You think it will be safe to drive when you’re getting ready to leave the bar. Sure, you had a few drinks, but you really came here with friends to get a meal and spend some quality time after work. You don’t even think you’re drunk.
You get pulled over on the way home, and the officer arrests you after giving you some field sobriety tests. How could this happen?
Studies have found that people rarely understand how intoxicated they are. When asked to guess and then given a breath test to confirm it, they were consistently wrong. Just because you felt fine at the bar does not mean you were not over the legal limit, unfortunately, even though you truly believed you were being safe.
The study also discovered that the company you keep makes a difference. If other intoxicated individuals were around you, you probably felt less drunk than you would have if you were surrounded by a group of sober people. The contrast just isn’t the same. Therefore, the place where you’re perhaps most likely to make this type of mistake is at the bar. It’s deceptive to be in that setting, and you may honestly feel fine.
Of course, there are other potential issues. Did the officer do the field sobriety tests incorrectly? If you were given a breath test, had it been calibrated before the test? Did the officer follow his or her training and all of the correct procedures? These are important questions to ask as you look into your legal defense options.