Whether you are during through a DUI checkpoint at the end of your late night, or you have been pulled over by a police officer on suspicion of driving under the influence, there is a good chance that they are going o ask you to conduct a field sobriety test on the spot. Depending on your state, these test may also be call "roadside" sobriety tests, though they are in essence the same thing. The purpose of these tests is as a means of enforcing DUI laws in the area and arresting those who are driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time. These tests are usually done before the Breathalyzer test and there are generally three phases of the field tests. The three different tests that are conducted will allow the arresting officer the chance to see for themselves how the driver is doing with their attention span, personal balance and physical abilities; looking at how much control they have over their own bodies.

It is important that the officer who has pulled over the driver takes very detailed reports of these tests as they will be used in court against the driver as evidence to prove the DUI. The first test they will do in order to check for your control over your eyes will by the horizontal gaze nystagmus, which means that the officer will be able to see whether or not your eye is jerking around, which tends to be a sign of intoxication in most people. Eyes naturally have nystagmus however the jerking is much more intensified when a person adds alcohol into the picture. In this test, the officer will look for three factors as well. First, they want to make sure that the person is able to control their eyes enough to move them mirroring an object, then they will look for jerking of the eye when it is at its maximum deviation and then also for jerking within the 45 degrees of the center of the eye.

After this they will check for balanace and the ability for a person to control their own phsycial body. Here they will conduct a walk and turn which simply means that the officer will have the driver walk forward taking heel to toe steps nine times there and nine times back after turning on one foot. While this is a simple task for the average person to do, because of the affects a substance can have on a person's brain, this becomes much more difficult when under the influence.

Lastly, the officer will then have the driver stand on one leg and balance for 30 seconds. While this is obviously not an easy task for every person either due to their age or physical abilities, officers can get a general idea as to whether or not a person is impaired. The officers generally consider that a person who is hopping a lot of continually outs their foot down as being under the influence of something. Statistics show that while these tests may be inaccurate at time, they are right in about 91% of impairment cases regarding whether or not a person is tested to actually have a high blood alcohol content level. Officers may also conducted a Breathalyzer tests as well in order to determine on the scene what their BAC levels are at the time they are pulled over.

In the event that you are arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, please do not hesitate in contacting an experienced DUI defense lawyer in your area today!