| This
description of the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test
posted by Florida DUI Lawyer
. *
Parks
& Braxton, your best resource for a Florida
DUI Lawyer, wants you to be well informed.
Here is a basic description of the Horizontal
gaze nystagmus test:
- Eyeglasses
must be removed in order to make a more accurate
determination. Eyeglasses may impede the person's
peripheral vision and may impede the cop's ability
to observed eye carefully. Recent information
reveals that Contacts do not have to be removed..
The officer is trained to make note of the presence
of contact lenses. A person without vision in
one eye, such as a glass eye should not be given
this test.
-
NOTE: IF THE SUSPECT HAS AN OBVIOUS EYE DISORDER
OR ARTIFICIAL EYE, HGN SHOULD NOT BE ADMINISTERED
-
It is improper to evaluate one eye and double
the score. You cannot assume that the other
eye will render the same results. With the lazy
eye condition, the officer is trained not to
administer this test. Recent information indicates
that color blindness does not affect this test.
Certain individuals have a pathological nystagmus
which is normal, and natural for that person.
- Three
to four percent of the general population have
a natural or normal nystagmus without having
consumed any alcohol at all. In the Final Report
of March 1981 entitled "Development And
Field Test Of Psychophysical Tests For DWI Arrest"
which was prepared for the U.S. D.O.T. National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration"
(NHTSA), this report advises that nystagmus
could be the result of brain damage, of illness
{e.g., Korsakoff's syndrome} or of unknown etiology.
A large disparity between the eyes may indicate
a medical problem.
*
This material is for informational purposes only.
If you want to know how the SFST tests affect
you, please contact Florida
DUI Lawyers, Parks &
Braxton
|
