A police officer who pulls someone over for the suspicion of drunk driving will have to try to determine the driver’s impairment level. There are a few options for doing this. One of these is the field sobriety test.
A field sobriety test involves the officer giving the driver specific instructions and the driver following them precisely. The ability of the driver to do this correctly may show the officer the driver is sober; however, if a driver can’t do the test or if they exhibit certain signs while doing the test, it’s assumed that they’re impaired.
Field sobriety tests hinge on human interpretation
There are many different field sobriety tests that police officers use to determine if a driver is too impaired to drive. Only three of these, the horizontal gaze nystagmus, the one-leg stand and the walk-and-turn, are part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s standardized field sobriety test (SFST) battery.
With the exception of the SFST, no other field sobriety tests are considered reliable enough to be admissible in court. Even if a drunk driving case includes a SFST, the defense may still be able to question the interpretation or the administration. This is because all field sobriety tests hinge largely on human interpretation.
Anyone who’s facing a drunk driving charge should learn about their defense options. Crafting a factual and comprehensive defense strategy may help the defendant to have a more favorable outcome. It’s critical to get started on this quickly because drunk driving cases can be rather complex.