Would You Like Fries with that DUI?

Tucson, Arizona has a new (and innovative) way of helping warn drunk drivers from getting on the streets: Operation Would You Like Fries?

A Pima County deputy is stationed inside local drive through fast food restaurants. When a patron pulls into the drive through who has slurred speech, alcohol on the breath or distributes any other signs of intoxication, the deputy radios to another deputy in the parking lot to pull over the suspected drunk.

Funding for the operation comes from the governor's office of highway safety and is paid for with overtime grants to put the officers in place.

Any drawbacks to this? Certainly...drunks may just decide not to drive through fast food restaurants. Drunks may get word there is a sting at a certain burger joint. There may be a traffic lawyer who argues probable cause for such action.

So, here's a reminder: DWI checkpoints are NOT intended to catch drunk drivers. True story: checkpoints raise awareness, not actually intended to catch impaired drivers.

And this Operation WULF? Again, raises awareness with the public. Does it do so? Well, I'm sitting in my living room in Florida and I know about what Pima County, AZ is doing...gotta think Pima County residents also know!

At the very least, Operation WULF is helping to show area residents that DWI isn't accepted in Pima County.