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Burnet County Aims for Faster DWI Blood Tests

courtesy flickr.com/fairfaxcounty/

Drunk driving suspects in Burnet County who refuse a breath test will have a blood sample taken within an hour, if a new round-the-clock blood sampling process in Burnet County works as planned.

The process, announced today by a group of prosecutors and law enforcement agencies, means police won’t have to go to the jail, get a warrant and go to a hospital for a blood draw.

“That created a time lag in several places, and the typical arrest was taking three hours, and now we’re going to be able to cut that time frame down to about an hour,” said Capt. Kevin Davis with Texas Parks and Wildlife.

The on-call phlebotomists will begin drawing blood on April 1.

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Nathan Bernier is the transportation reporter at KUT. He covers the big projects that are reshaping how we get around Austin, like the I-35 overhaul, the airport's rapid growth and the multibillion dollar transit expansion Project Connect. He also focuses on the daily changes that affect how we walk, bike and drive around the city. Got a tip? Email him at nbernier@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @KUTnathan.
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