FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS

In the world of drunk driver investigations, the police will use what are commonly referred to as “field sobriety tests.”  What these tests are can range from making somebody say the alphabet, to walking in a straight line.  The purpose of these tests is to evidence that the person is drunk.  Although scant on any type of academic basis, these tests are routinely used every day in the District and Circuit Courts of Oakland County against those charged with Operating While Intoxicated.

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TESTS

In places like Rochester, Waterford, Novi, and West Bloomfield, drunk driving investigations will involve many types of field sobriety tests.  However, not all tests are created equal.  In fact, there are only three tests which have received any type of academic treatment and acceptance by the Michigan Court of Appeals.  The three tests are the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test, the One-Leg Stand Test, and the Heel-to-Toe Test.  These tests are more commonly referred to as standardized field sobriety tests as they have the blessing of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

STANDARDIZED FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS

As previously mentioned, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, commonly known as NHTSA, has backed various academic studies which allegedly show that these three tests, if done properly and together, will show somebody has a blood alcohol content over the Michigan legal limit for drunk driving OWI.  However, these tests are not always performed properly by the officers, nor is their scientific value necessarily accepted.  Nevertheless, courts like the 52-1, 52-2, 52-3, and 48^th District Courts routinely allow these into evidence without objection.  I have my own ideas on the scientific validity of these tests and lately I have been challenging their admissibility as scientifically not accepted in academia.

NON-STANDARDIZED FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS

We’ve all heard about the alphabet test and the count-backwards test, but does anybody actually ever ask whether these tests actually mean anything when determining whether somebody has a 0.08 blood alcohol content?  In my opinion, these tests do no prove anything as to whether or not somebody is a drunk driver or an impaired driver.  The tests themselves have no basis in academia that I am aware of, nor have they been litigated in the Michigan Appellate Courts.  Because of this, I always file motions to suppress the use of the non-standardized field sobriety tests.