When other countries (notably Europe) use roadside ‘Breathalyzer’ test machines? It seems a high-functioning drunk could get away with DUI in the US, when they wouldn’t in France or the UK?
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Police do field sobriety tests so that they can have more evidence against you when you fail them. I say when you fail them and not “if you fail them” because they are completely subjective, they are elective which means you don’t have to do them nor should refusing them count against you, and they are designed for you to fail. Police need as much evidence as possible to convict you of driving while impaired or under the influence so they will try to administer these BS field sobriety tests to help their case. When you fail any part of it, they will use it against you in court. They will not say “well he passed 90% of it so he was sober”, instead he will say “he failed this part and therefore this is evidence that he was impaired”. Ultimately what is admisable in court as hard evidence will be the station breathalyzer or the hospital blood test they use to convict you however the field sobriety test will be brought up in court and will be used to try to sway a jury. If you refuse the sobriety test they will blackmail you. They will say they will arrest you, take you to jail, and tow your car if you refuse but mind you that they will do all those things anyway if they suspect you of being impaired. Stick to your guns, deny everything, and buy as much time as possible so you can sober up before finally being subjected to the sobriety test at the station. If you’re lucky, you will sober up and blow 0.00 by the time they’ve gotten you to the station and you will be ok. Otherwise, you will blow below the limit and hopefully earn a lesser sentence than if you failed all the FST’s and blew a million over the limit in the field blower when you were at your drunkest.
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