Each December, as British Columbians gather with family, attend holiday celebrations, and travel winter roads, police agencies across the province shift into one of their most important public-safety efforts of the year: CounterAttack.
The importance of that mission was once again underscored during the 2025 Christmas and Winter Impaired Driving Campaign.
Led by police services across BC and conceived by the BC Association of Chiefs of Police, CounterAttack is a long-standing, province-wide impaired-driving enforcement and education program designed to stop tragedies before they happen. Through highly visible road checks, enhanced patrols, and tools like Mandatory Alcohol Screening, the program exists for one reason: to remove impaired drivers from the road before someone is injured or killed.
This December, 240 impaired drivers were removed from BC roads, a decrease from the previous year. Those removals included a range of prohibitions – from short-term drug suspensions to longer alcohol-related driving bans – each representing a moment where potential harm was prevented.
While the overall provincial trend showed improvement, the data also revealed important regional differences. Central BC recorded a meaningful decline in impaired driving, while Northern BC experienced an increase, a reminder that impaired driving remains a serious and uneven challenge across the province.
As an Inspector of the BC Highway Patrol noted, year-to-year changes are influenced by weather, staffing, and road conditions. Still, the takeaway remains consistent: impaired driving has not gone away, and enforcement continues to play a critical role in keeping people safe.
Mandatory Alcohol Screening remains one of the most effective tools available to police. It allows officers to detect impairment quickly and consistently, reinforcing a simple truth: driving is a privilege, not a right – and it comes with responsibility.
From the perspective of the automotive sector, CounterAttack matters deeply. New car dealers and their teams are part of communities in every region of BC. We see the aftermath of collisions, hear the stories from families and first responders, and understand that no technology – no matter how advanced – can overcome impaired judgment behind the wheel.
As vehicles become safer and more sophisticated, the human decision remains the most important safety feature of all.
CounterAttack’s presence each December serves as a powerful reminder: enforcement saves lives, visibility changes behaviour, and prevention works.
As we look back on the 2025 holiday season, the message is clear. Progress is possible, but complacency is not.
Drive sober. Drive safe. And let the season be remembered for celebrations – not preventable tragedy.
Blair Qualey is President and CEO of the New Car Dealers Association of BC. You can email him at [email protected].
