You will be breathalyzed and then you go on your way.
If you can’t remember the alphabet, your education has failed you big time.
I would agree that the education system is broken and corrupt. But I also have a BBA and a STEM degree without ever having to memorize the alphabet so I really don’t see it as that important. I did used to know it well but I don’t think I’ve ever had to recall it much in about 30 years.
Can elaborate on how the education system is corrupt? I’m a public school teacher and I would like to get in on the grift.
The grift is professional development meetings and standardized testing. It’s a bit silly to suggest it’s all corrupt though.
It’s a trick. If you say I couldn’t do that when sober, you failed
Do some countries really use dumb tests like this to enforce DUI laws? What?
Field sobriety tests are complete pseudoscience and only exist to gain evidence against you not to prove you’re sober. You should never consent to them and if an officer asks you to take one you’re already going to jail regardless.
Absolutely, you’ve never fallen down the youtube body cam footage rabbit hole?
No? This all sounds so weird to me. Breathalyzers exist.
Breathalyzers only work for alcohol
Aren’t there these weird stripes to lick that show some other drugs?
Anyway, not being able to recall an alphabet might mean you’re doing drugs, it might also mean you’ve seen way too many people get shot by police for fun and you’re stressed as fuck.
I can’t say I’ve seen those strips, I’ve seen the strips they use to determine what a solution of substance found is and typically just see an electronic saliva analyzer device for someone they suspect is under the influence of drugs. Either way, those field tests are so unreliable that judges don’t even accept them as evidence.
Ya my brain empties when a cashier asks for my birthdate when I buy alcohol even though I’m in my 30s.
They can and will swab your cheek and detect many drugs here in Australia.
They are hit and miss sometimes. Allegedly.
The cop will have one more piece of evidence to arrest you on. No dwi is made solely on you failing a single test, the judge would laugh their ass off for that. But when you tell one, “he was swerving across multiple lanes, smelled of alcoholic beverages, couldn’t say the alphabet starting at e and ending at t, had XXX nystagmus (there’s like three types they check for), did PZY clues on the walk and turn test, and admitted he had been at the bar an ‘hour or so ago,’” they suddenly have a very different conception of what failing to remember the alphabet means.
Remember, don’t answer any questions on a traffic stop, kiddos. It’s always shut the fuck up friday. ALSO, fuck people who drive drunk, but mostly don’t give cops the time of day if they ask, much less any other info.
I got thrown in the drunk tank in college solely for failing the recite the alphabet backwards and mixing M and N, cuffed me the second I mixed it up. They had nothing else on me, was riding my bike straight down the sidewalk after returning library book in the wee hours. Performed the roadside aerobics perfectly.
So what happened afterwards?
Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE
I still don’t get why the US sobriety tests are admissible by a judge. cops can just run a breathalyser test (or even a drug test), it’s faster than all these weird test and more reliable.
If your going to arrest someone anyway , you can even get a blood/urine sample for a lab-grade drug search.
The blood/urine/breath samples come AFTER the arrest. At least where I live, blood needs a warrant, which they aren’t getting without enough ‘evidence’ to convince a judge. Hence the roadside sobriety tests. They can take a breath sample because the law requires that you give one if you have a driver’s license (it’s part of all the legal paperwork you sign when you get one), but you can’t really force someone to give a breath sample because it’s not a simple thing.
The breathalyzer and blood are definitive tests, but they aren’t needed for the arrest or the conviction. A cop that I know said the best cases were the ones where he stood a driver in front of his car’s camera for about five seconds and you can see them visibly fall over or stumble while just trying to stand there. Criminal cases are always about convincing a jury, and that means that ‘evidence’ like a car swerving on the highway, the smell of alcoholic beverages, the field sobriety tests, the general appearance or manner of the driver, the statements made, etc., all matter.
It depends on the state; you aren’t required to take a breathalyzer in all states, nor are your required to submit to field sobriety tests in all states, although refusal can have different results depending on the state. It would be best to check the laws in your state. source
According to the link you provided, every US state has implied consent laws which trigger an automatic DL suspension if you refuse a breathalyzer.
In the UK refusal to submit to a breathalyser is grounds for arrest, as is the case in most of Europe.
A sobriety test will never be as accurate or as quick. Its also influenced by the officer’s own prejudices, regardless of how good at judging them the cop thinks they are
Actual question, how do I not answer any questions? I feel like if I’m literally mute for the entire encounter then I’m getting charged for not cooperating.
