Why do police do balance tests etc during sobriety tests?

12 comments

1. Two reasons. You can be impaired by other drugs, and you can be considered impaired bellow the blood alcohol limit if you’re not sufficiently in control of your physical function.

   It’s basically a way of immediately establishing impairment.

2. Because they want you to fail.

3. Although the most common, alcohol is not the only thing that can impair drivers. Someone high on opioid painkillers will easily pass a breathalyzer test, but barely be able to stand.

4. They want to establish probable cause for an arrest. They can’t really fix the breathalyzer test that much, so they make you do jumping jacks cause they can make up any kind of shortcomings. You are not required to do a field sobriety test, though a few states like New York, I think, require you to take the breathalyzer. Doing the field sobriety test only produces evidence against you, so you really shouldn’t.

5. You (at least in my state) have the right to refuse a breathalyzer. But they run thorough all of the other tests for PC that you are impaired. Unfortunately it’s no longer just alcohol that’s the problem.

6. You tump over, can’t count, can’t walk… probable cause to impound your car and take you to the tank. You’ll get 2 breathalyzer tests and possibly urine if you don’t blow the limit but still act quite high on something.

7. Field sobriety tests in the US are usually in three parts if a certified officer is testing. The walk and turn and one leg stand are to check for impairment by making the person do two things at once (walk and count, and balance and count). The third test is the gaze nystagmus, where the officer has the person follow the pen with their eyes. The differences in eye movement between a sober and impaired person is quite remarkable. The purpose of this test is to show a physiological sign of impairment. Officers would like to just present a breath tester and skip the tests, but courts require them as probable cause to request the breathalyzer. And, after all that, you still have to tie everything together from initial contact to arrest to get a conviction. SOURCE-retired police officer.

8. In general you are not *required* to blow into the breathalyzer and if you do not, but do do the field sobriety tests, that’s very helpful for the prosecution because they can show the jury how shitfaced you were. As others have said, it can also show impairment by substances other than alcohol. And just like with the breathalyzer, they can’t just force you to do a drug test in general (refusal may lead to loss of your license and you may not be able to refuse in the case of death or serious bodily injury depending on the state and exigent circumstances or the quick application for a warrant). I’ve never heard of them doing oral swabs, but they can take a blood draw in certain circumstances.

   Big thing to keep in mind is that we have very robust protections against unlawful search and seizure and that informs the whole process. That’s why you can’t just demand somebody blow or give blood. You also can’t make them do field sobriety tests, but people who are impaired often do them because their judgment is … impaired and it’s a way to voluntarily give you the rope to hang yourself.

9. Because breath tests only cover alcohol and blood tests require cause.

10. Someone could have a BAL of 0.0%, but if they’re high on ketamine or LSD they can be way too impaired to drive. Alcohol isn’t the only substance that can land you in jail for driving while intoxicated.

11. The roadside doggy tricks are designed to create a reason to enforce a chemical test and are typically voluntary regardless of how heavily the police will imply that they are not.

12. You can refuse to take the test and have them do the blow test as I call it.