New York DWI: Horizontal Nystagmus Gaze Field Sobriety Test.
In recent blog posts the Walk and Turn and the One- Leg-Stand field sobriety tests have been reviewed. Another commonly used field sobriety test is the Horizontal Nystagmus Gaze test. Horizontal Nystagmus Gaze refers to noticeable involuntary jerking of the eyes while moving side to side. The police officer will test each of driver’s eyes by asking the driver to look at a small stimulus-commonly the tip of a pen- while keeping their head still as the police officer moves the object from side to side. The police officer will start with the driver’s left eye and then do the driver’s right eye.
The officer is trained to look for three specific clues during the Horizontal Nystagmus Gaze test: noticeable jerking of the eye as it moves side- to- side; distinctive jerking of the eye when it moves and stays as far to the side as possible; and jerking of the eye prior to reaching a forty- five degree angle. The maximum number of clues in each eye is three. The maximum number in clues in both eyes is six. Law enforcement assumes that any driver who exhibits four or more clues during the Horizontal Nystagmus Gaze test to have a blood alcohol content of greater than .10. The National Highway Safety Traffic Administration claims this test is 77% accurate when a driver exhibits four or more clues.
