DUI Field Sobriety Tests: Divided Attention

Orange County DUI Attorneys

If you are pulled over by the CHP, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, or a local police agency in Orange County and the officer finds reason to believe that you have been drinking alcohol or taking drugs, whether prescribed or not, you will most likely become the subject of a DUI investigation. Unfortunately, you will not have your DUI Lawyer in Orange County by your side. If you fail the DUI investigation, then you will be arrested for DUI, DUI drugs, or DUI with injury depending on the circumstances.
The DUI investigation includes a series of questions, including queries about what you drank, when you drank, how much you drank, etc. Although you are NOT required to answer these questions, and usually you shouldn’t answer them without your Orange County DUI lawyer present, most people do answer them. The officer will then have you perform a series of field sobriety tests. These tests are also VOLUNTARY and you are under no legal obligation to perform the tests—although the officer will almost never tell you that. The final field sobriety test usually consists of a “voluntary” breath test.

The field sobriety tests are designed to test your physical and mental abilities but most importantly they are used as a way to gather evidence against you. In order to convict you of violation Section 23152(a) [DUI] in court proceedings, the prosecutor must prove that you were too impaired to drive a vehicle safely. The field sobriety tests are often the most compelling evidence that the DA can produce to show impairment.

DUI Lawyer in Orange County know that most field sobriety tests are designed to test your “divided attention”. This means that your attention during the test is divided between a physical component and a mental component. For example, on the walk-and-turn test, the subject must understand a complex set of instructions and execute these instructions while at the same time exercising balance and physical coordination. In fact, during the first part of this test, the officer will have the subject stand heel to toe on a line WHILE the officer gives the instructions. Thus, the subject literally must maintain their balance while listening to and processing the instructions.

The idea is that driving requires divided attention skills—a driver must use physical coordination while executing turns and other driving maneuvers while at the same time continuously processing data. Thus, poor performance on field sobriety tests is arguably an indication that the driver’s divided attention skills are too impaired to allow the driver to drive with the same care and caution customary of a sober person. Of course, a skilled Orange County DUI Attorney can usually cast doubt on the meaning of the “results” of these tests.

If you have been arrested for drunk driving and would like to consult with an experienced DUI Attorney, call The Law Offices of EJ Stopyro at (949) 559-5500 for a free and confidential telephonic consultation.