Massive enforcement blitz in Milton, Ont., puts 161 trucks OOS
Enforcement officers placed almost one in three trucks out of service (OOS) during a massive two-day blitz in Milton, Ont.
Inspectors checked 517 trucks on Oct. 7-8, at Woodbine Mohawk Park and identified 260 (50%) of them with prescribed defects. They placed 161 trucks (31%) OOS.
Marc Taraso, commercial vehicle inspector with the Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) commercial vehicle unit, said more than 125 police officers and ministry inspectors from police services and agencies across the Greater Toronto Area and Southwestern Ontario participated in the initiative.
Areas of concern included driver licensing, daily trip inspections, and violations of the Dangerous Goods Transportation Act, along with truck-oriented issues such as mechanical fitness, load security, and vehicle and load weights. Brake and tire defects made up the bulk of the mechanical issues observed.
Taraso said the aim was to bring in a mix of commercial vehicles for inspection. He pointed out the highway tractors, car carriers, local delivery box trucks, and landscape operators towing their equipment that filled the parking lot.
“We’re trying to get a good cross-blend of trucks from across the industry to get a good idea of how safe the trucks are on our roads,” he said.
He added the blitz allows officers to inspect a large volume of trucks in a short amount of time. It also puts truck drivers on notice that these can pop up at any time in any place.
Inspectors from the Ministry of Finance conducted 273 inspections for violations of the Fuel Tax Act/International Fuel Tax Agreement and the Tobacco Tax Act.
A total of 316 charges were laid for various defects and infractions, with a further 120 warnings. Fifteen trucks were also found to be in such a deteriorated state that the license plates were seized, forcing the truck owners to make repairs to recertify and re-plate the vehicles.
“The year 2025 marks the 25th anniversary of our commercial vehicle enforcement blitz,” Kevin Maher, HRPS deputy chief of specialized support, said in a news release. “These proactive inspections prevent collisions and save lives, the results of which speak directly to our shared commitment to commercial vehicle safety and enforcement.”
Since 2010, the HRPS enforcement blitz has conducted 6,482 CVSA inspections, placed 2,445 commercial motor vehicles out of service (a 36% OOS rate), issued 5,668 charges, and removed 238 license plates from trucks.
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Well said Jim, I agree with you 100%. More emphasis should also be given to residence and visa status too.
I think these inspectors should be licensed mechanic
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Why?
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You don’t need to be a licensed mechanic to do a full and proper truck inspection. Otherwise, all truck drivers would have to be licensed mechanics too would they not?
I see 31% of the trucks inspected at Milton were declared OOS and overall 36% were declared OOS. What a misleading article especially for a trucking publication. How many trucks were waved on without testing because they seemed okay? When you have the total number of trucks, then you can give the actual percentage which is probably between 1 and 5% of all trucks. Articles like this just scare the average motoring public and if you are representing the trucking industry, you should know better. There’s already more than enough wrong perception of the trucking industry by the general public, we don’t need more.
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Sounds to me like you’re a trucker that’s not a fan of inspections and you probably don’t do a full pre-trip inspection yourself. Sounds to me like you’re probably part of the problem
Was I too truthful about your non trucking interest that you pulled my letter?
From a second generation driver in canada ” its nice to see that the MTO-POLICE are enforcement units are out there ” A big THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND HELP IN KEEPING OUR ROADS SAFE ” I SALUTE YOU ALL” GOD BLESS YOU ALL”
I appreciate them for their efforts to keep our roads safe. The government should have a department who can check the roads and highways if they are all in good shape and free of big bumps . I saw so many bumps on the provincial highways, the bumps like street speed brakers. I am witness to so many local roads, in GTA and Peel region that never be repaved since last 20 years or more. We have recent example of highway 427 extension, between the north of highway 7 and Major Mackenzie Dr. in Vaughan. Before and after the every bridge, the highway level is so uneven .The cities and Provence should do their job honestly for the sake of the safety of the public.
I understand the reason behind these inspection, just having one thru one in Vineland Ont on Oct 8th, as another reader wrote on herehow many of these MTO officers are license heavy mechanics?
In Vineland Mto there was two young girls no older then mid 20s doing inspections,crossed my mind how is this possible?
And when I asked the question why is there no MTO officers on back county roads monitoring these farmers pulling a tractor down the road with a make shift 5th wheel hitch, a slow moving vehicle sign on older 48 ft dump box, no air lines connected to the trailer both legal, safe?
Her response was dumbfounded, seriously.
So this is what we are dealing with, why does the OPP on these back county roads turn a blind eye to these farmers, no they aren’t just going farm to farm, as some are moving loads and equipment for miles, I also asked why farmers never need a pilot vehicle in front of combine etc, after all they
Over sized and law is law for anything, so why are they exempt from following the law to other forms of transportation.
I can tell you because these safety blitz are easy pickings, huge revenue boost to the MTO so maybe time MTO&OPP now focus more on back county roads because it’s accidents waiting to happen with zero enforcement.
Thank you mto,opp,,yes safety#1,so txs,,SAFETY is###1,1,1, safety #1,,im Demal Avdic truck driver ACZ,
L am glad to see the mass inspiration great keep up the great work,l was a tracker trail driver at one time.
Did they deport all the offenders?
Not surprised with the amount of violations Surprise inspection are the best thing to do Why warn bad trucks/companies when safety blitz is coming They just park their trucks until blitz is finished and back out BAD drivers/companies have no respect law or safety for community
Drive past guelph line 4x a day never even noticed it was going on…. Interesting…
Great work taking the blitz to the GTA
It’s about time! I’ve been Trucking for over 44 years now and the recent state of both Equipment and Inexperienced, Improperly Trained Drivers on the road these days is down right scary. Since e-loggs came into effect you can’t go fast enough to get out of these tailgating new drivers way!
The simple fact that half the units had defects and 161 units were place out of service in a two day blitzes shows that law enforcement have a long way to go to keep our roads safe.
Law enforcement has ignored this problem for years and it shows.
The government and law enforcement owe years of inaction back to the travelling public. This group of officers should be working every day until defect and OOS rates are much lower and then continue enforcement to keep the numbers at an acceptable level.