What is the different between a drunk driving field sobriety test and a drunk driving chemical test?
A field sobriety test in California is used to determine probable cause for DUI arrest. The field sobriety test is actually a series of drunk driving tests given by a police officer on the side of the road before an actual DUI arrest is made and a person is brought back to the police station. It should be noted that the results of any hand-held digital breathalyzer test given during a field sobriety test (on the side of the road) cannot be used in court to prove DUI. These road-side breathalyzer tests are only used to help prove probable cause for DUI arrest in California but their results are not accurate enough to be used in court.
A chemical DUI test is required after a California DUI arrest is completed. These tests happen at the police station are either alcohol blood tests, alcohol breath tests or sometimes alcohol urine tests. Alcohol urine tests have been shown to be somewhat inaccurate so they are only used if a DUI blood test or a DUI breath test is unavailable.
Is a person who is gets a California DUI arrest required to submit to a DUI chemical test?
Any person who is lawfully arrested for DUI in California is required to submit to a chemical test. This is known as the California Implied Consent law which has been repeatedly help up in court.
It should be noted that a person involved in a California DUI arrest is not required to submit to a breathalyzer test before they are actually arrested. This refers to a DUI breath test that is taken during the road-side field sobriety test. These field sobriety DWI breath tests are called “preliminary alcohol screening” tests and do not count as an official “chemical test” for DUI prosecution purposes.
If a person is arrested for DUI in California do they have a choice between a DUI breathalyzer test, a DUI blood test or a DUI urine test?
By law, a person involved in a California DUI arrest does not have a choice as to what type of chemical test they can utilize.
In some cases the arresting police officer or the police staff administering a DUI chemical test will give a person the choice as to what chemical test they would like to use. In this case a person can choose the DUI chemical test but the police are not required to give this choice.
If the police give a person arrested of California DUI a choice of chemical tests, it is not expected that they will give the option of a DUI urine test. Testing blood alcohol content through a urine sample has been shown to be inconsistent in court so the police are unlikely to give this type of test unless both DUI breath and DUI blood testing is unavailable.