There are few things in life that are more unnerving that feeling of standing by the side of the road, just you and the officer. As traffic passes by a few feet away from you and your parked car, you know it's late and you are nervous. The officer's already peppered you with every question you can think of: Do you know why I pulled you over? How much have you had to drink tonight? Can I see your license and registration?
All you really want to do is go home. You think you've answered everything correctly and that things should be just about finished, and then the officer asks you one more question: Would you mind submitting to voluntary field sobriety testing?
'Field sobriety testing?' What does he mean by 'voluntary field sobriety testing?' If you say yes, what can you expect to be subjected to?
In the State of Washington, when a person is being investigated for driving under the influence, that person can expect to be asked to do three separate tests: [1]
Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus, [2] Walk and Turn, and [2] One Leg Stand. These three tests are designed to measure two basic things: Your physical performance, and your ability to divide your attention amongst different tasks. Again, these tests are voluntarily; while refusing to give a breath test after being arrested will result in a license suspension, declining to do the field sobriety tests is your choice and will not result in any automatic suspension.
While the police officer may also ask you to do other tests, such as a finger to nose tests or saying the alphabet backwards, the three listed tests are the only ones that have been validated by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for determining whether or not a driver is under the influence of alcohol. These three tests are what anyone can expect to do if they submit to voluntary field sobriety testing.
The first test, Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus, involves the officer asking you stand at attention while keeping your head still and tracking a stimulus, often a pen or flashlight held at arm's length, with both eyes. Nystagmus is a fancy word for 'involuntary eye movement,' which is exactly what the officer is looking for as you follow the stimulus. While nystagmus can be caused by intoxication, it can also be caused by several other factors.
The second test, Walk and Turn, involves the officer asking you to stand and walk a series of steps down an imaginary line, turn around, then come back. During this test the officer will pepper you with several instructions, such as how many steps to take, how to keep your feet with each step, what to do with your arms, how to turn when coming back, etc. A seemingly simple process, but you will be given only one chance to peform the test. Miss just one step and take one step too many, and suddenly the officer will determine he's seen clues of intoxication and conclude the test has been failed.
The third test, One Leg Stand, also involves one chance at performing a physical test after receiving several instructions from an officer. The officer will ask you to raise one leg six inches off the ground, keeping the foot parallel to the ground with your arms out and counting out numbers. Fail to display perfect balance and/or miss one instruction, and again the officer will determine he's seen clues of intoxication and conclude the test has been failed.
While these tests may be tough to perform perfectly for many people regardless of the circumstances, they are also very specific tests that an officer must administer properly for the results to be valid or admissible in court. An experienced DUI attorney will know if the officer followed tests properly. An experienced attorney will know whether the involuntary eye movement the officer noticed could perhaps have been caused by factors other than intoxication. If you are facing a DUI charge, contact one of our experienced attorneys today who can examine how the tests were administered, speak to you about what happened that evening, and even cross-examine the officer on the stand to make sure he did his job correctly.