Walk a straight line. Stand on one leg. Follow a pen with your eyes. Most people picture these exercises as some kind of objective measurement — pass or fail, sober or not. In reality, field sobriety tests are a lot more subjective than the officer administering them makes them look, and a lot of what determines whether someone "passes" depends on factors that have nothing to do with alcohol.
These tests were never meant to stand alone
Field sobriety tests are a tool officers use to build reasonable suspicion or probable cause for a DUI arrest — they're an observation exercise, not a chemical measurement like a breath or blood test. That distinction matters. An officer's real-time judgment of whether someone's performance on a balance-and-coordination exercise, conducted on the side of a road, indicates impairment is inherently more subjective than a number on a breathalyzer.
Plenty of things affect these tests besides alcohol
I've reviewed the video from a lot of traffic stops, and the same issues come up again and again — none of them related to drinking:
- The surface and conditions. Uneven pavement, gravel shoulders, wind, and poor lighting all affect balance and coordination, sober or not.
- Footwear. High heels, work boots, and sandals aren't designed for a heel-to-toe walking exercise.
- Age, weight, and physical conditions. Inner ear issues, prior injuries, and even normal nervousness can look like impairment to an officer trained to spot certain cues.
- Anxiety about being pulled over. Being stopped by police, at night, on camera, with an officer watching your every move, makes plenty of stone-sober people nervous and clumsy.
- How the instructions were given. If the officer's instructions weren't clear, or weren't given the way the test is designed to be administered, the results are less meaningful — but that's not always obvious just from watching the stop.
What actually gets challenged in these cases
- Whether the test was administered correctly. These exercises follow specific procedures, and officers don't always follow them precisely.
- Whether the officer's scoring matches what the video actually shows. Body camera and dash camera footage sometimes tell a different story than the officer's report.
- Whether conditions at the scene undermined the test's reliability — the surface, the lighting, the weather, all of it.
- How the field sobriety results connect to everything else in the case. These tests are rarely the only evidence — but they're often treated as more conclusive than they actually are.
Why this matters whether or not you were tested at all
I wrote previously about what implied consent actually requires, and field sobriety tests raise a similar point: a poor performance on a roadside exercise, or an officer's account of one, isn't automatically the end of the story. These tests can be challenged like any other piece of evidence in a DUI case.
I look closely at how these stops actually went
A DUI arrest built partly on field sobriety performance deserves a close look at the video, the conditions, and the procedure — not an assumption that the officer's account is the final word. A firm voted Best of Omaha for personal injury law in 2025 and 2026, backed by countless five-star client reviews and peer endorsements, got there by treating every case, including DUI matters, with that same level of scrutiny.
Call me at (402) 378-9208 or reach out here as soon as possible after a DUI stop or arrest — the sooner I can review the video and the stop, the more options are usually on the table.
Frequently asked questions
- Are field sobriety tests reliable on their own?
- Field sobriety tests are a tool officers use to build reasonable suspicion or probable cause for a DUI arrest — they're an observation exercise, not a chemical measurement like a breath or blood test. That distinction matters.
- What besides alcohol can affect a field sobriety test?
- I've reviewed the video from a lot of traffic stops, and the same issues come up again and again — none of them related to drinking: The surface and conditions. Uneven pavement, gravel shoulders, wind, and poor lighting all affect balance and coordination, sober or not.
- What gets challenged in a field sobriety test case?
- Whether the test was administered correctly. These exercises follow specific procedures, and officers don't always follow them precisely. Whether the officer's scoring matches what the video actually shows. Body camera and dash camera footage sometimes tell a different story than the officer's report.
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Frank Younes
Every page on this site is written by Frank Younes, a Nebraska trial attorney with a published record of verdicts and settlements, selection to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100, and a practice that covers every county in Nebraska and Iowa. No case is handed to an associate — the lawyer you read here is the lawyer who works your case.
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