What Widespread Commercial Driver Non-Compliance Means for Fleets

December 11, 2025

Recent enforcement actions in Ontario and other provinces exposed just how much risk Canada’s commercial fleets face. Here’s how smart, continuous driver screening helps fleets stay compliant and prevent unsafe drivers from getting behind the wheel.

Across Canada, regulators are uncovering significant gaps in commercial driver compliance, and it’s putting fleets and the safety of our roads at significant risk.

In Ontario, the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) suspended dozens of Class A licences after identifying a web of training and testing irregularities at commercial driving schools, improper licence issuance and non-compliant operators.

Similar actions in other provinces revealed just how widespread the problem has become.

“For fleet operations managers, these events aren’t just creating operational challenges. They create hidden exposures that should – and can - be mitigated,” says Kevin Carroll, Vice President, Insurance Solutions at ISB Global Services.

Even one suspended or improperly licensed driver can trigger a vehicle impoundment, disrupt operations, and cost fleets thousands in avoidable towing, storage and downtime. Poor driver screening can also impact claims history, which can influence future insurance costs and eligibility, Carroll adds.

“Automated driver screening is emerging as an essential mitigation tool to help fleets streamline and manage compliance, and stay head of risk,” Carroll says.

Bad Actors, Big Risks Q&A: What Fleet Managers Need to Know About Driver Non-Compliance

Q: Why should fleet operations managers care about the recent commercial driver compliance crackdowns?

Carroll: “These investigations show that compliance problems rarely start with drivers alone. But these systemic issues start with weak oversight. When training schools cut corners or when licence verification is inconsistent, fleets end up with drivers who were never properly vetted. Everything can look fine on paper, but papers can be forged – and the fleet inherits the risk. For fleets, this means it’s never a good idea to rely only on a driver’s self-submitted driver abstract for vetting. A driver who appears compliant may not actually be eligible to operate the vehicle they were assigned. That’s why fleets should have fast access to ministry-sourced, always-accurate driver record data, which is critical to a robust driver screening practice.”

Q: What is the real cost of missing a suspended or improperly licensed driver?

Carroll: “Missing a suspended licence is not a small administrative issue. Once a driver is stopped, police can impound the vehicle for seven to up to 90 days depending on the violation. The truck is parked, the driver is parked, and the fleet is paying for towing, storage and administrative charges. It delays shipments, affects customers and hurts both your reputation and bottom line.”

According to Ontario's Highway Traffic Act and regulation, if a commercial driver is caught driving with a suspended license that’s been suspended for more than 100 days, the tractor and trailer can be impounded, along with the cargo. Fleet managers have to ask whether that’s a risk they’re willing to take.

And the risk goes beyond downtime. Transport Canada data shows commercial vehicles are involved in nearly 20% of all road fatalities in the country, and improperly licensed or non-compliant drivers appear disproportionately in serious collisions.

The financial impact can include:

• Steep towing and storage fees.
• Idle drivers and delayed shipments.
• Customer dissatisfaction, reputational harm or lost business.
• Insurance scrutiny that may affect rates and eligibility at renewal.

Q: What creates these driver compliance gaps?

Carroll: “Many fleets still rely on outdated or manual driver screening practices. Driver-submitted abstracts can be tampered with. Manual reviews take too long, leaving room for inconsistencies and errors. And often, screening is only done at hiring or renewal. These gaps leave fleets vulnerable to impoundment risk, regulatory penalties, unexpected downtime and insurance complications. A licence can easily be suspended for several common scenarios, leaving an ineligible driver behind the wheel of your truck for weeks or months before anyone notices. That’s exactly the kinds of cases fleet managers often don’t catch without automated, continuous screening. Because suspensions, convictions, license-class issues or missing endorsements can happen year-round. ISB recommends adopting a quarterly screening cadence as best practice.”

Q: How does automated driver screening reduce risk for commercial fleets?

Carroll: “Automated screening is a fast, accurate and cost-effective way for fleet managers to streamline compliance management. Simply put, it gives fleet managers always-accurate, ministry-sourced driver data and continuous visibility into who is eligible to drive. It enables you to get ahead of risk by intelligently and quickly flagging which drivers are non-compliant or risky, so you can remove bad actors off the road. That’s how you avoid impoundments, fines, downtime, unnecessary claims – and help make Canada’s road safer by building more compliant fleets.”

ISB’s Red Flag Alerts is a secure platform that helps fleet managers streamline driver compliance, by centralizing the ordering, collection and analysis of key driver abstract data. Using advanced AI and automation, Red Flag Alerts compares the collected data against your company’s compliance thresholds to produce driver scorecard and flag driver violations, license class, endorsements and restriction issues that pose risk.

Here's how Red Flag Alerts boosts fleet compliance management:

• Ministry-sourced, tamper-proof driver abstract data.
• Automated monitoring that continuously flags suspensions, convictions, licence-class issues, missing endorsements and other signals of elevated risk.
• Pass/alert driver scorecards based on fleet compliance rules.
• Time-stamped, audit-ready logs for proof of due diligence.
• Scalability for fleets, whether you have 50 drivers or 5,000.

Q: Do you have examples of fleets using Red Flag Alerts to improve compliance?

Carroll: “We support fleets of all sizes and every time, the outcome is the same: automation increases efficiency, reduces compliance failures and boosts safety. The below examples show fleets saved time, reduced costs and risk, and enhanced compliance. But the real value is keeping unsafe drivers off the road.”

Case Example 1: A national transportation company with a fleet of 250 drivers saved more than 160 labour hours and $10,000 annually by automating driver screening with Red Flag Alerts. With infractions sorted by severity, managers addressed high-risk drivers quickly. This proactive risk management improved overall safety and compliance, reducing potential liabilities.

Case Example 2: A national transportation carrier with a fleet of 5,000 drivers used Red Flag Alerts to save nearly $200,000 annually and reclaim over 3,000 hours of labour. Managers gained continuous oversight over a large fleet and were able to focus and act on high-risk drivers immediately. This enabled the company to improve road safety, reduce liability, and reinforce its commitment to proactive risk management.

The smart way to manage commercial driver compliance

The recent crackdowns across Canada send one clear message: fleets can no longer rely on poor driver data or sporadic screening.

Weak oversight, fraudulent credentials and improperly trained drivers are now visible problems, and fleets that miss these risks face risks they may not be able to recover from.

“Tools like Red Flag Alerts help fleets act on ineligible drivers quickly, strengthen compliance and keep operations running safely,” Carroll says. “With more hidden exposures emerging across the industry, proactive screening has become a practical necessity. It gives fleets the oversight they need to efficiently protect operations and confidently manage compliance risk.”