What happens when field sobriety tests, which didn’t have a solid foundation to start with, are outmoded and don’t measure either sobriety or impairment with any reliability? The wrong people get arrested, their rights get violated, and worse, they can get convicted of a charge they weren’t guilty of. Where and how can this possibly happen? To start with, the field sobriety tests, fsts, which were incredibility subjective to start with, since age, physical ability and agility, weather circumstances, lack of sleep, time of day, illness, injury, stress, clothing, proper instructions, proper observation, correct questioning and recording, among many other variables, were designed for alcohol evaluation not prescribed meds, marijuana, or street drugs. There have been no new “uniform standardized” fsts since 1981! During that time arrests and testing to establish probable or reasonable cause to arrest for DUI based on consumption of substances other than alcohol have exploded. These include marijuana, methamphetamine, barbiturates, opiate based drugs, other pain killers, tranquilizers, anti psychotics, anti seizure meds, as well as many others. All include many wide ranging symptoms which may or may not cause impairment, very few of which can be measured by the 3 fsts.

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