Do I have to do field sobriety tests in Florida?

Field sobriety exercises are the roadside tasks an officer may ask a driver to do before deciding whether to make a DUI arrest: following a pen with the eyes, walking a line, standing on one leg. People often assume these are part of the breath test law. They are not. This page sets out what the Florida Statutes say, and do not say, about these exercises, and how the officer's notes about them travel through the license case and the criminal case. The overall shape of a DUI defense is on our main DUI defense page.

What does Florida law actually require of a driver at a DUI stop?

Florida's implied consent law is section 316.1932. It says a driver is deemed to have consented to "an approved chemical test or physical test including, but not limited to, an infrared light test of his or her breath" if the driver is lawfully arrested for an offense committed while driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle under the influence (s. 316.1932(1)(a)1.a.). The same section covers a urine test in drug cases after a lawful arrest (s. 316.1932(1)(a)1.b.) and a blood test when the person is at a hospital, clinic or ambulance and a breath or urine test is impractical or impossible (s. 316.1932(1)(c)).

Every one of those tests is tied to breath, urine or blood, and the breath and urine tests must be incidental to a lawful arrest. The statute does not list roadside exercises such as walking a line or standing on one leg. The refusal crime in section 316.1939 is written the same way: it applies to a person who refused "a chemical or physical test of his or her breath or urine, as described in s. 316.1932," after a lawful DUI arrest and the required warnings. The license suspension for a refusal in section 322.2615(1)(b)1.a. is for refusing "a lawful breath, blood, or urine test." How that refusal charge works is explained on our page about refusing the breath test in Florida.

So the short version is this. The statutes that create the duty to test, the 1-year suspension for refusing, and the misdemeanor for refusing are all about breath, urine and blood. None of them mentions roadside exercises.

Where do field sobriety tests show up in Florida law?

They show up in the license statute, as evidence. When an officer suspends a license at a DUI arrest, section 322.2615(2)(a) requires the officer to send FLHSMV, within 5 days, the license, an affidavit of the grounds for the arrest, the breath or blood results or a refusal affidavit, "the officer's description of the person's field sobriety test, if any," and the notice of suspension. Under section 322.2615(2)(b), the officer may also send "a copy of a video recording of the field sobriety test or the attempt to administer such test." Those materials are part of the record the hearing officer considers in a license review.

At that review, one of the questions the hearing officer decides is whether the officer "had probable cause to believe" the person was driving or in actual physical control while under the influence (s. 322.2615(7)(a)1., (b)1.). The roadside exercises, and how the officer describes them, often go to that question. What happens at that hearing is covered in the DUI formal review hearing.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's participant manual for its DWI detection and standardized field sobriety testing course, a federal training document revised in February 2018, describes three standardized tests: horizontal gaze nystagmus, walk and turn, and one leg stand. The manual says they are the only standardized field sobriety tests "for which validated clues have been identified." It is a federal training text, not a Florida law, but it explains what officers are taught to do and what a defense lawyer compares the video against.

How does a roadside DUI investigation unfold here, step by step?

1. The stop. An officer from a city police department, the sheriff's office or the Florida Highway Patrol stops the car. Florida's stop and frisk law allows a temporary detention to find out who the person is and what happened, for no longer than is reasonably necessary, and at or near the place it began (s. 901.151(2), (3)). What a driver must do and may decline at that point is covered in your rights during a police stop in Florida.
2. Questions and observations. The officer looks and listens: driving pattern, speech, eyes, odor, statements. These go into the report.
3. The request for roadside exercises. The officer may ask the driver to step out and perform exercises. The video, if any, records what was asked, how it was explained, and the conditions: road surface, lighting, shoes, weather.
4. The arrest decision. Under section 901.151(4), if probable cause for arrest appears, the person is arrested; if it does not, the person is released.
5. The breath, urine or blood request. Only after a lawful arrest does the implied consent law apply to breath and urine tests, with the warnings about the suspension and the misdemeanor (s. 316.1932(1)(a)). The rules for the machine and the 20-minute observation are explained in Florida breath test rules.
6. The paperwork. Within 5 days the officer sends the license, the arrest affidavit, the test result or refusal affidavit and the description of any field sobriety test to FLHSMV (s. 322.2615(2)(a)).
7. The court case. A DUI is filed in county court. In Palm Beach County, the State Attorney's County Court Division handles misdemeanors, including DUI intake, and the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit's Administrative Order 4.603 divides county criminal cases into four regions; the Southern Region, which takes in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Delray Beach, is heard at the South County Courthouse at 200 West Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. In Broward, county criminal judges sit at the Central Courthouse at 201 SE 6th Street in Fort Lauderdale and at satellite courthouses in Hollywood, Plantation and Deerfield Beach, but the circuit's Administrative Order 2021-30-CO (Amendment 2) files DUI cases at the Central Courthouse. Miami-Dade's County Court Criminal Division hears DUI cases, and Martin County cases are heard at the courthouse at 100 SE Ocean Boulevard in Stuart. The local details are on our Palm Beach County courts page.

Roadside exercises compared with the breath, urine and blood tests

Can a refusal to do roadside exercises be used against me?