You should verbally indicate that you don’t wish to answer questions rather than staying totally silent. That said, there are circumstances where cooperating can make your life easier if you’re able to easily and clearly dispel the officer’s suspicion, though this is highly dependent on situation and the specific cop you’re dealing with. If you are doing something wrong the best thing is always to stfu.
https://invidious.nerdvpn.de/watch?v=uqo5RYOp4nQ
They explain it better than I can.
I agree with never taking to cops. But if a cop says you’re doing a sobriety test, you don’t have a choice. Either do it or get suspended for a year. And they don’t need a reason, all they have to do is say you were swerving or you smell like alcohol
But if a cop says you’re doing a sobriety test, you don’t have a choice.
Not correct. Field sobriety tests are ‘voluntary’ in all states in the US, although refusing to take one may be used as evidence against you in a trial, depending on the state. Likewise, you can refuse breathalyzer tests, although that may carry significant civil penalties.
Did you even read my comment. I literally said refusing to do a test gets your license suspended for a year in most states. If you don’t do the sobriety test, the cop will most certainly ask you to do a chemical test, breath or blood, and refusing will get you a suspension.
The land of the free, everyone.
I prefer this over having drunk idiots all over the road tbh.
Those are not the only two options. I also prefer this to getting kicked in the nuts, but there are a million better options.
How do you suppose we keep drunk idiots off the road? I feel like we’re too soft about it tbh. I feel like being caught driving drunk should come with mandatory jail time tbh.
I thought this was a movie thing. Don’t you have breath analyzers for real?
Breathalyzers are for if you want to find out if someone is actually intoxicated.
Field sobriety tests are for when you want to arrest someone who isn’t intoxicated.
They have to have probable cause to arrest you (and then do a breathalyzer).
Not every officer has one and they can only determine if someone was under the influence of alcohol but not other substances
Roadside breath tests arent admissible in court because they aren’t certified testing devices. Only the one at the station with a record of maintenance is admissible.
Ya, any roadside testing equipment is just used as preliminary for a probable cause
- get each traffic cop one 2) there are similar devices for the rapid testing of drugs as well
Actually, no, there aren’t. As of this moment, there’s no way to know if you’re intoxicated by marijuana, and, since that’s legal in a number of US states, that’s a ‘problem’. (Although, let’s be real, stoned people tend to drive reeeeeeaaaaaalllllllllly slowly, not exactly hugely dangerous.) You can detect the metabolites with a urine or blood test, but that doesn’t tell you how long ago you used it, or if you’re still under the influence.
I don’t think they’re interested in making it more difficult to arrest and charge people.
-
I think they would if they could
-
Field drug tests are not admissible in courts in most states
If they could? They have tanks, for fucks sake. They don’t lack resources.
The only reason for bullshit tests is that the cop gets to feel powerful deciding himself instead of a specific measurement by a calibrated instrument.
-
I have a paranoid fear that some day I will be required to write an ampersand…
All forms of ampersand are based on “Et”, Latin for “and”, so cheat and use the backwards 3 (for E) forms.
The simplest puts a vertical bar through the backwards 3 like a relative of the dollar sign, and the other adds a t to it so that the middle point and the bottom line of the backwards 3 join up with the crossbar and base of the t. Bonus points for drawing that latter one without lifting your pen, but you’re doing well if you still have to extend the t’s crossbar after the fact.
Or really cheat and use the plus sign. That’s just the t from “Et”, but in the right context, most people instinctively understand it + will know what you mean.
I think a field sobriety test usually involves more then one test, at least if you can communicate a reasonable reason why you may fail one.
I believe they may also just look at your behaviour during the interaction.
“Couldn’t walk a straight line but mentioned a recent leg surgery”
Vs
“Couldn’t walk a straight line but believed they did, started an argument about it. Failed secondary test while continuing to insist they passed the first test”
There’s a clear difference between someone who’s drunk screwing up the alphabet, slurring, can’t keep their eyes open, getting distracted, arguing with the cop, unbalanced, and someone just not really remembering the alphabet. If you’re taking a field sobriety test, they’re not really grading your knowledge of the alphabet, they’re looking for signs of intoxication. If after all the tests (walk and turn, balance on one leg, looking at the horizon) the cop is still suspicious, you might do a breathalyzer, or be arrested and brought in for a blood test.
deleted by creator
