What Are The 3 Standard Field Sobriety Tests?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has approved the three sobriety tests discussed in this post for use in DUI arrests. Officers often administer tests, such as Romberg’s balance test (the head back, eyes closed finger-to-nose test).
Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus
The DUI eye test accurately determines if the subject has nystagmus. However, police officers almost never eliminate other possible causes of nystagmus (lazy eye), such as:
- Drug or alcohol intoxication,
- Abnormal brain or inner ear development,
- Optic nerve disorders,
- Cataracts, strabismus, and other eye defects,
- Stroke or brain injury,
- Multiple sclerosis,
- Inner ear disorders (e.g., Meniere’s disease),
- Certain medications (e.g., anticonvulsants, sedatives),
- Eye infection,
- Thyroid disease,
- Vitamin B12 deficiency,
- Vestibular system disorders,
- Head trauma,
- Labyrinthitis (inflammation of the inner ear),
- Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV),
- Cancer, and
- Optokinetic Reflex Nystagmus (ORN, which is a condition caused by staring at moving objects, such as moving lights).
That last bullet point may be the most important one. Essentially, the HGN test, which involves staging at a moving light, could cause HGN.
Because the HGN-alcohol intoxication connection is so uncertain, many Palm Beach County judges only admit its results for limited purposes.
Heel to Toe Walk
In this test, subjects must elevate one leg off the ground and stand on one leg without swaying, stumbling, or using their arms for balance. This test also measures mental acuity and the ability to follow instructions, like which leg to lift and at what angle. Several factors could affect the result:
- Fatigue: Usually, the HTW test is the second or third FST. By this time, most subjects are physically and/or mentally fatigued. That’s especially true if, as is usually the case, the arrest happened late at night and the officer forced the subject to perform unapproved warm-up tests, as mentioned above.
- Nervousness: Officers usually lead with the HGN test because the compliance rate for that test is very high. When they get to the HTW or one-leg stand test, subjects know the officer is about to make a DUI arrest. We get nervous just thinking about that.
- Footwear: Most people cannot walk heel to toe in cowboy boots, flip flops, high-heel shoes, penny loafers, or anything other than athletic shoes. On a related note, people with mobility impairments or similar medical issues cannot walk heel to toe if they’re drunk, sober, or anywhere in between.
For a West Palm Beach criminal defense lawyer, details are important in these situations. Sometimes, officers tell subjects how long to hold their legs up. Other times, the time period is completely random. The officer basically has the subject hold his/her leg up until s/he starts losing balance. Then, the officer testifies that the subject “failed” the test.
One-Leg Stand
The one-legged stand test is a physical sobriety test used to assess a subject’s balance and coordination, as well as the subject’s mental acuity and ability to follow directions.
Testing officers often highlight minor technicalities and trump them up like they were major issues. These technicalities include things like elevating the wrong leg, elevating the leg for fourteen-and-a-half seconds instead of fifteen, and swaying when lifting the leg.
Additionally, fatigue and nervousness are really setting in at this point. Normally, when officers administer these tests, they go straight from one to another without any breaks. So, by the end of the test battery, the subject is physically and mentally fatigued. Additionally, subjects aren’t thinking about tests at this point. They’re thinking about jail release, job issues, what will I tell my wife/husband, and other “what comes next” issues.
Reach Out to a Dedicated Palm Beach County Lawyer
Criminal cases usually involve procedural, substantive, and/or procedural defenses. For a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal defense lawyer in West Palm Beach, contact William Wallshein P.A. Attorney William Wallshein has more than 41 years of experience, including five years as a prosecutor in Palm Beach County.
Source:
nhtsa.gov/dwi-detection-and-standardized-field-sobriety-test-sfst-resources
