Divided Attention Testing

You have probably seen police officers administer the "walk a straight line test" on the side of the road when driving home late one night. This is one of the most common field sobriety tests given in the Allen and surrounding areas. This is one of the many tests that can be administered if you are pulled over by a police officer and suspected of driving under intoxication.
Divided Attention Testing:
The walk-and-turn test and one-leg stand test are “divided attention” tests that are supposed to be easily performed by most sober people. They require a suspect to listen to and follow instructions while performing simple physical movements. Impaired persons have difficulty with tasks requiring their attention to be divided between simple mental and physical exercises. If instructed properly by the officer, in the walk-and-turn test, the subject is directed to take nine steps, heel-to-toe, along a straight line. After taking the steps, the suspect must turn in a series of small steps and return in the same manner in the opposite direction. The examiner looks for seven indicators of impairment: if the suspect cannot keep balance while listening to the instructions, begins before the instructions are finished, stops while walking to regain balance, does not touch heel-to-toe, uses arms to balance, turns improperly, or takes an incorrect number of steps.
Testing Accuracy:
The NHTSA manual says that if the FST tests are not performed properly, or if conducted without adhering to the training protocols, such actions “compromise” the validity of these evaluations.The HGN evaluation, when performed correctly on proper subjects, had a 77% “claimed” reliability rating. The Walk-and-Turn exercise, when conducted properly on a qualified subject on a dry, level surface, was found to be 68% reliable. The One-Leg-Stand exercise, when conducted properly, on a qualified subject on a level, dry surface and under proper instructions and where correctly demonstrated and scored, reportedly yields about 65% reliability. Cumulatively, if all are done correctly, up to 83% correlation to a BAC of 0.10% or more may be expected according to NHTSA. Knowledgeable DWI criminal defense lawyers know that 95% or more of the officers administering these evaluations do them wrong, or conduct them in a manner (or on a test subject) not approved by the SFST manual, or grade the evaluations improperly, as per the manual, or ALL OF THE ABOVE. When done incorrectly, these evaluations have ZERO predicted reliability.
Please consult an experienced DWI or Collin County attorney to see what other defenses can be used to eliminate of minimize your charge. To learn more about Field Sobriety Tests and DWI defense contact Mr. Shaw, an experienced Plano DWI attorney at (214)726-0088