Reader’s Question:

Hi, my name is Elena, I live in Gaithersburg, Maryland and I’m very much curious about the one-leg stand that is used as a test in a DUI arrest or something. Could you please explain to me how this test is being done and how would this be related to being under the influence?

Elena
Gaithersburg, MD

The one-leg stand is said to be one of the dreaded divided attention tests. Presumptively, highly trained scientists have assessed that driving is a divided attention task which means that it requires you to do two things at once. Assuming that you get arrested for DUI in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in doing the one-leg stand, the police officer would ask you to observe him and follow his instructions. He would also ask you if you have any injuries or physical impairments that would prevent you from standing on one leg. He would tell you to stand with your feet together and your hands at your side.

The officer would demonstrate the one-Leg Stand for you; he would stand with feet together and hands at his side. Then he would raise one of his feet approximately six inches off the ground with his knee straight, would point his toe, then look at his toe and counts to thirty by one thousands or one-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand and so on. If you have not fallen down at this humiliation, he would then tell you to start. The clues that the officer is looking for as signs of being under the influence would be losing your balance during the instructions, starting during the instructions, swaying, putting your foot down, raising your hands more than six inches from your side, hopping. Hypothetically, the more clues that you have, the drunker you are.

Tags: DUI, DUI lawyer, field sobriety tests