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Field sobriety test. What is one-leg stand? Hello, my name is Ada Chan. I'm a lawyer here
in Washington DC and Maryland. I practice primarily in the area of criminal law with
an emphasis in drunk driving law or driving while intoxicated law. If you hire us, you
will routinely see us with this little booklet if we don't have our manual. It is called
By the Book. It is our mini manual to make sure that the officer is doing his job by
the book. The book is the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration NHTSA
Manual, for DWI detection and standardized field sobriety testing.
In this video we discussing the one leg stand. This is one of the three tests that are done
by the police officers when trying to find clues of impairment. The one leg stand is
one of the three standardized field sobriety tests established by NHTSA. When an officer
properly administers the one leg stand test, research has shown that the test to be 65%
accurate in determining if a driver has a blood alcohol content level above .10. The
test is fairly simple, but an officer must make sure that the subject understands what
is required of him or her. The standard procedure for administering the
one leg stand requires an officer both to explain and demonstrate the test. First, the
officer demonstrates and explains the proper standing position to the subject. For this,
the subject is instructed to stand with feet together and arms down at the sides. Next,
the officer instructs the subject to continue to keep his or her hands at the side and raise
either leg roughly six inches above the ground. In this position, the subject is asked to
count upwards starting at 1 1000, then so on and so forth. Until the subject counts
to thirty seconds. Before the subject begins the test, the officer
is required to ask again if there are any questions or doubts as once of him or her.
While the subject performs the test, the officer looks for four signs that indicate the person
may be intoxicated. Swaying while balancing. All though it is natural for humans to sway
slightly in order to keep their balance. The officer is trained to look for marked swaying.
Such as, back and forth movement, using the arms to keep balance, if the subject raises
his or her arms more than six inches from the side of the body, then this is a sign
that he or she is having significant difficulties maintaining balance. Hopping on the anchor
foot in order to maintain balance, it is permissible for a person to move the anchor back and forth
slightly. Raising it off the ground is not allowed. Resting the raised foot on the ground
three or more times during the required thirty seconds, the person is considered unable to
complete the test. The officer considers failing the test if
you miss two of those clues. The one leg stand test must be performed on dry, hard, level
land. If a person is wearing heels above two inches, he or she is allowed to remove them.
The elderly people with back, leg or middle ear problems and overweight people often have