Until legislation is introduced giving police officers new ways to determine whether a driver is impaired by drugs, one of the more common tools at police disposal remains the Standard Field Sobriety Tests (SFST).
The internationally used test falls into three parts: a check for involuntary eye movement, walking and turning in a line, and the one-leg stand. You’re scored on these tests based on a number of “clues” an officer ticks off when looking for things like whether you were able to balance for 30 seconds, or if you “went off the line” during the walk and turn.
The steps that officers generally take in conducting an SFST are described in the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s SFST participant guide, which included submissions from the RCMP along with various police authorities in the United States.
We believe that most older people, particularly those aged 40 and up, would struggle to completely pass a SFST due to physical restraints.
The eye movement test
The first of the three tests is the horizontal gaze nystagmus test. This generally involves an officer using a pen or another object for the person to focus on and monitoring the person’s eye movement as this object is moved from side to side. There are six “clues” in total – three for each eye – and officers are trained to look for these things:
1) lack of the ability to smoothly track an object with eyes
2) “distinct and sustained” uncontrolled movement of the eyes when looking as far to the side as possible
3) whether the person’s eyes start jerking, when tracking an object, before hitting a 45 degree angle of vision
Walk in a line and turn
The second of the three tests is the “walk and turn,” where an officer asks someone to take heel-to-toe steps in a line. The guide suggests that officers tell the person tested to keep their arms by their sides, and take steps with heels touching toes. Nine steps are supposed to be taken in one direction, before the person is required to turn, to make a few additional steps. The person is also asked to count their steps out loud. There are eight clues officers look for during this test:
1) inability to keep balance while given instructions
2) starting the test too soon
3) stopping while doing the test
4) not touching the heel to the toes
5) stepping off the line
6) using arms to balance
7) not turning properly
8) not taking the correct number of steps
Stand on one foot
The final of the three tests is the one-leg stand. The person being tested will be asked to stand with their feet together, arms at the sides, before raising one foot approximately six inches off the ground. The person is asked to look at their raised foot and count 30 digits, starting from 1,000. Officers are trained to look for four clues:
1) swaying while balancing
2) using the arms to balance
3) hopping
4) putting the raised foot down
What officers are trying to determine
It’s important to know that there is no exact threshold that says just how many steps you need to fail for an officer to confirm their suspicions. All the officer is required to do is to conclude subjectively that the person they’ve tested is impaired in their ability to drive, and that a reasonable person with the same information would come to the same conclusion. Having said that, an officer must also have reasonable grounds to suspect that someone has alcohol or a drug – and was recently operating a vehicle – in their body to demand a SFST. Generally speaking, you cannot refuse or fail to comply with a SFST demand without potentially facing charges or additional penalties.
What happens if I fail an SFST?
Failing an SFST can result in an officer referring the case to a Drug Recognition Evaluator, who may request breath samples and bodily fluid samples for examination.
It is possible for a completely sober driver to fail a SFST. A medical study published in Psychopharmacology in 2012 tested heavy marijuana users, both high and sober, with the SFST. The study found no significant differences between the two groups for the walk and turn test. For the one-leg stand test, 21% of the sober group displayed “impairments” when performing the test compared to 50% of those who had smoked marijuana. Lastly, none of the sober group displayed impairment in the horizontal gaze nystagamus eye test, while 15% of those who had smoked marijuana showed some impairment.
We believe that most older people, particularly those aged 40 and up, would struggle to completely pass a SFST due to physical restraints. After all, how often do people practice balancing on one foot or walking heel-to-toe? In our view, it is perfectly reasonable for seniors in particular to struggle to pass an SFST without being impaired in the slightest.
And when it comes to the younger population, many of them struggle to follow instructions precisely, which could lead an officer to conclude that they may be impaired when in fact they just weren’t listening as carefully as the officer would like. If you have failed an SFST, but believe you were not impaired at the time of the test, give us a call. We may be able to help.