MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - In 2014 The Meridian Township Police Department saw 89 cases involving the operation of a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

That comes out to roughly two DUI arrests per week on average.

Although drunk driving statistics continue to rise, the majority of the population has little knowledge of what goes into completing a full sobriety test.

In an effort to show viewers just how dangerous driving drunk really is, with the help of officer Bob Jurhs from the Meridian Township Police Department, I submitted to three sobriety tests; the horizontal gaze nystagmus, the one-leg stand and the walk-and-turn tests.

Each of these is designed to measure a specific response or reflex that some researchers believe is compromised if a person has been drinking.

Although no alcohol was consumed during the filming of this demonstration, the use of fatal vision goggles distorted my vision to the point of extreme intoxication.

The tests shown in the video below help to establish probable cause to make an arrest by estimating a person’s blood alcohol content.

In Michigan, if you drive with a blood alcohol level of 0.08% of higher, you can get a DUI regardless of whether your driving ability was impaired or not.

"Any amount of alcohol and impair you to some degree. If you're getting that buzzed feeling while drinking your body is being effected, you're being effected by the alcohol. Whether you think you're being effected or not, your motor skills are being effected, your perception-reaction abilities are being effected," Jurhs said.

By law, sobriety tests are optional. If you are pulled over under the suspicion of driving drunk you do not have to submit to taking this physical exam, however, it is highly suggested by police that you do cooperate in this situation.

But to avoid the situation all together, officer Bob Jurhs has some advice.

"I encourage people to make plans before they go out, make plans of how you're going to get home before you go out and start drinking," Jurhs said.