The smell of alcohol , the testimonies of the officers , the inability of the driver to answer questions . These are the elements sufficient to prove the state of intoxication of a motorist stopped by the police. This was established by the Court of Cassation, as Il Messaggero reports today.
To verify drunkenness, as explained by the judges, "objective and symptomatic" elements are sufficient and, therefore, the alcohol test would no longer be needed to verify that the blood alcohol level exceeds the permitted threshold of 1.5 . Rejecting the appeal of a motorist from Brescia, the Court of Cassation explains that «since the instrumental examination does not constitute legal proof, the assessment of the alcohol concentration can be carried out on the basis of symptomatic elements for all the crime cases envisaged by article 186 of the Highway Code (i.e. driving while intoxicated) and if the upper thresholds are exceeded the decision must be supported by adequate motivation".
According to the judges, testimonies are also important pieces of evidence. «It therefore follows that, in the absence of a valid alcohol test being carried out - we read in the sentence -, the judge of merit can draw his own opinion regarding the existence of the state of intoxication of adequate objective and symptomatic elements, which in the case under examination the judges of merit have appropriately identified aspects such as the comatose and altered state manifested by the accused at the sight of those operating, certainly attributable to a very high use of alcoholic beverages, certainly higher than the threshold of 1.50".
(Unioneonline/vf)