Ontario Provincial Police say two drivers have been charged with failing to comply with an emergency order after they were allegedly spotted speeding down a major GTA highway over the weekend.

OPP posted dashboard camera video on Twitter on Sunday appearing to show multiple vehicles travelling at a high rate of speed down Highway 407 near Trafalgar Road in Oakville on Saturday afternoon.

In the tweet, police said “multiple complaints” were made regarding street racing, which ultimately led to charges being laid against two drivers.

“Is this essential travel,” OPP wrote in the tweet, adding that the two drivers were charged with failing to comply with an order made during a declared emergency.

When asked if officers are laying charges against people who are travelling for purposes not deemed to be "essential," OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt clarified that officers are not.

Schmidt told CP24 that the two drivers had been congregating in a parking lot with a group larger than five people, which is a direct violation of the province’s emergency orders.

He noted that some of the people in the group do not reside in the province.

While public health officials have strongly urged people to only travel for essential reasons, such as medical appointments, getting groceries, and picking up medication, the Ford government has not issued an emergency order preventing people from travelling within Ontario or to other provinces.

Police see spike in speeding offences

Since the start of the pandemic, police forces across the GTA -- including the Toronto Police Service – have reported an uptick in speeding charges.

Despite a dip in traffic due to the pandemic, Toronto police confirmed that officers have been handing out an unusually high number of speeding tickets.

Toronto police previously confirmed to CP24 that 2,727 speeding tickets were issued between March 15 and March 31, up approximately 35 per cent from the same period one year earlier..