DWI Laws and What are Field Sobriety Tests

Friday, 25 May 2007

The field sobriety tests or FST’s are psychophysical tests utilized in order to determine a person’s physical or mental impairment. These tests usually focus on the faculties required for safe driving. In order to drive a car safely, one needs to see clearly, and control steering, breaking and acceleration simultaneously. He must also be able to react to constant environmental changes while driving and perform various other tasks. Therefore, in case, the person is intoxicated or under the influence of a drug, alcohol, a substance or any combination thereof, he wouldn’t able to divide attention and this may result in concentrating on difficult tasks and ignoring simple ones.

But, as generally noticed, field sobriety tests have many contradictions. Therefore, most experienced people as well as lawyers recommend not taking these tests, if the person is not fully confident and in proper physical as well as mental stage. They argue, in any field sobriety test, even if you have not had anything to drink, a charge can be filed against you.

That is possible because if you do not perform well in the test, even if you drank nothing, the police may say you were under the influence of another drug. So one must be extremely careful while submitting for such tests.

Contrary to that, suppose you have refused to take the field sobriety tests, then the police have less evidence against you to prove that you were intoxicated. However, one shouldn’t forget that the law is always for the betterment and in the interest of common people, so the actual charge depends upon a variety of factors, such as the skill of your attorney, your criminal record, and the individual factors in your case.

Now, it is of paramount importance that we should understand these field sobriety tests completely to save ourselves. In any field sobriety test, usually divided attention tasks are designed to evaluate mental and physical abilities of a person in order to drive a vehicle safely. These include the following:

a) Short term memory
b) Judgment
c) Decision making
d) Balance
e) Steady and sure reactions
f) Clear vision
g) Coordination of limbs
h) Small muscle control

A good field sobriety test would combine any of the above-mentioned two or more of the capabilities simultaneously, depending upon the exact situation and the judgment of the law enforcement officer at that time. Generally, the most common field sobriety tests used by the police include the following three standardized tests:

a) Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus: This field sobriety test refers to the involuntary eye jerking as it gazes to the side. In case, it occurs, the person is usually unaware of the jerking and cannot control it. This involuntary jerking results in the blood alcohol increase of the driver. This test is known to be the most reliable ones in the category of field sobriety tests.
b) Walk and Turn: This is a divided attention test that consists of the instruction phase and the walking phase, the person must stand with the right foot directly in front of the left foot with his heel and toes touching. He must keep his arms at his side while listening to the instruction. The instruction phase takes about 45 seconds to complete. The walking phase must include a person taking a heel-to-toe steps turned in a prescribed manner while counting the steps loud and taking steps back.
c) One let stand: This is a divided attention test consisting of the instruction phase and the balance and counting phase.

Field sobriety tests in Texas are the most common tests conducted to see if the driver is intoxicated while driving. Though, there is a great on-going debate about the validity, accuracy, and reliability of these tests, but still they have much importance. So one must be careful and smart enough to follow the instructions of a law enforcement officer while being stopped for DWI on the road.

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