"Hocus, Pocus, I Waive the Magic Pen and You're Drunk"- by Mark Stevens 603-893-0074

The first test in the three-part series of "field sobriety tests" that a driver typically endures at the roadside prior to his or her DWI arrest is the horizontal gaze nystagmus test. This is commonly called the "HGN" or the "gaze" test by the police. This exercise is done by the officer holding a pen or his finger about a foot from the driver's face, then waving it slowly from side to side several times. It is designed to check for a "jerking of the pupils" during the pen wavings. The officer typically tells the driver to stand with her feet together and her arms by her side, and to follow his pen with her eyes only (in other words not to move her head).

Usually the police will demand that you reach out and touch the tip of the pen with the tip of your index finger. This is another trick. If you touch anywhere but exactly on the tip of the pen, with any other part of your finger but the tip, this will be prominently featured in his narrative police report as a sign that you were drunk.

The police are trained to call their pen a "stimulus" in order to make the exercise sound more scientifically reliable than it is. Most drivers think they have "passed" this "test" because they complied with the officer's instructions to hold their head still. Quite to the contrary, any minor jerking of the pupils, which can be caused by hundreds of reasons other than alcohol ingestion, will cause the driver to "fail" this test.

One thing to watch out for just before this "test" starts is a request by the police to "check your eyes". This sounds pretty innocuous, but it is really just a way to get you to comply with the "testing" that you cannot be forced to do. REMEMBER: YOU CANNOT BE FORCED TO SUBMIT TO THE PEN TEST OR ANY OTHER "FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS" AT THE ROADSIDE!!!!

The police will often say that they would like you to step out of your car "to check and see if you are ok to drive". Once you are asked to step out of your car the chances of you stepping back into it are slim. Think twice before you give the police any evidence to use against you!

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For an interesting article on wrongful diagnoses regarding "horizontal gaze nystagmus" click below:

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/symptoms/nystagmus/causes.htm