York Regional Police have charged an alleged drunk driver who was clocked travelling 90 km/h above the speed limit in Whitchurch-Stouffville on Monday night.

Police say that an officer with their road safety bureau was on patrol on Bloomington Road near McCowan Road at around 9:40 p.m. when they observed a vehicle travelling at a high rate of speed.

Police say that the officer confirmed that the vehicle was travelling at a speed of 170 km/h in a posted 80 km/h zone and decided to pull it over.

The officer, police say, then noticed that the driver was “showing signs of being impaired by alcohol” and took him to 1 District headquarters for a breath test, which he failed.

The driver, a 22-year-old man from Bradford West Gwillimbury, is facing five charges, including impaired driving, dangerous driving and stunt driving.

“High speeds on relatively empty York Region roads continue to be a problem,” York Regional Police said in a press release. “In March 2020, officers laid 104 charges for stunt driving for vehicles travelling in excess of 50 kilometres per hour over the speed limit, versus 54 charges in March 2019. Speed kills and police are asking drivers to slow down and obey posted speed limits.”

Police forces across the GTA have previously reported a rise in stunt driving and speeding charges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, Toronto police told CP24 that they had charged 65 people with stunt driving in the last two weeks of March compared to 22 in the same time period last year (a 195 per cent increase).