This is the part people most want answered, and it is the part the statutes do not answer. Section 316.1932 says in plain words that a refused breath, urine or blood test is admissible in a criminal case. No similar sentence about roadside exercises appears in sections 316.1932, 316.1939 or 322.2615, and the 2026 edition of the Florida Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases has no instruction about them. Whether, and how, a decision not to perform the exercises can be mentioned at trial depends on the facts and on how the judge rules in that case. That is a question to raise with a lawyer who has read the report and watched the video, not one to settle by guessing at the roadside.

What the statutes do make clear is that the license case and the criminal case are separate. The decision of FLHSMV in a license review, and any written statement a driver submits with a review request, may not be used in the DUI trial (s. 322.2615(14)(a)).

What changes the answer?

• Whether there was a lawful arrest. The breath and urine duties under section 316.1932(1)(a) start only with a lawful arrest. Before that, the exercises are part of the investigation.
• How long the stop lasted. A temporary detention may last no longer than reasonably necessary (s. 901.151(3)). The timeline on the video can matter.
• What the video shows. Section 322.2615(2)(b) lets the officer send a recording of the exercises or "the attempt to administer such test." What was said, and the conditions, can differ from the written report.
• Medical conditions and footwear. Injuries, age, weight, balance problems, eye conditions and shoes are facts to tell a lawyer, because they affect what the exercises can show.
• Drugs instead of alcohol. In a drug case there may be no breath result at all, so the roadside observations and any urine or blood test carry more weight. See a DUI for marijuana or prescription drugs.
• A crash with serious injury. Section 316.1933 lets an officer require a blood test, with reasonable force if necessary, when there is probable cause that an impaired driver caused death or serious bodily injury, even without an arrest.

A worked example

For example, take a hypothetical driver stopped on Glades Road in Boca Raton at 1 a.m. for drifting across a lane. The officer notes an odor of alcohol and asks her to step out and do roadside exercises. She says she has a knee injury and would rather not. The officer arrests her, reads the implied consent warnings at the station, and she gives two breath samples. In the paperwork sent to FLHSMV, the officer describes the conversation about the exercises, and the patrol video shows the exchange. At a formal review, the hearing officer decides whether the officer had probable cause and whether the breath result was 0.08 or more. In the criminal case at the South County Courthouse, her lawyer reviews whether the stop was lawful, whether the length of the detention was reasonable under section 901.151, and how the judge is likely to treat the roadside exchange; any challenge to the stop or the arrest is raised in a motion explained on our page about whether evidence can be thrown out in a Florida DUI case. The person, the place and the facts are invented to show how the statutes fit together, not a client's case or a prediction.

Common mistakes people make

• Treating a request for roadside exercises as if it were the breath test, and assuming the same 1-year suspension applies to both.
• Arguing with the officer about the law at the roadside instead of staying calm and polite.
• Not telling the lawyer about injuries, medications or footwear that day.
• Assuming the written report matches the video; asking for the video early matters. How to request it is explained in getting the police report and video from a DUI arrest.
• Waiting past the 10 days to request a license review, which is the first place the officer's description is tested. See keeping your license within 10 days of a DUI arrest.
• Posting about the stop on social media, where statements can be read by anyone.

What to do this week

1. Find the notice of suspension, note its date, and count 10 days.
2. Write down, while it is fresh, every instruction the officer gave for the exercises, and the road, lighting and weather.
3. List any injury, condition or medication that affects balance, walking or the eyes, with a doctor's name.
4. Note the shoes you were wearing and keep them.
5. Gather the citation, arrest papers and bond paperwork in one folder; our first week checklist after a DUI arrest lists the rest.
6. Talk to a lawyer before the 10-day deadline about the review and the video.

Frequently asked questions

Are field sobriety tests the same as the breath test?

No. The breath test is a chemical or physical test of breath under section 316.1932, given after a lawful arrest on an approved instrument. Roadside exercises are part of the officer's investigation before an arrest decision.

Does refusing roadside exercises suspend my license?

Section 322.2615 suspends a license for refusing "a lawful breath, blood, or urine test." It does not list roadside exercises. A refusal of the breath or urine test after arrest is what carries the suspension.

Will the officer explain that the exercises are optional?

The statutes set out warnings for breath, urine and blood tests (s. 316.1932(1)(a), (c)). They do not set out any warning for roadside exercises.

Can I ask for a breath or blood test instead?

If the arresting officer does not request a test, section 316.1932(1)(d) lets the arrested person ask for one, and the officer must have it performed. A person tested may also arrange an independent test at his or her own expense (s. 316.1932(1)(f)3.).

Is the eye test one of the field sobriety tests?

Yes. The NHTSA training manual lists horizontal gaze nystagmus, an involuntary jerking of the eyes, as one of its three standardized tests, along with walk and turn and one leg stand.

What if I was not driving when the officer arrived?

Florida's DUI law also covers a person "in actual physical control" of a vehicle (s. 316.193(1)). That situation is explained in whether you can get a DUI in a parked car.

How can Mr. Mead help?

Mr. Mead has more than three decades of criminal defense in South Florida. He can review the arrest affidavit, the officer's description of the exercises, the video and the breath or blood paperwork with you, and explain how each piece fits the license review and the court case in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade or Martin County. Every case turns on its own facts, and no result can be promised. The consultation is free, and you can call 24 hours at (561) 362-6677.

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