab or taxi. Upon launch, Breathometer will be available at Breathometer.com, the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Breathometer will be FDA approved and is patent pending. It is ideal for anyone who enjoys even a casual drink, as just one drink can affect judgment or the ability to drive safely. The company will make Breathometer available in Summer 2013, anticipating that the affordable price combined with a quality equivalent to current consumer breathalyzers will encourage widespread use and help grow the market for such devices.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Imo, if just the bouncer at a bar had this, many drunken idiots could be kept off the roadways. Love the idea.
This idea is hardly unique nor new.
You can go to bed bath and beyond and pick up a 15 dollar portable breathalizer that does NOT require an iphone right now
I suppose it would be useful for peace of mind, especially if you were out trying some new beers or ales with unknown alcohol content.
Not everybody at 0.08 or the old standard of 0.1 is impaired to any real degree. There's some interesting YouTube videos of people testing their driving with objective standards and it really varies from person to person.
If I blew a 0.04, and 20 minutes later saw it drop to 0.03, I'd feel pretty comfortable about driving and not risking a DUI. Theoretically I can still be arrested, but the likelihood of conviction greatly decreases when the state can't prove you hit the per se limit. If it climbed to 0.05, I'd wait longer and test again.
I've used something similar and it is useful for folks to understand what the legal limits feel like. In practice even two pints will put you over the lowest legal limit, three and you are definitely there. Most likely your driving skills are not impacted in any significant way. (Note that every rural and suburban town in the country has bars and basically every single patron has no option but to drive home from that bar at the end of the night. So millions of folks are drinking and driving in this country every day.) Above the point were you are a significant safety risk you (a) should know you are impacted and (b) should know that if you get pulled over you will get DWI that will result in you losing your license in many states. A DUI will also haunt you for years in terms of job applications, insurance, or the ability to rent a car.
So this really isn't a physical safety test as it is a legal safety question. But play around with something like this a few times and you will know the answer to the legal question. And the answer to that is that basically the standards are set so low that you are in trouble if you have had anything beyond a second beer. And if you are small or drink the beers quickly, you could pull a DUI on just two beers.
Huh? Open containers are illegal
I didn't say drinking WHILE driving. "Drinking and driving" is a well-understood idiom meaning "drinking prior to and sufficiently proximate to the driving event that alcohol remains detectable in the driver's blood".