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Hi, Glen Neeley here, Board Certified DUI defense attorney here in Ogden, Utah. Today
what I want to talk to you about is whether I have to do field sobriety tests when I am
asked to by an officer. There is no law in the State of Utah that requires you to do
field sobriety tests. There isn’t any. If an officer pulls you over the comment he often
makes will be, “Well let’s see if you are okay to drive. I’d like you to perform
some tests for me to see if you’re okay to drive.” And many people, given that statement,
will comply with those tests and all you are doing is giving the officer evidence to be
used against you. Now it is my position and my opinion that these tests are not accurate
in helping an officer determine whether you are impaired or not. They are good and accurate
to show whether you can balance on one leg or whether you can walk a line like a tight
rope but there is many people that have physical disabilities or do not have the coordination
to be able to do these tests in a perfect manner the way the officer wants you to do
them. So when an officer pulls you over and he asks you to do field sobriety test your
response can be under the law, “I’m sorry officer, I’m not going to do any of your
field sobriety tests.” Now the officer may get angry with you and he may try to coerce
you or talk you into doing the field sobriety tests for him but understand this. You cannot
talk yourself out of a DUI. It is my opinion from my experience that once the officer smells
alcohol or he has a suspicion that you are impaired, you are going to be arrested. So
why give him the evidence against you? Why give him those field sobriety tests and allow
him to come into court and say well you did this wrong and that wrong? Now there are consequences
if you refuse to do a breath test or a chemical test but there are no consequences under the
law for not doing the field sobriety tests and it is my opinion and my position that
you should never do the field sobriety test. Thank you.