While the state of California has its own set of respective DUI laws and regulations governing the same, there are still some aspects of the same that come under the supervision of the appropriate federal agencies. One of these is concerning DUI field sobriety testing and the role of the NHSTA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in issuing police protocols for such tests. The NHSTA is the proper agency of the federal government that classifies standardized field sobriety tests and determines just how reliable they can be.
Based on the studies and researches conducted by the NHSTA over time, there are only three standardized field sobriety tests which can be considered as reliable enough to gauge whether or not the individual is indeed mentally and/or physically impaired to get behind the wheel. Nonetheless, these tests must be precisely administered, otherwise, the results are still very much questionable. These three tests are:
- The horizontal gaze nystgamus or HGN test.
- The walk and turn DUI test.
- The one-leg-stand DUI test.
It’s important to note that most arresting officers rely much on these DUI field sobriety tests and their respective results to complete their DUI investigations and reports. However, since these tests are usually not administered properly and the accuracy of such tests is only at most 77 % accurate, they can be open to all sorts of attack. This is where the experience and competence of your DUI defense attorney will make a huge difference in the outcome of your case. An extensively experienced DUI defense attorney would be able to comprehend just how critical disproving the accuracy of these tests results are in achieving a dismissal of the DUI charges against the offender.
When hinging on the defense of improper administration of the tests, the DUI defense attorney can also question the expertise of the arresting officers, particularly in the way they explain, monitor, and score these standardized field sobriety tests. Moreover, there’s also the fact that there are still a number of other factors apart from alcohol intoxication or drug influence that can lead to adverse results in the person’s performance on such tests. Some common examples are fatigue, inclement weather, sickness, and injury. Hence, whenever you are charged with a DUI violation in the state and you are made to undergo these mandatory standardized field sobriety tests, it is a MUST that you should contact your DUI defense attorney immediately.
