Examples Of Field Test
There are three standard field sobriety tests that an officer will conduct if he or she suspects that a motorist is under the influence. I have conducted three of these tests myself and found that it is a good thing to conduct these field test because, it gives the officer the ability to know the status of an individual’s ability to operate a vehicle and it also gives the officer a sense of how to deal with the motorist. For example, a police officer might find them self in a situation where they may be dealing with someone that has just taken PCP-phencyclidine, in this situation the individual has a harder time knowing pain so, the officer would have to adjust to this accordingly. None the less, field sobriety test is conducted by doing a
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The motorist will walk in a straight line with hands to their sides nine steps, pivot on the ninth step and continues the other way. After trying this I found no problem with it but, there are people out there that may not be able to conduct this test. I also considered that terrain and environment should be taken into account, for example, I find it unsafe for a driver under the influence to do a FST on the freeway with the danger of them stumbling into to the freeway. Standing on one leg test consist of one holding hand to the sides, feet together, with one foot out while also counting. This test was fairly simple as well and I found that it is good in testing one’s balance and under the influence I could see this to be pretty hard to do. The last test is the finger to the nose test, however to note this test is no longer used now what is used is what is called the horizontal gaze test. “The officer will look for three different clues in each (for a total of six) during the test. One is lack of smooth pursuit—are the eyes jerking or bouncing while following the stimulus? Next, the officer will look for nystagmus that sets in before the eyes reach a 45 degree angle. The last clue is nystagmus at maximum deviation, which means that the eyes begin jerking within four seconds while looking all of the way to the side.” (“Field Sobriety Tests,”
The motorist will walk in a straight line with hands to their sides nine steps, pivot on the ninth step and continues the other way. After trying this I found no problem with it but, there are people out there that may not be able to conduct this test. I also considered that terrain and environment should be taken into account, for example, I find it unsafe for a driver under the influence to do a FST on the freeway with the danger of them stumbling into to the freeway. Standing on one leg test consist of one holding hand to the sides, feet together, with one foot out while also counting. This test was fairly simple as well and I found that it is good in testing one’s balance and under the influence I could see this to be pretty hard to do. The last test is the finger to the nose test, however to note this test is no longer used now what is used is what is called the horizontal gaze test. “The officer will look for three different clues in each (for a total of six) during the test. One is lack of smooth pursuit—are the eyes jerking or bouncing while following the stimulus? Next, the officer will look for nystagmus that sets in before the eyes reach a 45 degree angle. The last clue is nystagmus at maximum deviation, which means that the eyes begin jerking within four seconds while looking all of the way to the side.” (“Field Sobriety Tests,”