Cops Cannot Force You to Take the Test
Video Transcribed: Do you have a right to refuse a roadside sobriety test? My name is Brian L. Jackson. I’m a Tulsa lawyer with the Wirth Law Office. I want to talk about the roadside sobriety test and what your rights are.
Now, I want to start by distinguishing the roadside sobriety test from the blood alcohol test, because the law is very different dealing with these two things. When you are requested by the police to take a blood alcohol test, that is the breath test, the blood test.
If you refuse that, it can have consequences to your driving privilege. It usually results in a suspension. What I’m talking about is the roadside sobriety test, where they do things like ask you to balance on one foot, things like that. You do have a legal right to refuse that.
The cops cannot force you to take the test. And as a general rule, it’s probably in your best interest to refuse that for the simple reason that these tests are difficult to pass under ideal circumstances, and the only thing it serves to do is help the police develop probable cause to arrest you on suspicion of DUI.
So yes, you can refuse it. That is the roadside sobriety test. I’m not talking about the breath test. That’s a different situation. And it may be that you want to consider doing so if you’re pulled over for DUI. There are ways you could fail that test even if you really didn’t drink anything and you weren’t on anything. For example, if you have crappy coordination, you may fail it.
If you can’t balance on one foot, you may fail it. And it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re drunk. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re high. It just means you don’t have good coordination or you can’t balance on one foot.
For those reasons, it’s probably advisable to consider not agreeing to that. And obviously, if you know you’ve been drinking, shut it and don’t agree to anything. If they ask you to take the breath test, then that’s a different consideration. And I’m going to talk about that in a future video.
But as far as answering questions or agreeing to the roadside sobriety test, you are not required to answer their questions and you are not required to participate in that roadside sobriety test. And you should think carefully about whether or not you’re going to do so. And if you have questions about that or have any other legal issue you need up with, you should go to makelaweasy.com and we’ll help you out. Thanks.
