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impairment

The OVI Stop

ORC 4511.19 — roadside, before anyone is arrested

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An OVI stop has stages, and the rules are different at each one. Getting pulled over, being asked to step out, being asked to perform roadside tests, and being arrested and asked for a chemical test are four separate moments with four separate answers.

  • Stepping out of the car is not optional. An officer may order the driver out of a lawfully stopped vehicle without any additional suspicion.
  • The passengers may be ordered out on the same footing.
  • Roadside field sobriety tests are a different thing entirely. They are evidence gathering, and Ohio has no statute making refusal of them a separate crime.
  • The small handheld breath device at the roadside is not the evidential machine, and it is not what the implied consent statute is about.
  • The chemical test after arrest is the one implied consent reaches, and refusing it has its own consequences.
Refusing roadside tests is not the same as refusing the chemical test. They are two different decisions at two different moments. Declining the walk and turn does not trigger the licence suspension. Declining the breath, blood, or urine test after a lawful OVI arrest does, and that suspension starts immediately.

Blood is treated differently from breath. A breath test may be taken as a search incident to a lawful arrest, but drawing blood is more intrusive and normally needs a warrant or a real emergency. The fact that alcohol leaves the blood over time is not by itself the emergency.

“I am not refusing to cooperate. I am declining the roadside tests. Am I free to go, or am I being detained.”

You do not have to be over the limit to be charged. The impaired driving offence and the fixed number offence are separate ways to prove the same section.

Sources for this section (9)
  1. ORC 4511.19 — Operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs (OVI)
  2. ORC 4511.191 — Implied consent to chemical tests
  3. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968) — Investigative stops require reasonable suspicion
  4. Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106 (1977) — An officer may order the driver out of a lawfully stopped car
  5. Maryland v. Wilson, 519 U.S. 408 (1997) — An officer may order passengers out of a lawfully stopped car
  6. ORC 4511.192 — Advice given at an OVI arrest, and the administrative suspension
  7. Birchfield v. North Dakota, 579 U.S. 438 (2016) — A breath test may be taken incident to arrest, a blood draw needs a warrant
  8. Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U.S. 141 (2013) — The natural fall of blood alcohol is not by itself an emergency justifying a warrantless draw
  9. U.S. Const. amend. IV — Searches and seizures

Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Talk to a licensed Ohio attorney about your situation.

MyRightz is legal education, not legal advice. Nothing here creates an attorney client relationship. For your specific situation talk to a licensed Ohio attorney.

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