The evidence around field sobriety tests seems to be horribly mixed based on the source, but it kind of seems like the consensus is that while they might be decent, the false positive rate is horrendous, especially for something that can have a terrible penalty (both criminally and socially).
When I was younger, I had a really strong opinion about drunk drivers and how they were menaces and awful people. But today, I’m a lot more forgiving, both because a ton of people are wrongfully charged and even can be convicted (sometimes even of a lesser offense), but also because I’m so much more skeptical of police officers now. Plus with the one guy I know that actually was drunk driving and got a DUI, he says he totally deserved it and completely changed his drinking habits. But that was over 20 years ago, no one was hurt (no crash, just pulled over), and he still isn’t allowed to drive past 10pm, still has a mandated breathalyzer on his car, and can’t go to Canada. Complete overpunishment.
The evidence around field sobriety tests seems to be horribly mixed based on the source, but it kind of seems like the consensus is that while they might be decent, the false positive rate is horrendous, especially for something that can have a terrible penalty (both criminally and socially).
When I was younger, I had a really strong opinion about drunk drivers and how they were menaces and awful people. But today, I’m a lot more forgiving, both because a ton of people are wrongfully charged and even can be convicted (sometimes even of a lesser offense), but also because I’m so much more skeptical of police officers now. Plus with the one guy I know that actually was drunk driving and got a DUI, he says he totally deserved it and completely changed his drinking habits. But that was over 20 years ago, no one was hurt (no crash, just pulled over), and he still isn’t allowed to drive past 10pm, still has a mandated breathalyzer on his car, and can’t go to Canada. Complete overpunishment.