Motorists charged with impaired driving during the recent holiday blitz in Ontario and Manitoba appear to be younger than in previous years, suggesting that measures to deter young people from drinking and driving are going unheeded, police say.

Police in Winnipeg and Durham Region - two jurisdictions committed to disclosing the ages and names of people charged with impaired driving - noticed a spike in the number of charges against men aged 19 to 25.

Durham Regional Police had believed younger people were more aware than older motorists of the holiday campaigns against driving drunk, said Sergeant Jeff Galipeau. Last month, police in the Toronto-area region charged 122 people with drinking and driving offences, 99 of whom were men. And just under half of the men charged were 19 to 25 years old.

"It looks like we're going to have to go back to the drawing board," Sgt. Galipeau said. "We're still scratching our heads on this one."

Figures provided by Winnipeg police revealed that just over one-third of the 57 people charged last month with an impaired driving offence were men under 25.

"I don't know if it's a blip or a trend," said Sergeant Damian Turner, the force's impaired driving countermeasures co-ordinator. "We're left wondering what we have to do differently to reach these individuals."

The data correspond with drinking patterns in society, said Robert Mann, senior scientist with the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health. "Younger men display more of a binge pattern when it comes to drinking alcohol," Dr. Mann said.

The more they drink, the more their risk increases of getting caught driving drunk.

"There is a myth out there that the youth are not the problem, when in fact they are," added Andrew Murie, MADD Canada's chief executive officer.