Oklahoma Walk-and-Turn Test

When a person is pulled over under suspicion of a DUI, an officer of the law may try to administer a battery of field sobriety tests. One of the most common is the walk-and-turn test.

The Thin, Straight Line

The walk-and-turn test is built around the principle that a person who is inebriated will have a difficult time keeping his or her balance. The officer will ask a person to walk nine steps in a straight line while putting heel to toe, turn and walk nine steps back. If the person fails to do this or uses their arms for balance, they will likely be arrested for a DUI.

There is no firm metric that constitutes a failure of this test. It is up to the discretion of the officer, but an even slight variation from their instructions will almost always end in an arrest.

Stepping Over the Line

The walk-and-turn test is subjective and can be failed for any number of reasons. Because of its subjectivity, there are many ways that an experienced attorney can question its validity in court. The team at the Hunsucker Legal Group has worked on many DUI cases, and knows how to make a compelling argument against biased an subjective sobriety tests administered by officers looking to make arrests.