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Quite a few actually. Although sobriety tests are frequently conducted on drunk driving suspects throughout the United States, they can often be taken out of the evidence if the right questions are asked. There are very strict guidelines for conducted sobriety tests and it’s very easy for law enforcement to overlook them. If, for example, police leave their flashing car lights on during the test, the tests instructions were not recited properly, the officer who conducted the tests wasn’t technically qualified to do so or police had you perform the test in a poor location (ground not level, bad lighting) a judge may elect to disregard the failed test or tests as evidence. If police did conduct the sobriety tests in a proper way you still may be able to get around the charge if you weren’t wearing proper footwear (sandals, boots), if you have a medical condition that conflicted with the nature of the test, etc.

Never just assume you are guilty of a DUI. Talking to a drunk driving attorney in your state is always best as they deal with cases like your on a daily basis.

Students at Tri-County Technical College found out that driving while impaired is not only against the law but it is not easy, a lesson they learned without drinking a drop.

Unite International, a health and wellness organization, visited the Pendleton campus Monday with its machine that simulates driving under the influence. The group plans to visit as many middle, high school and college campuses as possible to educate about the dangers and penalties of driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Bill Taggart, an instructor, was putting the simulator through its paces as students clustered around the specially equipped Dodge automobile. While it was considered fun, some students cringed when they saw a pedestrian run over in a crosswalk on the simulator screen.

“We have had over 100 students try to beat the machine,” Taggart said. “The simulator slows the reaction time of the driver mimicking driving at a .081 blood-alcohol level. At this level of impairment most people cannot safely operate a vehicle.”

In South Carolina, and the other 49 states, a blood-alcohol concentration at or above .08 of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood is considered drunk. Even driving at slightly above the legal limit can be difficult, as the students discovered.

Stacey Chapman of Liberty crashed the simulator after driving slightly more than a half mile. “It is hard to do,” he said. “If you get behind on your steering you usually can’t catch up.”

D’Quan Brown of Anderson would have been fined $400 dollars for DUI and spent at least 48 hours in jail had his driving simulation been real.

“The instructor told me my driver’s license would have been suspended for six months. I did not know that,” Brown said.

Most of the students driving the simulator had problems staying on the road and could drive less than a mile before encountering problems. Many found it difficult to maintain proper speed and their diminished reaction time led to many accidents that would have been fatal if they had been real.

The program is designed to heighten awareness of the dangers of driving while impaired. United International believes that is motto, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” is still true today, said event organizers.

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Jacksonville police arrested Ryan Michael Simmons and Joshua Daniel McKinnon a week apart last year on misdemeanor drunken-driving charges.

Both men refused to submit to a breath test to measure their blood-alcohol content.

In both cases, police got a judge to issue a warrant authorizing them to forcibly draw blood. Both men sought to suppress the results from being used against them in court.

There the similarities end.

The judge in the Simmons case ruled in December that forcing him to give blood violated Florida statutes. He suppressed the blood test results. Prosecutors appealed.

The judge in the McKinnon case approved the forced blood draw in February, citing a 2003 Brevard County case. McKinnon, 21, then pleaded no contest and was sentenced to six months of probation and 50 hours of community service.

A third Duval County judge backed the police in a similar case.

Now, Circuit Judge David Gooding has been assigned to settle the issue. He hasn’t scheduled a hearing. And whatever decision he makes likely will be appealed to the next level.

“There are certainly arguments on both sides,” said Simmons’ attorney, Scott Mitchell. “Honestly, it’s a close call.”

Mitchell argues that forcibly drawing blood from Simmons, 24, violated Florida laws governing search warrants.

They say warrants can be used to obtain evidence to prove a felony but not misdemeanors, Mitchell argued in court.

They also say warrants are permissible to obtain property used to commit any crime, felony or misdemeanor. But Mitchell argued a driver’s car and the alcohol consumed are the property used to commit the crime, not the driver’s blood.

Mitchell also argued Florida’s implied consent law allows motorists to refuse breath tests and face an automatic driver’s license suspension. The same law allows forcible blood draws in cases with serious injuries or death but doesn’t mention routine drunken-driving cases.
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Recently Lance Platt, a certified NHTSA SFST practitioner, instructor and trainer, published a paper in the DWI Journal: Law & Science that examined the differences between the manner in which officer are trained to perform field sobriety tests and the manner in which they actually administer them.

For the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test, Mr. Platt recognized 16 elements that make up the test. After examining 360 recorded evaluations, he found only 24 were performed correctly per the NHTSA Manual. Those 24 represent only 7% of the tests administered, meaning that officers administered the test incorrectly 93% of the time.

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