Comprehensive Arizona DUI Information
what arizona dui cops look for
The best way to avoid a DUI investigation and charge is to never drink and drive. However, if it is too late for this advice and you have been pulled over by a police officer, here is the process the officer will go through to determine whether to arrest you for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
STAGE ONE: Observing The Vehicle In Motion
People operating a vehicle under the influence exhibit symptoms of impairment. The officer will look for slowed reactions, a willingness to take risks, poor coordination and impaired vision. The vehicle might be going extremely fast or extremely slow. There may be a violation of a posted control sign, a failure to use a turn signal, inappropriate use of high beams or any number or other clues that alert the officer to a probability that the driver is influenced by intoxicants.
All an officer needs to justifying pulling a vehicle over is a reasonable belief that the driver was operating in an unreasonable manner, or a reasonable suspicion that an ordinance or other law has been broken. A good faith belief on the officer's part that the driver may be physically unfit to drive may suffice.
Officers look for 20 specific visual cues that indicate that the driver is legally intoxicated. If observed independently of any other behavior, each clue has a corresponding probability of impairment established by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). They are as follows:
THE OFFICER'S VISUAL CUE
CORRESPONDING PROBABILITY OF IMPAIRMENT Headlights off Accelerating or decelerating rapidly Turning abruptly or illegally Stopping inappropriately (other than in the lane of travel) A slow response to traffic signals Driving into or crossing traffic Erratic application of the brakes Driving with tires on center or lane marker Drifting 50%
Following too closely Stopping without cause in the lane of traffic Driving slower than 10 miles per hour Swerving Driving on other than the designated highway Weaving Almost striking object or vehicle Appearing to be drunk: (eye fixation; tightly gripping the steering wheel; gesturing erratically or obscenely; face close to the windshield; drinking in the vehicle; driver's head protruding from vehicle)
Straddling center or lane marker Turning with wide radius The probabilities listed above correspond to the officer seeing only one cues. When the officer observes a combination of several cues, the probability rises.
When an officer initiates a traffic stop, there is opportunity for the observation of several more cues of impairment. The stopping sequence that the suspect uses will often be used at trial to prove that the driver was under the influence. Some of the observations typically include:
Attempt to flee;
A slowed response in pulling over;
No response to the officers lights, siren, and commands;
Abrupt swerve;
Sudden stop;
Stopping in an inappropriate place; and
Hitting the curb or other object when pulling over.
At trial, prosecutors and officers almost always use the theory of "divided attention" to explain the process of impairment. The ability to execute multiple tasks simultaneously, to divide attention, is greatly limited by alcohol or drugs in the system. Once the police initiate the stop, there is an increased opportunity for them to look for cues of divided attention and impairment. The intervention of the police officer(s), with flashing lights, sirens and megaphones requires complex motor and emotional processing on the part of the suspect. Many drivers who are under the influence have trouble handling this situation.
Once the stop has been completed, the officer moves into the next stage of the DUI investigation...
To continue to the next stage, click below...