Experimental Evaluation of a Field Sobriety Test Battery in the MarineEnvironment

摘要

This Report describes an investigation of the accuracy of a FST (Field SobrietyTest) batter used in the marine environment. FSTs rely on the observation and measurement of the effect of alcohol intoxication on coordination, visual tracking and balance. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was any decrease in the accuracy of the tests when used under recreational boating conditions. In the study, 97 volunteers were dosed with alcohol (four drinks over three and one half hours) in a recreational boating setting. The subject's BACs (Blood Alcohol Concentration) were estimated through FST procedures by marine law enforcement agents experienced in the use of such procedures. The officers correctly identified the subjects who would be legally intoxicated (BACs equal to or greater than 0.10%) in 82% of all cases. The overall correlation of the officer's FST based estimates with BACs obtained using breath tests was approximately .70. This level is consistent with similarly obtained correlations from highway studies. Calculation of indices of the officer's arrest-release performances revealed that FST tests used on the water can result in the arrest of significantly more intoxicated boaters while maintaining a very low level of false arrests. It was concluded that the accuracy of FST batteries are not degraded in the marine environment. Keywords: Field sobriety tests, Alcohol, Recreational boats. (sdw)