3 Reasons Why You Failed Sobriety Test Other than alcohol

A drunk driving charge can happen to anyone! Recent news stories about professional football and baseball players accused of this criminal offense show that it doesn’t discriminate based on age, race or income level. Our law firm, based in Philadelphia, wants to be a resource in this area and so we’ve made a commitment to constantly publish information for people who find themselves in this situation. This article focuses on the Standard Field Sobriety Test (SFST) and how performance on them isn’t always indicative of intoxication, impairment and a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) over the legal limit (.08)

The 3 Most Common SFST

Prior to an arrest on suspicion of DUI or drunk driving, officers will often administer field sobriety tests to a person. I have written and made videos on all of these tests and the 3 most common are: the walk and turn, the one leg stand test, and the horizontal gaze and nystagmus test (HGN). I encourage you to read these previous articles and watch these videos for more information on these topics. The focus of this article, however, is to provide 3 reasons why a person may fail these tests other than impairment. Your criminal defense lawyer can use some or all of these reasons in an argument during a motion to suppress where probable cause to arrest is an issue and also at trial where the prosecution attempts to use the results to establish impairment.