How this “perfectly sober” driver blew over the limit
<p>When Chris from Melbourne was stopped for an RBT at lunchtime on Australia Day, he thought he had nothing to worry about – after all, he hadn’t had a single drink.</p>
<p>So imagine his shock when the breathalyser returned a reading of 0.05.</p>
<p>“I was pretty much, ‘ah, what, when, how, ‘cause I haven't had a drink,’” he told <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/sunrise/a/38843012/how-a-perfectly-sober-melbourne-man-blew-over-the-limit/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>7 News</strong></span></a>.</p>
<p>He even began to panic that the reading was from the one drink he’d consumed the night before. “I was terrified, it gave me such a fright because you get asked to turn the car off, you have to get out of the car in front of all the other traffic, and a police officer moves your car off to the side of the road – it was embarrassing.”</p>
<p>Incredibly, it wasn’t a stubbie or glass of vino that pushed Chris over the limit, but rather Bonjela, a product used for soothing the gums of teething babies which, unbeknownst to him, contains a small amount of alcohol.</p>
<p><img width="500" height="280" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7267894/rbt3_500x280.jpg" alt="Rbt3" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p>
<p>“While I was in the queue I put some Bonjela on an ulcer I had on my tongue, and a couple of minutes later when I was breath tested I blew over the limit,” Chris explained.</p>
<p>It was only after being questioned by police that he realised the ointment was the cause of his boozy result.</p>
<p>“I’m still really surprised, I just assumed a product for babies wouldn’t have had alcohol in it,” Chris told reporters.</p>
<p>According to the Victoria Police, however, such incidents aren’t all that uncommon – although secondary tests are always undertaken to confirm the reading.</p>
<p>“A positive breath test reading can be caused by the presence of residual alcohol in a person’s mouth, if a person has used mouthwash, breath spray or certain medicines that contain alcohol,” the police said in a statement.</p>
<p>Chris’ advice?</p>
<p>“If you are going to put Bonjela on, make sure it’s 15 minutes before you drive.”</p>
<p><em>Image credit: 7 News.</em></p>
