Yes, you can refuse a field sobriety test in Arizona. The roadside balance and coordination exercises are voluntary, no statute requires you to perform them, and declining does not trigger a license suspension or any standalone penalty. What refusal does not do is end the encounter: an officer can still arrest you based on other observations, and the rules change completely once you’re under arrest and asked to submit to a chemical test of your blood, breath, or urine.
What the Officer Is Asking You to Do
Arizona officers use a three-test battery developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Each test splits your attention between a physical task and verbal instructions, because alcohol impairment makes that combination harder.
The Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test is observational. The officer holds a pen or small flashlight about 12 inches from your face, asks you to follow it with your eyes, and watches for involuntary jerking. There are three clues per eye, six total.
The Walk and Turn begins with an instruction phase where you stand heel-to-toe on a real or imaginary line. You then take nine heel-to-toe steps out, turn with a series of small steps, and take nine steps back. Officers watch for eight possible clues, including losing balance during instructions, stepping off the line, using arms for balance, and taking the wrong number of steps.
The One Leg Stand asks you to raise one foot about six inches off the ground, keep both legs straight, and count aloud for 30 seconds. The four clues are swaying, using arms for balance, hopping, and putting the foot down.
Refusing Carries No Automatic Penalty
Arizona’s implied consent statute, ARS 28-1321, defines the testing you’ve legally agreed to by driving on Arizona roads. It covers chemical tests of blood, breath, urine, or other bodily substances, and only after a lawful DUI arrest. Field sobriety tests appear nowhere in that framework.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 – Section 28-1321 Because no statute compels participation, the officer can ask and you can say no.
A refusal will not result in a license suspension, a criminal charge, or an administrative penalty the way a chemical test refusal would. The officer is not required to tell you that the tests are optional, and most will not volunteer that information. A polite, clear statement that you are declining is enough.
Refusal does not make the stop disappear. The officer can still arrest you for DUI based on the odor of alcohol, slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, erratic driving, or your answers during conversation. Your refusal may be noted in the police report and mentioned at trial. The practical tradeoff is that a refusal gives the prosecution less evidence to work with than video of you stumbling through a Walk and Turn on a gravel shoulder at midnight.
You Are Not Entitled to a Lawyer Before Deciding
A common misconception is that you can call an attorney before answering the FST request. During a traffic stop you are in a temporary investigative detention, not formal custody. Miranda warnings, including the right to an attorney, are only required when you are both in custody and being interrogated. Officers can conduct the entire roadside DUI investigation, including asking you questions and requesting FSTs, without reading you any rights.
The Preliminary Breath Test Is Also Voluntary
Arizona law allows officers to request a preliminary breath test using a handheld roadside device before an arrest, as long as the officer has reasonable suspicion that you have violated the DUI statute. ARS 28-1322 authorizes the request but prescribes no penalty for declining it.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 28-1322
A preliminary breath test is not the evidentiary chemical test administered after an arrest. The handheld device is a screening tool to help the officer decide whether to arrest you, its results are generally less reliable than the calibrated instruments used at a station or hospital, and in many jurisdictions those results are not admissible at trial to prove your actual BAC. The evidentiary chemical test is a different animal, and that one is covered by implied consent.
Chemical Test Refusal After Arrest Is a Different Situation
Once an officer has arrested you for DUI, the legal picture shifts. Under ARS 28-1321, driving on Arizona roads constitutes implied consent to a chemical test of your blood, breath, or urine when you are arrested for a DUI offense. The officer chooses which test you take.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 – Section 28-1321
If you refuse, you must be told that your license will be suspended for 12 months. A second or subsequent refusal within 84 months results in a two-year suspension. Failing to expressly agree to the test, or failing to successfully complete it, counts as a refusal. These suspension periods are administrative and happen regardless of whether you are ever convicted of DUI.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 – Section 28-1321
The officer must also inform you that if your chemical test shows a BAC of 0.08 or higher, or 0.04 or higher if you were driving a commercial vehicle or vehicle for hire, your license will be suspended for at least 90 consecutive days.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 – Section 28-1321 This is the key boundary to keep in mind: say no to the roadside tests, and nothing happens to your license by operation of law. Say no to the post-arrest chemical test, and your license is gone for a year.
Why Many Drivers Decline the Roadside Tests
Performance on field sobriety tests depends on far more than whether you have been drinking. Officers are supposed to account for conditions, but grading is subjective, and outside factors regularly produce false positives.
Environmental conditions are a major variable. Poor lighting makes it harder to see the line and harder for the officer to observe your eyes during the HGN test. Uneven road surfaces, gravel shoulders, sloped pavement, and wet or icy ground all compromise balance during the Walk and Turn and One Leg Stand. Wind, rain, and passing traffic create distractions that can mimic the attention problems associated with impairment.
Physical conditions matter as much. Inner ear disorders, back or leg injuries, neurological conditions, obesity, and age all affect balance in ways unrelated to alcohol. Certain medications can cause nystagmus, the eye-jerking the HGN test looks for, without any impairment. Heels, boots, and sandals can throw off the walking and standing tests. And the anxiety of being stopped by police at night, with lights flashing and cars passing, creates genuine nervousness that officers may read as impairment.
Arizona prosecutes DUI under an “impaired to the slightest degree” standard, meaning the state does not need to prove you were falling-down drunk.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 – Section 28-1381 FST evidence tends to carry weight because it supports the narrative that your ability to drive was diminished, even modestly. Declining the tests denies the prosecution that narrative building block.
CDL Holders Face Higher Stakes
If you hold a commercial driver’s license, the calculation is different. Arizona’s implied consent statute sets the BAC threshold at 0.04 for anyone driving a commercial vehicle, half the standard 0.08 limit.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 – Section 28-1321
Under federal law, a first DUI conviction while operating a commercial vehicle results in CDL disqualification for at least one year. If you were hauling placarded hazardous materials at the time, the disqualification jumps to at least three years. A second violation means lifetime disqualification, though federal regulations allow for possible reinstatement after a minimum of 10 years.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 31310 – Disqualification A DUI can end a trucking career, and the lower BAC threshold means charges can arise at levels most non-commercial drivers would not consider risky.
Recording the Stop
If you are a passenger, or if the driver has a hands-free setup, recording the stop can provide useful evidence later. Courts have broadly recognized a First Amendment right to record police performing their duties in public spaces, including during traffic stops. The recording cannot interfere with the officer’s work, and officers may direct you to move to a reasonable distance, but they cannot confiscate or delete footage without a warrant.
Arizona’s hands-free law, ARS 28-914, prohibits holding a phone while operating a vehicle on a highway, but the restriction does not apply when the vehicle is parked or stopped.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 – 28-914 Once you have been pulled over and your car is stopped, you can hold your phone to record. A passenger can record at any time. If the stop later becomes a DUI case, that footage lets a defense attorney review whether the tests were administered correctly and whether conditions affected performance.