Walking In A Straight Line
One of the most widely used field sobriety exercises in use throughout the United States is the straight line test. The police officer will have the individual attempt to walk in a straight line. This is usually done by having the person try to walk on a painted line on the roadside, like the white line that is along the edge of the road. If no line is present, the officer can choose to have the person try to walk along the side of the road where the grass meets the pavement. A more current version of this exercise is the walk and turn. A suspect will be asked to walk ten paces heel-to toe, stop and turn 180 degrees on one foot, then walk back another 10 paces.
Reciting the Alphabet Backwards
This exercise is a tricky one. The officer will ask the person to recite the alphabet backwards, usually beginning with a certain letter and ending on another specific letter. This exercise is actually seeking two outcomes. The first is obvious; if the person clearly cannot come reasonably close to a correct response, the person may be intoxicated. The other, more hidden outcome is that a very common response to this question is “I can’t even do that when I am sober!” That response will tell the officer that the person is intoxicated by their own admission.
Involuntary Eye Movements
Another very common field sobriety exercise is testing for involuntary eye movements. When a person is under the influence, their body will do things that the person may not notice or have any control over. One of these things is involuntary eye movement. This exercise is conducted by the officer asking the person to follow the movement of an object (like a pen) with only their eyes. If the person moves their head, the officer will stop the exercise and begin it again after restating the instructions. The officer is looking for involuntary jerky, non-smooth eye movements.
The Breathalyzer Test
This is the grand daddy of field sobriety tests. A breathalyzer is a device that a person blows into that measures blood alcohol levels. The device is placed in the mouth of the person. The officer then instructs the person to blow until they are told to stop. The device measures the person’s blood alcohol level by examining alcoholic odors emitted by the person’s breath. If the device determines that the person’s blood alcohol level is over the legal limit, a DUI charge is a real possibility for them.