Residents in Virginia who are held on suspicion of drinking while driving will likely be subjected to any number of tests. Police will do this to determine whether or not it is actually a DUI-related incident. Here are some of the actions that an officer may take when looking to see how drunk a person is.
Field sobriety tests are sometimes used, but are often considered to be a little less reliable. FieldSobrietyTests.org states that there are standardized and non-standardized versions of these tests. The standardized ones are used more often and include the walk-and-turn, the horizontal gaze nystagmus, and the one-leg stand.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are blood tests. Though forced blood tests can happen in some states, a warrant is needed first. Generally speaking, this extreme action is only taken in specific circumstances, such as when a deadly crash has occurred and someone refuses to let their blood alcohol content (BAC) be measured.
Breathlyzer tests are one of the most common. FindLaw mentions the laws of implied consent, which are common across the United States. Implied consent essentially means that by simply getting onto the state roads and driving, a driver has said that they automatically consent to any breath analysis test. By refusing to take a test, it can actually be used against them in court and may be more detrimental to a driver’s case than their BAC level.
These are the three main tools that officers use to test BAC level and see how drunk a driver actually is. Knowing to expect them can be a great help to anyone on the road.
