Quick answer: The one-leg stand is one of three standardized field sobriety tests police use during a Maryland DUI stop. You stand on one foot, raise the other about six inches off the ground, and count out loud while the officer watches for four scored clues: swaying, using your arms to balance, hopping, and putting your foot down. It is a divided-attention test, it is subjective, and in Maryland it is voluntary — you can politely decline it.
I’m David Waranch, and I’ve defended thousands of Maryland DUI and traffic cases. The one-leg stand fails a lot of sober people for reasons that have nothing to do with alcohol, so here is exactly how it works and how it gets challenged.
What Is the One-Leg Stand Test?
The one-leg stand is a standardized field sobriety test developed for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), along with the walk-and-turn and horizontal gaze nystagmus (eye) tests. If you’re pulled over on suspicion of DUI in Maryland, the officer will usually run through this battery at the roadside before deciding whether to arrest you.
Here’s what the officer asks you to do: stand with your feet together and arms at your sides while they give instructions. Then raise one leg — either one — about six inches off the ground, keep it straight with your toes pointed out, and look at your raised foot. While you hold that position, you count out loud, “one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three,” and so on until told to stop. The officer times it for roughly 30 seconds.
Like the walk-and-turn test, the one-leg stand is a divided-attention test — it splits your focus between a physical task (balancing on one foot) and a mental one (counting a specific way). The theory is that alcohol degrades the brain’s ability to do two things at once. The problem is that plenty of sober conditions do the same thing.
What Clues Is the Officer Looking For?
The one-leg stand has exactly four standardized clues. The officer watches for these specific signs and nothing else counts toward the score:
| Scored clue | What the officer is watching for |
|---|---|
| Sways while balancing | Side-to-side or back-and-forth motion of the body while the foot is raised |
| Uses arms to balance | Raising either arm more than about six inches from the side |
| Hops | Hopping on the standing foot to keep from falling |
| Puts foot down | Setting the raised foot on the ground before being told to stop |
Notice how ordinary these are. A gust of wind on Route 50, a sloped shoulder, or plain nerves with a squad car’s lights in your eyes can produce all four — the built-in weakness of the test, and where a defense usually starts.
How Do Officers Score the One-Leg Stand?
The scoring is simple, which is part of the problem. The officer counts how many of the four clues they observe. Under NHTSA’s standardized scoring, two or more clues is the decision point an officer treats as a sign of likely impairment. So a single wobble that makes you touch your foot down and put an arm out — two clues in one moment — can be written up as a “failed” test.
Two things make that score shakier than it sounds. First, it’s a judgment call: the same performance can look like a pass to one officer and two clues to another. Second, the score is only meaningful if the test was given exactly the way NHTSA requires — the same instructions, a hard and level surface, and a proper demonstration. When the officer cuts corners, the clues they count don’t mean what the training says they mean.
“I had to do the field sobriety tests.” No, you didn’t. Field sobriety tests are voluntary in Maryland. Unlike the post-arrest breath test, which carries license penalties if you refuse, there is no automatic penalty for politely declining the one-leg stand at the roadside. Many people perform these tests only because the officer’s phrasing makes them sound mandatory.
Do I Have to Take Field Sobriety Tests in Maryland?
No. Roadside field sobriety tests, including the one-leg stand, are voluntary in Maryland. You can decline them, and there is no license suspension or separate charge just for saying no to the balancing and walking exercises. That is very different from the evidentiary breath test after an arrest, which falls under Maryland’s implied-consent law — refusing that test does carry a license suspension. If you’re unsure how refusal works after arrest, read can you refuse a breathalyzer in Maryland.
Keep the two straight, because they’re often confused. Declining the roadside tests creates no automatic penalty; refusing the breath or blood test at the station triggers the administrative process I explain in the MVA per se hearing guide. An officer can still arrest you on other observations, but you don’t have to hand them a poor balance performance to use against you.
Innocent Reasons People “Fail” the One-Leg Stand
Balancing on one leg for 30 seconds is hard for a lot of completely sober people. NHTSA’s own materials caution that the test can be difficult for certain individuals, and these factors routinely produce clues that have nothing to do with alcohol:
- Age. Balance naturally declines with age, and NHTSA notes older individuals may have trouble with the test.
- Weight. People who are significantly overweight often struggle to hold one leg up for a full 30 seconds.
- Medical conditions. Back, hip, knee, leg, and inner-ear problems, along with certain neurological conditions, all wreck balance.
- Footwear. Heels, boots, dress shoes, or flip-flops make a six-inch raise unstable. The test was validated barefoot or in flat shoes.
- Road surface and weather. A gravel shoulder, a slope, potholes, rain, wind, or cold all sabotage balance.
- Conditions at the scene. Flashing lights, passing traffic, poor lighting, and pure nervousness pull focus off the physical task.
Any one of these can hand the officer the two clues they need. A raised foot going down early isn’t proof you were drunk — it may just be proof you’re 55, wearing loafers, and standing on a slanted highway shoulder at night.
How a Lawyer Challenges the One-Leg Stand
The one-leg stand is often the most beatable part of a DUI case, because so much can go wrong with it. When I review a case, I’m looking at questions like these:
- Did the officer give the standardized instructions and demonstrate the test correctly? Non-standardized administration undercuts the clues.
- Was the surface hard, dry, and level, as the test requires? The dashcam or bodycam usually tells the truth.
- Did the officer note your age, weight, footwear, injuries, or medical conditions before scoring you? Often they didn’t ask.
- Does the video actually show the clues the report claims? Frequently it shows a sober-looking person doing their best on a bad surface.
- Was the stop itself lawful? An illegal stop can suppress everything that followed.
The one-leg stand rarely stands alone. It sits inside a larger case that may also include the walk-and-turn, the eye test, and a breath or blood result, so the defense has to address the whole picture. For how the charges and evidence fit together, see Maryland DUI and DWI laws explained and the full range of Maryland DUI penalties. If you’ve been arrested, I also explain how bail works in Maryland.
If an officer scored you on the one-leg stand, don’t assume the case is lost. Talk to a Maryland DUI lawyer who will pull the video and take the test apart clue by clue.
One-Leg Stand Test: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Field sobriety tests, including the one-leg stand, are voluntary in Maryland, and there is no automatic license penalty for declining them at the roadside. This is different from the post-arrest breath test, which is covered by implied consent and does carry a suspension if you refuse.
The one-leg stand has four standardized clues: swaying while balancing, using the arms to balance, hopping on the standing foot, and putting the raised foot down before being told to stop. Under NHTSA scoring, two or more clues is the decision point an officer treats as a sign of likely impairment.
Balancing on one foot for 30 seconds is difficult for many sober people. Age, extra weight, back or leg or inner-ear problems, unsuitable footwear, an uneven or sloped road surface, wind, cold, and simple nervousness can all produce the scored clues without any alcohol involved.
Law Offices of David R. Waranch — 301-563-9575 · toll-free 1-877-566-2408. Hablamos Español.
Last updated: August 2026. Field sobriety tests are voluntary in Maryland; the post-arrest breath test is governed by the implied-consent law, Md. Code, Transp. § 16-205.1. This page is general information about Maryland law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.