Large trucks pulled from Highway 400 due to serious mechanical issues

Ontario police find problematic large trucks with serious mechanical issues at Highway 400/88 in Bradford, Ont. on Fri., July 11, 2025.

Provincial police are cracking down on unsafe commercial motor vehicles on Highway 400 through Bradford West Gwillimbury on Friday, just ahead of its week-long safe driver campaign.

OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt posted to social media about two problematic trucks with serious mechanical issues.

Police pulled over the first truck near Highway 88 for a routine check, where officers discovered the brakes were out of adjustment. As a result, Schmidt said the vehicle was placed out of service until the repairs could be completed.

In a separate instance, a truck driver was stopped in the same area due to an uncovered load. Police say further inspection revealed one brake assembly was not functioning and another was out of adjustment.

Consequently, the commercial motor vehicle was also taken off the road and out of service for repairs.

These incidents happened just before Operation Safe Driver Week, which aims to promote safe driving practices among commercial vehicle operators. It runs from July 13 to 19.

The OPP will step up enforcement during the road safety campaign, targeting violations by all motorists, including drivers of large trucks.

In 2024, OPP officers responded to 8,817 collisions involving transport trucks, according to OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique.

“Tragically, 73 of the crashes were fatal, 905 of them resulted in injuries and the vast majority of them were preventable. All it takes to eliminate these senseless crashes and prevent injuries is a commitment from every motorist to drive responsibly and obey the law,” Carrique stated.