DUI Urine Test

The United States Department of Transportation maintains Urine Tests are not reliable. The California Legislature no longer permits a driver to request a Urine Test except in limited situations such as DUI – Drugs or unavailable breath or blood test, attorneys note. DMV mentions some situations in its manual:

“12.110 Urine Test

When an officer suspects a driver is under the influence of drugs, or the breath and blood tests are unavailable, the driver is required to submit to a chemical urine test to determine the blood alcohol concentration.

The urine test sample requirements under Title 17 CCR, §1219.2 are as follows: “The only approved sample shall be a sample collected no sooner than 20 minutes after first voiding the bladder. The specimen shall be deposited in a clean, dry container which also contains a preservative.” The sample void need not be captured; however, there must be a 20-minute wait before the test sample is collected. The amount to be captured in the test sample varies from one lab to another. It is generally accepted that an amount sufficient to wet the preservative is enough to perform an analysis.

The court upheld the department’s suspension in Kessler v. DMV, 1992 9 Cal.App.4th 1134, based on the officer following the procedures in Title 17. Kessler said he could not urinate to produce the initial void in the presence of the officer. The officer refused to start the 20-minute waiting period until Kessler voided his bladder.”

[DMV Manual, page 12-51]