Field Sobriety & Roadside Tests in Florida

Before you were arrested, the police probably offered you an opportunity to do field sobriety tests / roadside tests. You either did them, or you refused. Either way, they arrested you. Doesn't seem fair, does it? It's especially unfair if you passed the tests and they still arrested you.

There is almost no imaginable circumstance where it is to your advantage to take the Standard Field Sobriety Tests (usually referred to by the Officer as "field exercises" rather than as "tests.") Years ago most agencies video-taped the performance of these tests. If you did poorly of course, the video made an acquittal or dismissal more difficult. If you did very well on the exercises, the prosecutor would frequently reduce the charges. Frequently the written report by the police would exaggerate the mistakes or "clues", and cite those mistakes as the grounds, or "probable cause" to arrest you. When the video did not confirm the harsh description of the officer, they lost credibility. They also lost many cases. THAT MEANS WE WON.

The police solution was to stop video-taping the exercises. As a result, the ONLY evidence that a jury would receive about your performance was the subjective description by the police.

In excess of 98% of the time that an officer asks a driver to perform these tests, that same officer concludes that the driver is impaired and arrests them.

The single most effective way to avoid "failing" these tests or exercises, is TO NOT TAKE THEM.

Since the Officer uses the driver's performance on these exercises as an important part of the "articulable facts" used to make up justification for an arrest, your refusal to take these tests deprives them of this important element.

The only consequence of a refusal to take these exercises will be explained by the officer. He tells the driver that the refusal can be disclosed to the jury and "used against you." Just as the officer will be allowed to tell the jury that you refused to take the exercises, your attorney can get him to admit that the tests are not required and that he has very little information about their reliability. Three was never a good reason for you tot take a test, just so he could use it against you in the field.

Below is a general discussion about what the tests are, who developed them and how they are used. While the information is interesting and may be helpful, we believe that the most valuable information about these tests is that you are not required to take them, and that you should not take them.

Remember, this advice applies only to the field exercises and not to your decision to provide a breath, urine or blood sample. Those issues are discussed elsewhere in this website.

THESE ARE VOLUNTARY TESTS