MA Police Training Manual - OUI Stop Field Sobriety Tests
OVERVIEW
OF SFST
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
1. For many years
law enforcement officers have utilized field sobriety tests to determine the
impairment of a person’s driving due to alcohol influence. The performance of
the person on those field sobriety tests was used by the officer to develop
probable cause for arrest and as evidence in court. A wide variety of field
sobriety tests existed and there was a need to develop a battery of standardized
valid tests.
2. Beginning in late
1975, extensive
scientific research studies were sponsored by NHTSA through a contract with the
Southern California Research Institute (SCRI) to determine roadside field
sobriety tests were the most accurate. SCRI published the following three
reports:
• California:
1977 (Lab)
• California; 1981 (Lab and Field)
• Maryland, D.C., VA., N.C., 1983 (Field)
3. SCRI traveled to
law enforcement agencies throughout the United States to select the most
commonly used field sobriety tests. Six tests were used in the initial stages of
this study.
4. Laboratory
research indicated that three of these tests, when administered in a
standardized manner, were a highly accurate and reliable battery of tests for
distinguishing BACs above 0.10:
• Horizontal
Gaze Nystagmus (HGN)
• Walk-and-Turn (WAT)
• One-Leg Stand (OLS)
5. NHTSA
analyzed the laboratory test data and found:
• HGN, by
itself, was 77% accurate
• WAT, by itself, was 68% accurate
• OLS, by itself, was 65% accurate
• By combining HGN and WAT an 80% accuracy can be achieved.
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