Company Car Accident Drug Test

Although you can’t be with them 24/7 or know exactly what they are doing when they aren’t on the job, If you are running a company, it is best to ensure that your employees are coming to work clean and sober. Drug testing is an excellent way to know whether your employees have extracurricular activities that might impede their work performance.

It’s not just about productivity; being under the influence while on the job can be hazardous to you both in terms of workers’ compensation (should the employee get hurt due to intoxication), and is especially a concern if you give them a company car to use. When you allow them to drive a company-owned vehicle, then due to vicarious liability you become financially responsible if they are in an accident and are at fault.

What is vicarious liability?

Vicarious liability essentially means that anyone who lends their car to someone else is responsible and liable if the driver is at fault for an accident. The owner of the car is the person who must pay for any damages and injuries resulting from an accident.

So Why Would You Want to Get Someone Drug Tested?

Being high on drugs is harder to detect than when someone is driving under the influence of alcohol. But like alcohol, drugs can significantly impair someone’s ability to drive and their reaction time. If you are going to lend your car to someone and be liable for their driving mistakes, don’t you want to make sure that they are in their sound mind when they get behind the wheel? If you are allowing them to drive other people around in a company car, then that carries an additional burden. If they are in an accident in a company car and transporting people, then you are opening yourself up to a host of lawsuits stemming from injuries.

What If the Driver Is Found to Be Intoxicated?

If you lend someone your car, and they are at fault for an accident and are found to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, then you might not be held liable. One of the stipulations of vicarious liability is that if someone is committing a criminal act - like driving while under the influence - then they may be deemed responsible for their own accident. However, if someone is impaired due to taking drugs, it is harder to prove that they were intoxicated, and they might not even be tested - which could still leave you liable.

If you are going to let someone drive your car for work in Missouri, then it is a good idea to know what types of vices or habits they might have. Since it can open you up to liability issues, you might want to have them drug-tested to know that they aren’t doing anything illegal.