I was planning on writing this post yesterday. However, a hearing in Smyrna General Sessions court and Mother Nature with a blast of snow left me on the interstate for hours with most of everybody in Nashville. The second problem with the field sobriety tests is that not everybody is  the same age. As discussed in the first post, the validation studies of the field sobriety tests conducted by Southern California Research Institute (SCRI) on the behalf of the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHSTA) are unreliable.

Steve Rubenzer has written several articles on numerous problems with the field sobriety tests. One more problem is the age factor. As you age, you are not as nimble or athletic as you were in your twenties. If you look at my golf swing, I can’t flex now as I did when I was younger. In the 1981 NHSTA study of the validity of the field sobriety tests, you would think they would get a big cross section of people with different ages.  When SCRI and NHSTA did the validation studies in 1981, only 3.1% of the people used in making sure the field sobriety tests were accurate were over 55 years of age.

The best DUI defense starts with a understanding of the basics of field sobriety tests. Further, one needs to know how the field sobriety tests effect their client. Here’s my point, according to NHSTA’s own studies those over 65 should not be required to take the field sobriety tests. That’s the second problem of the field sobriety tests in Tennessee.