Oklahoma DUI Chemical Testing For Alcohol and Drugs

Under Oklahoma DUI law, all drivers who are arrested on suspicion of a DUI offense and those who are involved in a traffic accident which results in death or serious injury to anyone are considered to have given their consent to have their breath, blood, saliva, or urine tested for the presence of alcohol and other intoxicating substances.

Any police officer who has reason to believe that a driver has committed a DUI offense may conduct the test or direct that the test be conducted by someone else qualified to do so.

Types of chemical tests used in Oklahoma drunk driving investigations

Only breath or blood tests may be used to test for alcohol, and only blood, saliva, or urine tests may be used to test for other intoxicating substances, but the individual police departments have the discretion to choose which test will be used on their suspects. Oklahoma has approved the Intoxilyzer 5000 and Intoxilyzer 8000 breath testing devices, both of which use infrared sensors to determine alcohol concentration. The principle behind this test is that the greater the amount of alcohol in a sample of breath, the more infrared light it will absorb, so when a known amount of infrared light is placed into a confined area, the amount the detector observes will vary inversely with the concentration of alcohol.

Oklahoma police must collect enough evidence so a DUI defendant can have an independent test done

When blood, saliva, or urine is collected from a driver, the person collecting it must collect enough so that after the State's tests, the driver can have an adequate portion left for independent testing.  This rule also applies to breath tests if the testing method allows for a sample to be retained.

Chemical tests in Oklahoma DUI cases must be analyzed by board-certified lab

Only tests from Board-certified laboratories will be admissible in court, whether they are at the direction of the arresting police officer, or an independent test obtained by the driver.