Test Refusal in Washington
Almost everyone who calls us about a refusal asks the question in the wrong order. They want to know whether they should have blown—and they usually mean the handheld device an officer held out at the roadside, which is not the test the law is talking about when it talks about refusal.
A DUI stop may involve field sobriety tests, a handheld roadside breath test, and an evidentiary breath or blood test after arrest. They run under different rules. Nobody reliably explains those distinctions on the shoulder of a road at two in the morning.
Here is the plain-English version, including the part nobody wants to hear: neither choice rescues anyone by itself.
Breath and Blood Test Refusal FAQs
1. Which test actually carries a penalty for refusing?
The post-arrest evidentiary breath test is the one tied to Washington’s implied consent law. The roadside handheld preliminary breath test, or PBT, is different. It is voluntary and is generally used as a screening tool before arrest. Field sobriety tests are separate.
2. Do I have to do the walk-and-turn and the one-leg-stand?
No. Those are voluntary in Washington, and there is no license penalty for declining them. Age, injury, conditions underfoot and how the tests were administered can affect performance. Those circumstances deserve review.
3. If I decline everything, can they still arrest me?
Yes. Police may still arrest you if they have lawful grounds. Declining voluntary tests does not prevent an arrest, and officers may still collect observations and other evidence.
4. What happens to my license if I refuse the evidentiary breath test?
DOL can revoke your license for at least one year for refusing the evidentiary breath test after the required warnings. That licensing action is separate from the criminal case, and you can request a hearing to challenge it.
5. Can refusing be used against me in court?
Yes. A refusal of the evidentiary breath test can be used at trial, and if the case ends in a DUI conviction, the refusal also affects the mandatory-minimum penalty tier. Prosecutors argue that people refuse because they know what the number would have been. That is an inference, not a fact, and there are plenty of other reasons a frightened person at two in the morning declines to do what an officer asks.
6. Is a refusal case hopeless, then?
No. Refusing the breath test does not necessarily leave the state without a test result: police may obtain a warrant for a blood draw. Whether the case involves observations, video, blood results, or all three, the evidence and the testing process can be examined.
7. Was the officer supposed to warn me first?
Yes, before the evidentiary breath test. You are supposed to be told what taking or refusing that test would mean before you are asked. Whether that warning was actually given, and given correctly, is one of the first things worth checking.
8. What about a blood test?
Blood testing can be used in alcohol or drug cases, including after a breath-test refusal. Police generally need a warrant, valid consent, or another lawful exception. The breath-refusal licensing rule is not a blanket rule for every request for blood. The authority for the draw and the handling of the sample are both reviewable.
9. So should I have taken it?
There is no answer to that question that fits every case, and anyone who gives you one confidently is selling something. We have seen a client acquitted at trial and lose his license anyway for refusing. We have also seen a driver take the test, come back completely clean, and still spend four months and thousands of dollars getting the charge dismissed.
10. What should I do first?
Read the DOL notice now. Get the licensing hearing requested before the deadline, and get legal advice immediately. A breath-test refusal can carry a longer administrative revocation than a first failed test, which makes that deadline expensive to miss.
If you were accused of refusing a breath or blood test in the Greater Seattle area, call Knauss Law promptly. We can review which test was requested, the authority and warnings involved, and any deadline in your DOL notice.