A major southern Ontario police force is considering naming and shaming alleged impaired drivers on social media, following one of the worst years on record for such offenses and few signs that current efforts will be sufficiently effective in 2017.

York Regional Police tweeted about the possible policy change on Monday, following the arrest of a driver found passed out at the wheel in the middle of a busy intersection.

“We've been discussing posting the names of all charged with impaired driving,” the force tweeted. “More to follow on that one ...”

Impaired driving charges have been on the rise in the region north of Toronto for the past five years.

While the practice of identifying those facing criminal charges online is by no means new, York Regional Police Const. Andy Pattenden told CTVNews.ca individuals charged with impaired driving offences would be listed on a separate page for 30 days and their names would be made public on social media.

“Anything we put on our website or through media releases tends to find its way onto social media,” he said. “So as much as we’d like to say the names drop off and are never seen again after 30 days, the reality is once it gets online it may never go away,”

In 2016, nine people were killed by impaired drivers in York Region. Police say they pulled 10 to 20 impaired drivers off the road every weekend. Most offenders, 85 per cent, were male. The majority were between 22 and 34 years old.

In 2015, York Region was the scene of one of the worst impaired driving cases in the province’s history. Three children and their grandfather were killed after their van was T-boned by an SUV in Vaughan, Ont.

Const. Pattenden said the discussion around broader identification of those charged with impaired driving offenses is partially a response to online reaction to such cases.

“We are hearing from the community, on our social media channels, when we put out information on impaired drivers. They are looking to have these people named,” he said.

The strategy would also take aim at those who breach the automatic 90-day licence suspension that comes with an impaired driving charge in Ontario.

“Let’s say an employer looks at the list and see an employee on there, friends see neighbours on there, in the event they see them driving in that 90 day period, they could contact police and we could further enforce the suspension,” he said.

York Region isn’t the first police force to put an extra spotlight on alleged impaired drivers. Const. Pattenden said Niagara Regional Police Service and Durham Regional Police Service, as well as other in the province, have implemented similar strategies.

“There are a lot of repercussions that go with being charged with drinking and driving. The penalties are severe and significant,” he said. “I don’t think a lot of people are putting themselves in that mindset in advance of having that drink and hopping behind the wheel of a car.”