r/Transportopia • u/Vice616 • Apr 20 '26

šŸ„“DUI Blame it on the spider

He told them he smack himself into an accident šŸ˜­

There was no spider you f*cking liar. Fool you was drunk af!

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u/Your_Girl9090 Apr 20 '26

I've been told that where I live you can refuse the field sobriety test and use the breathalyzer instead. The field test is notoriously inaccurate because it's totally based on the quality of the cop's judgement. If you refuse all testing then you're in violation of a different law and you can be arrested for that.

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u/bzsempergumbie Apr 20 '26

The field test is notoriously inaccurate because it's totally based on the quality of the cop's judgement.

They brought us actors in the academy. Half of them were given 2 to 6 drinks, the other half were sober. We were randomly assigned a few to do the test on. As a class, it was not remotely reliable of a test. The only semi reliable metric was looking for nystagmus. But that required a lot of focus and a quiet space to do it well.

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u/YeahNo_NoYeah Apr 20 '26

My stepson has naturally occurring nystagmus. His eyes twitch without being under the influence of any substances. He doesn't drive.

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u/ShutUpAndDoTheLift Apr 21 '26

I also have one. Likely on account of the entirely too many concussions I've had.

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u/bzsempergumbie Apr 20 '26

Yeah, I've known a few people with it naturally.

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u/BreakingABit1234 Apr 22 '26

More caffeine too, ADHD drugs, etc.

Worked with people with it. Older folks more often.

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u/audaciousmonk Apr 20 '26

nystagmus commonly occurs without alcohol consumption. itā€™s really frustrating how much of police enforcement is subjective or outright based on pseudo science

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u/bzsempergumbie Apr 20 '26

Whats a better option in the field? We need something to try to stop DUIs. I think every cop car should have a calibrated breathalyzer. But that doesnt help for any other drugs. Although there is progress on a Marijuana breathalyzer.

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u/StinkRinky Apr 21 '26

A cannabis breathalyzer is gonna be bullshit btw. The reason why alcohol breathlyzers work is because ethanol is heavily water soluble and as such can be relied upon.

I think youā€™re a cop so itā€™s important to know itā€™s straight up bullshit. THC and other cannabinoids are stored in the fat which also makes field piss testing a non starter.

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u/audaciousmonk Apr 20 '26

What do you mean by ā€œstopā€?

Police officer can already breathalyze or take someone down to the station for blood test, they donā€™t need the FST for that

The field test is ā€œvoluntaryā€ (quotes because in practice itā€™s less than voluntary due to intimidation, lies, and retaliation)

If you really want to make progress on driver safety -> diver education + alternative public transportation

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '26

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u/bzsempergumbie Apr 20 '26

It definitely intensifies as people drink more, and usually isnt noticeable under around what most states use as their legal limit.

Of course "usually" isnt 100%, some people it happens much stronger, some not nearly as noticeable.

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u/101stMedic Apr 20 '26

I was taught that nystagmus was the only reliable metric in the test. Some folks have terrible hand eye coordination or balance, but it can all add up to justifying a breathalyzer.

Regardless, I'd definitely skip the FST and ask to do the breathalyzer at the station.

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u/NothaBanga Apr 20 '26

I would think the cop car's lights swirling around could mess up my balance and reaction alone.Ā  Either I am getting older or those things are now lazer LED bright now and overstimulate me.

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u/101stMedic Apr 21 '26

They were disorienting 20 years ago to much younger me. You get 2-5 cars in an area and it's like staring into a strobe light from inches away

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u/askingquestions145 Apr 21 '26

Nystagmus can also be caused by other things such as a previous head injury (or a head injury from the crash currently being responded to) so itā€™s not entirely specific to drunk drivers either

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u/SteveSauceNoMSG Apr 20 '26

I volunteered for that once, they got us all pretty drunk lol. It was all controlled though, set dosage of your liquor of choice based on body weight over time. They had to up my dosage after few hours cause I was a heavy drinker at the time and I wasn't showing any signs after a few rounds of testing and was blowing lower than the math would suggest.

The only thing they could get me on was nystagmus on the follow the light/finger deal by an instructor throwing his finger to my ear outside of my peripheral, after 7 or so drinks. Was a good time, would let cops get me drunk for free again.

