What is a standardized field sobriety test?
Consequences of drunk driving
Alcohol and other intoxicating substances impair the physical
and mental capacity of a person if they are consumed
above a certain limit. Depending on the frequency of
use and type of alcohol, the intoxication of a person
varies. Approximately, the law has fixed a BAC (Blood
Alcohol Content ) level. Above this, it is not safe
for any person to drive a vehicle.
Purpose of field sobriety test
If any law enforcement officer has a doubt that you
are drunk, then he has the right to test the same and
see if you are fit to drive a motor vehicle. The tests
he does to check the same are known as Field
Sobriety Tests (FSTs) or ‘divided attention tests.’
In these tests, the suspect is asked to perform various
types of mental and physical multitasks. Only if he
has the capacity to do them, it is considered he is
capable of driving a vehicle.
Types of field sobriety tests
Various multitask that test the physical and mental capabilities form field sobriety tests (FSTs). The most common ones are:
- Standing on one leg.
- Walking and turning (heel to toe in a straight line).
- Tipping the head back, closing the eyes and tip of the index finger.
- Reciting all or part of the alphabet (may be asked to recite backwards too).
- Count backwards from a number say 100 or 50.
- Breath analysis test.
- Horizontal gaze nystagmus test.
Standardized field sobriety tests
Though most of the above tests are continuing to be used by the police, a set of 3 tests have been considered as standardized field sobriety tests. They are recommended by the National Highway Traffic safety Administration (NHTSA). The NHTSA conducted various studies and has proved these tests to be more reliable than any other tests.
Unreliability of the FSTs
Dr. Spurgeon Cole conducted a study that proved the in accuracy of FSTs. He proved that officers cannot correctly determine whether the suspect is drunk or not using such tests. This is the reason why they are not used by courts to determine the actual blood alcohol concentration.
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