Many impaired driving arrests are made when the driver is under the influence of alcohol. Police officers can give these drivers a breath test, which are intended to register their blood alcohol concentration (BAC). There’s an established legal limit of 0.08%.
Impairment technically doesn’t refer only to alcohol. It also refers to impairment from other substances, such as marijuana. Additionally, this is why many medications come with warnings that people should not take them and then operate heavy machinery. That includes a vehicle.
There is no current test
The problem that officers face in these cases is that they don’t have the option of giving the driver a breath test that shows drug impairment. There’s no way to measure how high the driver is, and the officer may not even be able to guarantee that they are under the influence.
There are drug tests, such as those used for employment. However, these take time and only give long-term results. They may show that someone has used marijuana in the past. For instance, a hair test can produce a positive result for 90 days, but that doesn’t tell the police if that person is high at the moment.
As a result, it often comes down to a judgment call. The officer may claim that they smelled marijuana or that the driver’s eyes were bloodshot. That officer may administer roadside sobriety tests and say that because the driver failed the tests, they were impaired.
This type of evidence is not nearly as strong as a chemical test, and field sobriety tests can produce inaccurate results for a lot of reasons. That includes an officer simply making the wrong judgment call or making mistakes while administering the tests. Those who have been arrested must know about all of their legal defense options.