Skip to Content
Call Us For A Free Consultation 703-382-5840
Top

Field sobriety tests not always accurate

|

If you have been arrested for and charged with a driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated offense in Virginia, you will want to educate yourself about many things. Certainly having an understanding of the types of penalties you may face if you are ultimately convicted is important. However, before that may ever happen, you should lear about the different ways in which you may effectively defend yourself against these charges.

As explained by FieldSobrietyTests.org, the roadside tests administered before you were arrested are known to not be accurate all of the time. In fact, these field sobriety tests are not even able to nor are they designed to prove that you were intoxicated. Instead, they are only used to support the possibility that you were intoxicated so that an officer could legally place you under arrest. There are three tests approved for use by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The test known to be the most accurate is the horizontal gaze nystagmus test but even this is only accurate in 77 percent of cases. On the other end of the spectrum is the one-leg stand test which has an accuracy rate of 65 percent. In the middle is the walk and turn test with a 68-percent accuracy rate. The combined accuracy rate of all three tests is 82 percent.

If you would like to learn more about the accuracy rates of different tests used during a DWI or DUI investigation or arrest, please feel free to visit the drunk driving test page of our Virginia criminal defense website.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn