DUI Signs Of Intoxication
What are some sensory observations police analyze to make a DUI arrest?
There are typically five sensory observations that police make, or are trained to look for, when they pull someone over for DUI. That is, red and bloodshot eyes, a flushed face, an odour of alcohol emanating from the person's breath or from the person's body, slurred speech, and an unsteady gait - meaning poor coordination or lack of balance on their feet. These are considered the five primary signs and symptoms that you would observe to indicate that somebody is impaired by alcohol.
What are signs a driver is drunk?
The police have a list of types of driving that are associated with impairment that they look for in deciding whether to pull someone over on suspicion of drunk driving. The most typical one's that we see are weaving, which is straddling the lane or moving left to right in a serpentine motion. Secondly, would be turning to wide of a radius and thirdly would be driving too slowly on the freeway. If it's late at night and the freeway is sparse and someone is going 50 miles an hour, that's a telltale sign that something's wrong and they're probably intoxicated. Interestingly, what's not on that list is speeding. A lot of DUI arrests begin when somebody is pulled over for speeding but there is no correlation between speeding and impairment. Somebody who's speeding down the freeway or speeding down the street, if they're driving otherwise incompetently, is just as likely to be sober as they are to be impaired.
What are the most common physical indicators of an intoxicated driver?
The most common physical indicators of an intoxicated driver would be the objective symptoms of intoxication, which would be slurred speech, odour of alcohol, red bloodshot eyes, flushed face, and unsteady gait. Also, the police would look to see if the person was poorly groomed.
Are physical signs of intoxication a reliable cause for a DUI arrest?
The physical indicators of intoxication are not very reliable indicators of impairment because they are subject to multiple explanations. Suppose that someone has red bloodshot eyes, the officer may say that is because they are drunk. However, it could also be because they have allergies, because they are exhausted, or because they were just at an event where people were smoking and their eyes were irritated. Also, the person may have slurred speech and the officer will say that the person's speech is slurred because they're drunk, when in reality that could be how they talk, or it may be that they're so nervous, intimidated and anxious by being pulled over, and being in the situation, that it causes them to stutter and have slurred speech. All of these physical indicators are subject to non-alcohol related interpretations, and for that reason, they're not the most reliable indicators of whether somebody is in fact drunk or impaired.
