If you have ever wondered just what happens during a typical drunk driving arrest process in Texas, you are not alone. While many people have heard about field sobriety tests, few truly understand them. As explained by FieldSobrietyTests.org, these different tests administered at a stop location do not prove that you are actually drunk.
All that a field sobriety test can show is that you might be under the influence of alcohol. This is then used by an officer to support placing you under arrest for suspected driving while intoxicated. Before an officer even asks you to perform any of these field sobriety tests, they may rely on their sensory data to surmise that you have been drinking. They visually look for redness in your eyes, listen to how you speak to identify potential speech difficulties and they use their sense of smell to detect the aroma of alcohol.
The field sobriety tests themselves may be somewhat less subjective but they are far from 100-percent accurate or fully objective. The test measuring your eye movement is the most accurate with a known accuracy rate of only 77 percent. The test that requires you to balance on one leg is only 65-percent accurate. The test that requires you to walk along a line and back is 68-percent accurate.
If you would like to learn more about the types and accuracy rates of field sobriety tests used in a DWI investigation, please feel free to visit the drunk driving test and arrest page of our Texas criminal defense website.