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Typical DUI Test

The following is what can happen when a Law Enforcement officer has a reason to suspect a driver is intoxicated. Some possible reasons are erratic driving, poor coordination, and/or the presence of the smell of alcohol.

Field Sobriety Test
The officer will administer one or more field sobriety tests (FSTs). Some common FSTs include having the driver:
1.Try to walk in a straight line, heel-to-toe.
2.Tip his or her head back with eyes closed and try to touch the tip of the nose with the index finger.
3.Stand on one foot.
4.Reciting all or part of the alphabet.
5.FSTs are better at determining the level of impairment than they are at estimating the driver's BAC.
The (US) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has scientifically determined that three FSTs are statistically reliable in detecting impaired drivers. These three "standardized" tests are the "Walk and Turn" test, the "One-leg Stand" and "Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus" in which a law enforcement officer observes the discrete movements of a person's eyes when tracking a stimulus across their field of vision.

Chemical Test

If arrested, the driver is brought to the police station, and given one or more chemical tests: breath, urine, and/or blood. Breath test results are usually available immediately and are sometimes given before the actual arrest takes place; urine and blood samples are sent to a lab to determine the BAC. In some jurisdictions, refusing to take a breathalyzer test is an offense in itself, often creating an automatic assumption of guilt under the law.

Chemical tests are better at determining the driver's BAC than they are at estimating the level of impairment, but their accuracy is disputed by some (see blood alcohol test assumptions). In any case, tests can only determine the BAC at the time the test is taken, which sometimes can be higher than when the vehicle was actually operated, in the case of a driver who drank a large volume immediately before driving.

Next Step
If it is determined that the person is not legally intoxicated, they might be released without any charges. However, many jurisdictions have charges which don't require a particular BAC, and tests for some drugs (such as GHB) will not show up in a test designed for alcohol.
Most of the time, the driver will either be kept in a holding cell until they are deemed sober enough to be released, or sent to jail to wait for their first court hearing (or until they can get bailed out).