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Common Drinking and Driving Tests PDF Print E-mail
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Written by William Bly   

When we think about sobriety tests the old fashioned breathalyzer test comes to mind. It does not occur to us that blowing into a machine to demonstrate sobriety is not the only thing a person must do to safeguard other drivers, vehicles, passengers and property from drunk driving accidents.

Most sobriety tests are practiced nationwide and have no discrimination against age, gender, and race or whether you may have committed a crime previously. These tests are fairly unscientific and are used for an initial investigation if the officer suspects a person of driving under the influence. If more knowledge is needed, a blood test, breathalyzer test or urine sample can be performed.

Police officers can ask the suspect to walk in a straight line with their heels in alignment with the toes of their proceeding foot, similar to what we see on a show like “Cops.” As this is a standard test it can be used in a court of law. It is known as the “walk and turn” usually.

Another non-standardized test is when a person is asked to recite the alphabet. A small portion rather than the entire alphabet is usually enough to test for sobriety.

Counting backwards from 100 is also often used as a non-standardized test. It takes surprisingly few numbers before an intoxicated person typically becomes confused and starts counting out of sequence. In fact, a drunk person cannot usually count more than the first dozen numerals.

An additional common standard test is the one-leg stand. It can be argued that some medical conditions will prevent a person from performing this test correctly but it is still regarded as a common sobriety test. It is performed by a person holding their hands at their sides and balancing on one foot.

These sobriety tests are but a small sampling of the many tools that the police have to check whether a suspect has been drinking. Although blood tests, urine tests and breathalyzer tests are more accurate, they can be difficult to do at roadside. It would require some extra training to get blood and urine samples, plus the equipment may be rather cumbersome to carry.
 

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