FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS - ARE THEY DESIGNED FOR FAILURE

Field sobriety tests have been used by law enforcement officers to ide ntify alcohol-impaired drivers. Yet in 1981 Tharp, Burns, and Moskowit z found that 32% of individuals in a laboratory setting who were judge d to have an alcohol level above the legal limit actually were below t he level. In this study, two groups of seven law enforcement officers each viewed videotapes of 21 sober individuals performing a variety of field sobriety tests or normal-abilities tests, e.g., reciting one's address and phone number or walking in a normal manner. Officers judge d a significantly larger number of the individuals as impaired when th ey performed the field sobriety tests than when they performed the nor mal-abilities tests. The need to reevaluate the predictive validity of field sobriety tests is discussed.