Drive-through workers checking for impaired drivers

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — When you grab that burger and fries, the drive-through attendant may be giving you the once-over to check if you’re drunk or high.

Those keeping an eye on the law here are watching a pilot project in Ontario where police are training drive-through workers to report impaired drivers.

Paul Doroshenko, a Vancouver criminal lawyer, says a number of restaurants in BC also have staff on the lookout.

“Most restaurants that have a drive-through have some sort of protocol to deal with impaired drivers and sometimes your restaurant won’t be serving fast food if you show up there and they think that you’re impaired.”

Doroshenko says it becomes more complicated when you have police officially leaning on this method.

“Now you’ve got a person who works in a restaurant that has to be a witness and that person has to show up to court and be cross-examined and maybe you’re making them an agent of the police if you’re asking them to do this work.”

Doroshenko says it will be interesting to see if drive-through attendants will have more to check for if recreational marijuana is legalized — which the federal government has set for just over a year from now.

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