Department of Transportation, Bureau of Traffic Safety v. Humphrey

In Department of Transportation, Bureau of Traffic Safety v. Humphrey, 136 Pa. Commw. 515, 583 A.2d 868 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1990), the Court held that a licensee who consumed alcohol and then sustained a head injury in an accident can establish an inability to make a knowing and conscious refusal by presenting expert medical testimony that the head injury played a greater role in the refusal than the alcohol consumption. The voluntary consumption of alcohol is analogous to the taking of a prescription drug, knowing its side effects. Both result in self-induced confusion. Thus, we now hold that, if a licensee takes a prescription drug, knowing its side effects, and then sustains a head injury in an accident, the licensee can establish an inability to make a knowing and conscious refusal by presenting expert medical testimony that the head injury played a greater role in the refusal than the prescription drug.