What is a field sobriety test?

Field sobriety tests are given by law enforcement officers to make an initial determination of whether a driver was operating a motor vehicle under the influence and they are often precursors to blood-alcohol tests. In general field sobriety tests consists of a police officer asking a driver to do one or more of the following tasks: touch your nose, stand on one foot, walk in a straight line, and/or recite the alphabet forward or backwards.