Standardized Field Sobriety Testing

When stopped for a traffic violation, if a police officer suspects DUI s/he may ask the driver to comply with certain sobriety tests that have been approved – or standardized – by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

In 1981 the NHTSA created a simple battery of tests that could be standardized to assist officers in determining a driver’s sobriety.

If an officer performs the standardized tests, these are:

Walk-and-turn
One-leg stand
Horizontal gaze nystagmus

Police officers are trained by the NHTSA in conducting these test to increase their accuracy.

In the above tests, the officer is looking for loss of balance indicators. Many drivers claim they could not perform these tests while sober!