COOKSTOWN, ONT. -- Speed limits along Highway 89 haven't changed in years, but police say some drivers still aren't getting the message.

"It's typically an 80 (kilometres an hour) speed limit on 89 highway, and people lately have been going very fast," says Const. Scott Stajcer.

Over the past week, officers have charged four drivers with stunt driving, allegedly speeding well over the limit.

On Saturday, police say they clocked a 54-year-old Collingwood woman at 124 km/h in a 60 zone on Mill St in Angus, while last Sunday, a 57-year-old Innisfil man was allegedly caught doing 117 in the same area.

According to police last Saturday, two drivers were also caught speeding down highway 89, both clocked doing 170 in a posted 80 zone.

Stajcer says Highway 89 from Industrial Park Road in Alliston to Cookstown is a known problem area for speeding.

"When it does open to two lanes, people typically want to pass and speed home, but you know you're endangering other lives as well as your own," Stajcer says.

Drivers may be speeding because of good weather, feeling safer on dryer roads or wanting to travel faster after being secluded because of COVID-19. But Stajcer adds those are in no way reasons to break the law.

Many people in the area say speeding has been a problem for years, and they are fed up.

"For some reason, they think this little stretch of road is just a raceway," says Alliston resident Bill Edwards.

"Racing from Alliston to Cookstown, which doesn't make any sense; if you time it, you might make a difference of two minutes."

Edwards has lived in Alliston for eight years and says weather doesn't deter drivers from putting the pedal to the floor. When it comes to crashes on Hwy 89, he feels it isn't a matter of if, but when.

"With Honda up here and people coming in from Toronto on Fridays and going out, it's getting busier and busier," Edwards says.

"If the traffic speed limit isn't slowed down somehow, and people aren't paying attention, somebody's going to get hurt."