Field Sobriety Tests

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) publishes a manual which law enforcement uses for DUI training and to assist them with obtaining drunk driving convictions. The DWI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing Manual aims to train police agencies across the United States in investigation techniques involving driving under the influence.

In particular, the FST Manual outlines how to explain, administer, judge and score DUI suspects in the three standardized field sobriety tests: The Walk and Turn, the One Leg Stand, and the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus.

These "exams" are standardized field sobriety tests for DUI detection, and supposedly ensure that officers conduct the FST's the same way, and the correct way, whether in Kansas City, Olathe, Overland Park, or other municipalities. That's the theory anyway.

In Kansas, we find that many DUI police officers deviate from the "standardized" guidelines while administering the field sobriety tests. According to NHTSA's own manual, this compromises the validity of the test results. This statement out of the manual has been very helpful to us and our clients in the past.

As experienced and aggressive Kansas Criminal Defense DUI Attorneys, we thoroughly evaluate every case to determine whether FST's were given exactly according to the NHTSA guidelines. If not, the results, including the officer's opinion that the suspect was under the influence while driving, should be given little weight.

Officers sometimes use other "tests" to validate their opinion that a person is intoxicated. They use such "exams" like counting backward and saying your abc's. However, typically, the only FST tests that are admitted at an actual trial are the Walk and Turn and the One Leg Stand. The Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) generally isn't admitted. The PBT is different from the actual Breathalyzer administered at the station. This machine is usually the Intoxilyzer 8000 or 5000. Unless suppressed, the breathalyzer results and/or refusal generally are admissible at trial.

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