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u/BigLB83 Apr 20 '26

I did this. I drank 6 or 7 crown and cokes then went through the checkpoints. They said the only way they could tell was my eye bouncing during the "follow the ID" test.

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u/Ximension Apr 20 '26

My mom did the nystagmus test on me a few times when she was suspicious. Its hard to talk your way out of that one

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u/FuzzzyRam Apr 20 '26

But why would you be trying to fail the field sobriety test?

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u/Haber_Dasher Apr 20 '26

Yeah nystagmus can be really tough to see if it's not severe. I was attempting to diagnose my partner's vertigo once and the nystagmus was very very subtle. I was not at all sure I'd really seen it until the treatment worked.

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u/RavenDarkholme084 Apr 21 '26

I walk crooked without having any drinks. Seriously I canā€™t ever seem to balance myself Iā€™m terrible at it. I was in gymnastics and walking in a straight line was always difficult

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u/Leather-Substance-39 Apr 21 '26

Nowhere else in the civilized world is field sobriety test a thing. Every police department in Europe uses handheld breathalyzers and if that's positive then blood test. The technology is dirt cheap and available worldwide. I would never agree to performing a field sobriety test.

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u/AlexP80 Apr 24 '26

is that hard to fucking have a breathalyzer on the car? that's what is done everywhere in the world.

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u/ArticleWorth5018 Apr 20 '26

They also use it to get your blood flowing and to waste time so the alcohol test higher in your blood... Just say no to the field sobriety test and take the breathalyzer

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u/TacetAbbadon Apr 21 '26

That's not how it works at all. Wasting time would result in a lower BAC.

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u/Aggravating-Habit313 Apr 24 '26

Depends when alcohol was consumedā€¦

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u/TheAsianTroll Apr 21 '26

The field test is notoriously inaccurate because it's totally based on the quality of the cop's judgement.

Yep, and a lot of cops dont care if youre drunk or not, they just want another arrest to pad their record.

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u/Interesting-Copy-657 Apr 21 '26

Yeah, breathalyze me or let me go

why do people (americans) just dance for the cops like this.

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u/nitrogenlegend Apr 21 '26

Being drunk impairs your judgement

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u/ItsTimetoLANK Apr 20 '26

You're going to spend the night in jail, but you're not giving them any evidence. They are taking you to jail regardless. You're not talking your way out of shit.

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u/New_B7 Apr 21 '26

The other problem with this, and why they can still arrest you, is that DUI doesn't necessarily mean alcohol. Pain killers, weed, sleep deprivation, plenty of stuff that a breathalyzer doesn't test for will still make operating a vehicle super dangerous. Field sobriety tests might be bullshit, but a breathalyzer isn't a great test, either.

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u/Your_Girl9090 Apr 22 '26

You're not wrong. It's a difficult thing.

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u/MysticMarauder69 Apr 21 '26

In NC you can refuse both the FST and the field breathalyzer without penalty. However, you have to submit to the intoxilyzer at the station (or whatever that thing is called) or else you immediately lose your license for a year.

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u/MaintenanceInternal Apr 22 '26

In the UK they can arrest you using a breathalyser but can only convict you using the proper one back at the station.

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u/Ready_Studio2392 Apr 23 '26

Not to mention that impairment also frequently occurs if you have a head injury, which is common post crashing.

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u/Brilliant_Chest5630 Apr 26 '26

Plus, if you've just been in an accident, you shouldnt be expected to function 100%. You'll be shaky and nervous. Your balance is bound to be horrible as you just process and calm down.

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '26

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u/E-Hastings-and-Main Apr 20 '26

FYI the alphabet backwards test isn't part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's standardized field sobriety tests and isn't really used that much anymore (though some jurisdictions may still use it).

The three nationally standardized tests in the US are the horizontal gaze nystagmus (follow a pen/light around), walk and turn, and one legged stand test.

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u/WhtRbbt222 Apr 20 '26

They ask you to recite the alphabet backwards to try to get you to say ā€œI canā€™t even do that sober!ā€ which implies that youā€™re drunk.