It would be fair of people in Athens to presume that the breath tests uses to assess whether a given driver is intoxicated are accurate and reliable. It would be fair -- but it may be wrong.

The fact is, these drunk driving tests are notoriously unreliable. Criminal defense attorneys around the country have made some headway in arguing against these unreliable devices, but of course, they are still used all over.

It's also true that many states go to great lengths to test these devices, even though the tests basically amount to throwing good money after bad. In Florida, for instance, authorities recently spent three days planning a "booze and Doritos" party in which they paid employees to drink Jim Beam on the clock (with the alcohol paid for, naturally) and then blow into the Intoxilyzer 8000, a commonly used breath-alcohol testing device.

All told, the "booze and Doritos" party cost $8,000 and one biostatistics professor has said it did not even produce reliable results, since the conditions under which the test was executed did not mimic the conditions of a DUI stop.

Now, to be fair to authorities, there may be something to be said for an argument along the lines of "Well, it is not perfect, but it is the best we have." Drunk driving is a serious social problem and we cannot just throw out the best resources we have, even if they are not great.

That being said, this story should show you that if you are pulled over and fail a breath-alcohol test, it might be entirely worth your while to work with an attorney to dispute the subsequent DUI charges against you.

Source: The Syracuse Post-Standard, "Florida pays state employees for drinking party to test breathalyzers," Geoff Herbert, Jan. 23, 2012