When police officers suspect people of drunk driving, they are often rather aggressive in their enforcement efforts. They ask people leading questions to get them to implicate themselves. They try to gather evidence as quickly as possible to justify charges of impaired driving.
Obviously, chemical breath tests can provide strong evidence for the state to use when pursuing impaired driving charges. However, police officers usually need a justification to request breath testing. They typically need to have probable cause to arrest the driver before they can demand a breath test.
One of the ways they obtain that probable cause is by conducting a series of field sobriety tests. Do drivers need to exit their vehicles to perform field sobriety tests during traffic stops?
Field sobriety testing is optional
Sometimes, stories about high-profile individuals arrested for drunk driving make the news. Frequently, people find those stories intriguing because they include footage of the driver struggling during field sobriety testing. However, when the officer eventually asks the driver to submit to a breath test, they refuse. They may not realize that they have already given the state the evidence needed to warrant their arrest and prosecution in many cases.
Those cases help provide an important example about how to properly assert one’s rights during a traffic encounter. Refusing the field sobriety test is perfectly legal. Doing so does not give a police officer grounds to arrest an individual. A refusal to submit to field sobriety testing also does not create a risk of additional criminal penalties.
The opposite is true for chemical testing requested after an arrest. Those who refuse to submit to a chemical test violate the state’s implied consent law. The officer can testify about their refusal to submit, and the driver can face a driver’s license suspension for that refusal. The penalties for refusing a test are in addition to the penalties imposed for an impaired driving conviction.
Drivers who know their rights can avoid mistakes that may increase their risk of arrest and criminal prosecution for impaired driving. Refusing to submit to field sobriety tests does not automatically lead to consequences despite people assuming they have to do whatever police officers request during a traffic stop.