What The Police Don’t Want You To Know About Field Sobriety “Tests”

• Nov 17 2019

Roadside video can make a sobriety exercise look straightforward, but it does not necessarily show every instruction, medical limitation, or environmental condition. If you face a DUI charge, those details deserve careful review.

Standardized Exercises Have Limits

NHTSA training materials describe a standardized battery of horizontal gaze nystagmus, walk-and-turn, and one-leg-stand tests and the research supporting their use under specified conditions. They are not infallible, do not directly measure blood-alcohol concentration, and should not be treated as automatic proof of guilt. Nonstandard exercises do not necessarily share the same validation.

Reliability depends on the exercise, instructions, administration, scoring, and individual circumstances. An attorney can compare the officer’s report with video, training, and the applicable protocol.

Issues Worth Examining

• Whether instructions and demonstrations followed the required protocol.
• Whether the surface, lighting, weather, footwear, or nearby traffic affected performance.
• Whether injury, balance problems, age, medication, hearing, language, or another condition provides an alternative explanation.
• Whether the reported clues match the video and were scored correctly.

Flashing lights and moving visual stimuli may matter to particular observations, but they do not automatically invalidate every exercise. A medical condition or administration error may affect weight, admissibility, or probable cause; suppression is not guaranteed. Permitted testimony and terminology depend on the test, foundation, governing law, and the judge’s rulings.

Physical Exercises Versus Chemical Tests

Roadside exercises are different from breath, urine, or blood testing under Florida’s implied-consent law. Refusing a physical exercise does not itself trigger the chemical-test-refusal suspension, but may have evidentiary consequences. Chemical-test refusal has separate statutory prerequisites and consequences. Do not assume the same advice applies to every kind of test.

Reviewing Lighting and Other Conditions

Rather than assuming emergency lights affected every exercise, counsel can examine where the driver was positioned, what visual stimuli were present, which observations the officer relied on, and whether the officer followed the relevant protocol. Documented individual symptoms and medical evidence may also matter. Video should be compared with the report, not treated as a guaranteed defense or a guaranteed conviction.

Contact Valiente Law to discuss the evidence and possible challenges in your case.

Posted in: DUI