Field Sobriety Tests

DUI Field Tests: 'Keep Your Head Still …'

If you were arrested for DUI drunk driving in Orange County, Los Angeles County, or Ventura County in Southern California, the officer probably subjected you to field sobriety tests (FSTs), a series of tests designed to determine your sobriety. Any FST is subjective. The officer's subjective opinion (trained or untrained) determines test failure or success.

The DUI defense attorneys at Takakjian, Sowers & Sitkoff LLP will review with you all the circumstances of your arrest including why you were stopped (an accident, a driving mistake), what happened during the stop, and how to prepare to win the case.

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Our DUI drunk driving defense lawyers have handled DUI cases for Southern California clients for many years. Our DUI defense law firm knows the FSTs can be difficult for even stone cold sober people depending on the circumstances. If you have been charged with DUI, we will investigate how the FST was administered, how the officer made a determination, and whether the test should be considered as evidence.

There are many field sobriety tests. Some include:

• HGN or "keep your head still and follow the pen with your eyes": Horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) is an involuntary jerking of the eyeball that occurs when the eyes look to the side. It can occur when looking from side to side in everyone, but is more exaggerated in an alcohol-impaired person. In the HGN test, the officer will ask you to keep your head still as your eyes follow a slowly moving object, usually the officer's pen or finger, as it moves horizontally. This test is extremely subjective. In addition to not being even close to 100% accurate, the results can be affected by medical conditions, head injuries, seizure medications, phencyclidine, a variety of inhalants, barbiturates, and other depressants. Our DUI lawyers know how to question officers about this test.
• Walk-and-turn test: This test is generally easy for a sober person, but it can be affected by the shoes you wore, rough terrain, or by nervousness. The person is told to take nine steps, heel-to-toe, along a straight line. Then the person is asked to turn and come back in the same manner. Researchers claim the test—properly given and observed—has a 68% accuracy rate. That means that the officer is wrong in one out of three people! Our DUI lawyers have often successfully challenged the results of such tests.
• One-leg stand test - Leg Lift test: In this test, the officer asks the person to stand with one foot about six inches off the ground and count by ones starting at a thousand (one thousand, one thousand one, one thousand two, etc.). The officer watches for a period of 30 seconds, looking for swaying, using arms to balance, hopping to maintain balance, and putting the foot down. This test, too, is not even close to precise.
• The Rhomberg or Modified Position of Attention Test: Involves standing with your feet together, arms at your side, head titled back, eyes closed and estimating 30 seconds. The officer looks for a "sway" that is not normal…but what is a normal say for one person is not the same for someone else! Maybe you have back problems or an old knee injury. Your age, physical condition or even a cold, especially an inner ear infection, will affect your balance!
• Other FST's include: Finger to nose, Hand Pat Test, Hand Slap Test, Alphabet test, Counting Backwards or tests that the officer may even make up!

While the BAC (blood alcohol content) test is based on scientific laboratory tests, the FST (field sobriety test) is based on subjective observation. Indeed only three of the tests were considered "Standardized" by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA. Our DUI attorneys have the experience it takes to challenge both types of tests.

If the prosecution brings FST evidence to court, we will question the officer thoroughly to determine how well trained the officer is in FST testing, whether the tests were properly administered, and how the officer determined the subject was possibly intoxicated or driving under the influence. You deserve a DUI lawyer who will make sure the evidence was properly obtained. Contact the DUI attorneys at Takakjian, Sowers & Sitkoff LLP law firm.

If the officer did not think that you passed the FST's and you have been arrested for drunk driving in Southern California, contact the DUI attorneys at Takakjian, Sowers & Sitkoff LLP. As former deputy district attorneys, we know the courts—including DUI—from every perspective. We represent clients in communities that include: Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, Orange County, Santa Ana, Long Beach, California, Anaheim, Torrance, Pasadena, Glendale, Santa Clarita, Ventura, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach, Fullerton, Rancho Cucamonga, Orange, Ontario, Riverside, Burbank, West Covina, Norwalk, Oxnard, Pomona, Westminster, Alhambra, Whittier, Laguna Niguel, Thousand Oaks, Mission Viejo, Simi Valley, and Bellflower.

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