Georgia DUI Field Sobriety Tests

Field sobriety tests or FST's are conducted by police officers to determine a person's sobriety. These highly touted tests may not be as accurate as they seem - and our attorneys here at the Law Offices of Webb, Willis, and Kohn will fight to prove this. After reading the information below, you may have a different opinion on field sobriety tests all together.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funded research to see which field sobriety tests were the most accurate. In 1977, studies found that three most accurate tests are the HGN, the Walk and Turn and the One Leg Stand. However, using these three most accurate tests, research found that 47 percent of subjects who would have been arrested based on upon test performance actually had blood-alcohol concentrations that were less than the legal limit of .10! To put it more bluntly, almost HALF of the people arrested for DUI were not over the legal limit!

In an attempt to improve the credibility of the FSTs, these same researchers conducted further tests in 1981. The error rate improved somewhat, dropping to 32 percent. However, there were still 1/3 of people being arrested for DUI that were less than the legal limit of .10!

It also appears that the NHTSA-funded researches used methods that ensured improved reliability figures. It seems that many of the subjects avoided being borderline (having a BAC of .09 or 1.1). They avoided this by given subjects less alcohol so that the BAC was around .05 or by giving them excessive amount of alcohol so the BAC was elevated to 1.5 percent.

The FSTs are also deemed as unreliable because many people are just unfamiliar with the tests or the police officer did not administer the test correctly. Remember, if you miss two "clues" that's a fail.