October 27, 2026

A roadside stop for suspected impaired driving is a sequence of requests, not a single event, and the requests are not legally equivalent. Some you must comply with. Some you may decline with no statutory penalty. One carries a separate charge if you refuse it. Drivers routinely treat all of them as one undifferentiated demand, which is understandable at eleven at night with a flashlight in the window, and which is also how people give away more than the law requires. The Requests You Cannot Refuse Documents A driver must produce a license, registration and insurance identification card on request. There is no discretion here, and declining creates a separate violation without accomplishing anything useful. Stepping out of the vehicle An officer may direct a driver to exit the car during a lawful stop. That direction is not itself an accusation, and complying with it does not concede anything about impairment. The Requests That Are Voluntary The standardized field sobriety tests The roadside battery most people picture, walking a line heel to toe, standing on one leg, and following a pen with the eyes, is the standardized field sobriety test battery developed for police use. In New Jersey, these are not covered by the implied consent statute. There is no separate offense for declining them and no license penalty attached to the refusal itself. Why they are harder than they look The tests are scored on specific physical clues rather than on an overall impression, and they are administered on a shoulder, in whatever footwear you happen to have on, often in the dark and in traffic. Age, weight, injuries, inner ear conditions, fatigue and uneven pavement all affect performance. A sober person can produce scored clues, and the officer records the clues rather than a narrative of whether you […]