A description of the standards for Standardized Field Sobriety Testing posted by Massachusetts OUI Attorney.

Your Massachusetts OUI Attorney wants you to be well informed. Here is a basic description of the standards for the Standardized Field Sobriety Testing Program:

• In 1986, the Advisory Committee on Highway Safety of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) passed a resolution which recommended that law enforcement agencies adopt and implement the field sobriety testing program developed by NHTSA. As the program has grown, it has become apparent that in order to insure continued success, nationally accepted standards must be established. These standards which establish criteria for the selection and training of SFST practitioners would help insure the continued high level of success of the SFST program. In 1992, the IACP Highway Safety Committee recommended the development of this system of nationally accepted standards.
  
• In April of 1992, the IACP and NHTSA sponsored a meeting at the headquarters of IACP in Arlington,Massachusetts. Persons invited to this meeting included SFST instructors from several states, curriculum specialists and training administrators. The participants met in working groups to reach a consensus concerning the many issues relating to the SFST program and to develop recommended minimum standards to the IACP Advisory Committee on Highway Safety. The standards were drafted and presented to the committee for their review at the mid-year meeting in June 1992.

This material is for informational purposes only. If you want to know how the SFST tests affect you, please contact your OUI Lawyer.