I have been pulled over a few times lately. The cops always walk up to me, glance at my face. Then they ask for my ID. I’m shocked that they have never asked me to do sobriety tests. When I get pulled over, it’s always overnight. Sometimes I’m fatigued, which can be confused as being under the influence I assume.
I have never been accused. I’m not complaining, I’m just curious how they know I’m sober.
Well, assuming you don’t smell of alcohol, the usual ‘tell’ is a certain kind of jitter in the eyes.
Also, your iris contraction/dilation rate is slowed when you are intoxicated.
You imply that the sobriety evaluation is over once you give the cop your ID. They watch you remove your ID from your wallet. Are your hands shaking? Are you fumbling around? Notice how they always lean in like they are your buddies? He’s smelling for booze.
Also, when they ask for ID, don’t they always ask you some other unrelated question like “Where are you coming from?” or “Where are you going?” to see if you can retrieve your ID and answer the question at the same time? Even slightly drunk people get confused when multi-tasking like this.
In Ohio, police officers typically observe your coordination, breath, speech and odor. They can also be trained to administer blood, urine, breath or horizontal gaze nystagmus tests. Here’s a useful overview: Drunk driving in the United States - Wikipedia
I’m not much of a drinker. Whenever I went out with friends that were partying, I was the guy who stayed sober and did the driving. So let me tell you based on personal observation: drunk people are nowhere near as clandestine as they believe they are.
My drunk friends would think they were maintaining well and nobody would know they were drunk if they put their mind to hiding it. But the reality was their intoxication was pretty obvious.
I take it they can tell shaking and fumbling due to anxiety from shaking and fumbling due to being drunk?
Possibly not, but if they get enough visual indicators that you may even remotely possibly be drunk and they have any doubts they can have you do a field sobriety test that will pretty much give them enough detailed feedback to either arrest you or let you go.
This. It’s much easier for the cop to notice when a perp is drunk.
Wouldn’t the default presumption be that you are sober, unless your behaviour suggests otherwise?
The few times I’ve been pulled over, though sober, I was as visibly nervous as all get out. I fumbled over my ID and answering the questions, I imagine that would have set off many of the flags mentioned here, other than the alcohol odor. But yea my sobriety has never been questioned, so they must just be good at what they do.
Like CX the times I was pulled over I showed some drunk “symptoms” though sober. My eyes are often red due to allergies and leaving in my contacts too long. I’m very nervous when I’m pulled over. One time I was very tired.
Yeah the cops always carry a small convo with me. I must be appearing very competent, I guess.
And you have no idea how much you stink when you are drunk.
Do they ask if you’ve had any drinks?
I think your answer is that they, after years of experience, are very good at their jobs. They can tell you don’t smell of booze. They can probably tell you weren’t lying when asked. And they can probably tell the difference between, just nervous, and drunk nervous.
Keep in mind they get a boat load of experience, with this very scenario, over their career.
Oh, Lord.
If the driver answers, “A couple of beers,” then he or she is probably busted.
~VOW
It also depends on what they pull you over for. If they’re just pulling you over for a burnt-out blinker or expired tags or something, they’re not going to be scrutinizing you as much as the guy they pulled over for that illegal left turn onto a one-way from the wrong lane.
No, the fact that they pulled you over (out of all the traffic that is going by) indicates that the officer already noticed some actions by your car that indicate possible drunkenness.
I’ve been on a ride-along with cops, and it was astonishing how good they were at this. We would be going by a whole lot of traffic, and suddenly he would say “I’m going to pull over that red pickup”. And I looked, but couldn’t see that the red pickup was doing anything different than the rest of the traffic. But when asked, the cop pointed out several indicators. And he seemed to be very accurate; nearly every driver he pulled over was indeed drunk (or overtired, or taking medication, etc.).
It works both ways. I was falsely arrested and thrown in jail in Vegas, just because the cop “knew that I was on something” (his guess was meth or pot LOL). I’m a male who had long hair at the time. I spent 48 hours in jail and they took a blood sample, but the case never went to trial due to lack of evidence, and my record remains clean. They arrest based on “probable cause” which can vary by cop.
Oddly, they didn’t bother to ticket me for the minor traffic violation that they responded to. I think they just wanted to ruin my New Years. After working overtime until 4 AM the previous night, I spent the day driving around doing chores, and didn’t party like all of the drunk tourists there.