Shed Thou No Blood: The Forcible Removal of Blood Samples from Drunk Driving Suspects
![handle is hein.journals/scal60 and id is 1129 raw text is: NOTES
Shed Thou No Bloodt: The Forcible
Removal of Blood Samples from
Drunk Driving Suspects
Approximately 50% of all U.S. highway fatalities involve drinking
drivers.' Indeed, one-half of the drinking drivers involved in fatal acci-
dents from 1972 to 1982 had a blood alcohol content greater than .20%.2
Over 65% of the drivers killed in single vehicle accidents3 had a blood
alcohol content of. 10% or higher.4 More frightening is the fact that for
t W. SHAKESPEARE, The Merchant of Venice, act 4, line 323, in THE COMPLETE WORKS OF
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 235 (D. Bevington 3d ed. 1980).
1. PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON DRUNK DRIVING, FINAL REPORT 1 (1983) [hereinafter
PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION REPORT]; see also Perez v. Campbell, 402 U.S. 637, 657, 672 (1971)
(Blackmun, J., concurring) (The slaughter on the highways of this Nation far exceeds the death toll
of all our wars.).
2. PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION REPORT, supra note 1, at 1. Although there is some varia-
tion, in most states a driver with a blood alcohol content of .10% is considered legally under the
influence of alcohol. States vary somewhat more in the evidentiary effect of differing blood alcohol
levels. Compare FLA. STAT. ANN. § 316.1934(2)(a)-(c) (West Supp. 1986) (blood alcohol level .05%
or less, driver presumed not under the influence of alcohol; blood alcohol level between .05% and
. 10% gives rise to no presumption regarding intoxication but is to be considered with other evidence
of impairment in determining whether or not the driver is under the influence of alcohol; blood
alcohol level .10% or greater, prima facie evidence that driver is under the influence of alcohol) with
MD. C-rs. & JUD. PROC. CODE ANN. § 10-307(b)-(e) (1984) (blood alcohol level .05% or less gives
rise to presumption that driver is not intoxicated; blood alcohol level between .05% and .08% gives
rise to no presumption but may be considered with other evidence in determining ... guilt or
innocence; blood alcohol level .08% or greater, prima facie evidence of driving while under the
influence of alcohol; blood alcohol level .13% or greater, prima facie evidence of intoxication).
There is a fairly recent, widespread trend toward reducing the emphasis on evidentiary presumptions
through the enactment of statutes prohibiting the operation of motor vehicles by anyone who has a
blood alcohol level greater than some set figure. See, eg., CAL. VEH. CODE § 23152(b) (West 1985)
(It is unlawful for any person who has 0.10 percent or more, by weight, of alcohol in his or her
blood to drive a vehicle.). The Presidential Commission Report recommends that all states lower
the maximum allowable blood alcohol level to .08%. See PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION REPORT,
supra note 1, at 17.
3. Presumably, fault is determined more easily in these accidents. PRESIDENTIAL COMMIS-
SION REPORT, supra note 1, at I.
4. Id.
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Shed Thou No Blood: The Forcible Removal of Blood Samples from Drunk Driving Suspects
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