Police laid nearly 700 charges against truckers after day-long Ontario safety blitz

The Ontario Provincial Police laid 697 charges against commercial drivers and took 63 transport trucksout of service during Operation Corridor, a 24-hour safety blitz conducted last week.

In partnership with the Ministry of Transportation, police stopped 1,692 trucks from June 13 to 14.

Speeding topped the list of offences, with 226 charges laid. Defective equipment ranked second at 176 charges.

Other alleged offences included:

• Seatbelt charges:107
• Speed limiter charges: 38
• Hours of Service charges: 31
• Distracted driving charges: 28
• Hazardous moving violations: 30
• Following too close: 18

The blitz is part of the OPP's Commercial Motor Vehicle Collision Mitigation Strategy.Its goal is to save lives on Ontario's roads.

There have been3,047 truck-related collisions reported in 2018, including 25 that were fatal.

The OntarioTrucking Association has said it supports tougher rules for drivers to emphasizethe cost of making a mistakeon the road.

• Ontario Trucking Association says low barriers to enter industry puts safety at risk

PresidentStephen Laskowskisaid the association believes it's too easy to gain entry to the industry and hiring protocols should change.