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Non-Standardized Field Sobriety Tests

When the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) developed the Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) in the 1970s, they looked at several different sobriety tests. Only three were adopted into the SFST: the One Leg Stand, the Walk and Turn, and the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test. The remainder of the tests examined by NHTSA were not found to be reliable indicators of someone’s level of intoxication. Savannah DUI attorney Matt Hube has received extensive training on the SFST and knows how to defend you if you were given a non-standard sobriety test.

Despite their lack of scientific validity, the non-standard tests continue to be used by police officers throughout the country. Court systems allow the results to be admitted as evidence in a trial, and jurors make their decisions about your guilt under Georgia DUI law based on your performance of these non-standard tests.

Oddly enough, these non-standard tests are often what comes to mind when the average person pictures a field sobriety test: finger to nose, saying the alphabet (backward or forward), counting, and picking up a coin from a flat surface.

If your performance of these tests is submitted as evidence in a Georgia DUI trial, jurors will most likely see a “failure” of these tests as proof that you were intoxicated, even though there is no scientific proof to believe this.

If you have been charged with a DUI in Savannah or a DUI in Statesboro, GA, call Savannah DUI Attorney Matt Hube today. Using his extensive legal experience, he can inform the jury about the unreliability of these tests and show how your performance cannot be used as proof that you were intoxicated. Call Matt Hube today for a free consultation.