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Who catches more drunk drivers: Police or drive-thrus?

By: Staff Writer

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013 at 10:34 AM | Comments: 0

Brandon drive-thru workers are running neck-and-neck with city police in the race to nab impaired drivers.

A review of Brandon police press releases and Brandon Sun stories from the past two months reveal that employees at local drive-through restaurants have been more than pulling their weight.

Since the beginning of December 2012, police say that four drunk drivers have been charged after being spotted in drive-through lanes.

That compares pretty favourably with the five impaired drivers that police nabbed on their own — especially since the holiday Checkstop blitz between Dec. 6–31 turned up none.

Of course, there's some flexibility in the numbers. Police laid one additional charge of impaired driving against a man who was allegedly high, not drunk. And one of the impaired drivers spotted at a drive-thru was actually noticed by a police officer in line behind him, after his passenger got out to take a pee right in front of the cruiser.

Like all statistics, this may just be a random cluster, not evidence of a trend.

But maybe fast-food workers are more likely to be in the right place at the right time.

"It’s common knowledge that people get hungry when they start drinking," noted Brandon Police Service Staff Sgt. Larry Yanick after the third such incident, on New Year's Eve.

At least two of the impaired drivers have already gone to court. Each was fined $1,500 and one was banned from driving for a year, the other banned for 18 months.

The total tally:

For the police:

Saturday, Dec. 8 — Brandon woman at 50th Street and Otter Bay
New Years Eve — Brandon man on Kirkcaldy Drive
Monday, Jan 14 — Brandon woman on Rosser Avenue East
Thu, Jan 17 — Brandon man at Richmond Avenue and 50th Street
Tue Jan 29 — Winnipeg man on 10th Street

At the drive-thru:

Sunday, Dec. 16 — Brandon man passed out at drive-thru
Tuesday, Dec. 25 — Brandon man impaired at drive-thru
Wedmesday, Jan. 30 — Brandon man impaired at drive-thru

Combo:

Sunday, Dec. 30 — Drive-thru passenger pees in front of cruiser

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