The federal government may be on the cusp of approving a second device to screen for drugged drivers after the first one was given a pass by most police forces.

But at least one lawyer is already raising concerns.

Acumen Law’s Kyla Lee says the ‘SoToxa‘ device while much improved from the ‘Draeger Drug Test 5000‘ still has some serious flaws.

“There is still concerns with it. It still does have a very limited operating temperature range. It is not going to work in very cold temperatures accurately or very hot temperatures accurately. That is obviously a big problem. My bigger concern about it is there is a lot of moving parts with a huge potential for error.”

Lee says it must also be absolutely level during testing, which is not ideal for roadside use.

“It really doesn’t seem like it is designed for practical roadside use. It is very difficult to find a level space when you are parked roadside because often the ground is uneven. You can’t put it on the hood or trunk of a police car because there is always a lilt to that. It is going to pose a lot of problems. I don’t know what police are going to do to deal with that. Whether they are going to build a special table inside the police vehicle or install a level in there so that they can measure things.”

Lee says in the absence of a reliable device police have proven one is not even required.

“If they have a problem with not detecting enough drug impaired drivers they should train more people on the traditional method. That is a lot faster and it is a lot cheaper than buying a bunch of equipment that has not been tested in our court and may ultimately be found to be constitutional. As far as the data that has been coming out shows we do not really have a drug impaired driving crisis after legalization. There has not been a spike.”

Police departments, who widely panned the Draeger Drug Test 5000, fell back on traditional roadside sobriety tests to check drivers suspected be of being cannabis impaired.