The Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995

Breath tests

17.—(1) Where a constable in uniform has reasonable cause to suspect

(a) that a person driving or attempting to drive or in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place has alcohol in his body or has committed a traffic offence whilst the vehicle was in motion; or

(b) that a person has been driving or attempting to drive or been in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place with alcohol in his body and that that person still has alcohol in his body; or

(c) that a person has been driving or attempting to drive or been in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place and has committed a traffic offence whilst the vehicle was in motion;

he may, subject to Article 20, require him to provide a specimen of breath for a preliminary breath test.

(2) If an accident occurs owing to the presence of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, a constable may, subject to Article 20, require any person who he has reasonable cause to believe was driving or attempting to drive or in charge of the vehicle at the time of the accident to provide a specimen of breath for a preliminary breath test.

(3) A person may be required under paragraph (1) or (2) to provide a specimen either at or in the vicinity of the place where the requirement is made or, if the requirement is made under paragraph (2) and the constable making the requirement thinks fit, at a police station specified by the constable.

(4) A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to provide a specimen of breath when required to do so in pursuance of this Article is guilty of an offence.

(5) A constable may arrest a person without warrant if—

(a) as a result of a preliminary breath test he has reasonable cause to suspect that the proportion of alcohol in that person’s breath or blood exceeds the prescribed limit, or

(b) that person has failed to provide a specimen of breath for a preliminary breath test when required to do so in pursuance of this Article and the constable has reasonable cause to suspect that he has alcohol in his body,

but a person shall not be arrested by virtue of this paragraph when he is at a hospital as a patient.

(6) A constable may, for the purpose of requiring a person to provide a specimen of breath under paragraph (2) in a case where he has reasonable cause to suspect that the accident involved injury to another person or of arresting him in such a case under paragraph (5), enter (if need be by force) any place where that person is or where the constable, with reasonable cause, suspects him to be.

(7) In this Article “traffic offence” means an offence under—

(a) any provision of this Order, or

(b) any provision of the Order of 1981 other than an offence under Article 132, 133, 136, or 137 of that Order.