When it comes to commercial trucks on northern Ontario roads, Constable Andrew Hinds says police are seeing "all kinds of drivers" in 2020.

He means that in a good way, as he's seeing a more diverse group of operators behind the wheel.

"I stopped a young guy this morning, he was 19 years old. He actually was all licensed up, got his stuff to drive. He's been driving for three months."

"We stop men, women, young and old. It's a pretty big, diverse demographic as far as drivers and for the most part, they seem to be pretty much all in compliance," Hinds said.

Hinds, who works in the GSPS's traffic management unit, said they still catch "the odd one" breaking safety laws, but overall he's happy with what he saw during a one-day safety blitz on Sudbury's outskirts.

Their targets during the blitz were transports, cement trucks, dump trucks, and smaller commercial vehicles with a weight over 4,500 kilograms.

And he said the department is pulling in more offenders thanks to special tools which allow them to identify drivers impaired by drugs.

"I'm not sure if it's a bigger problem, now, but we're having better trained, more trained officers and the province has given us the proper equipment to screen and check for that."

"Whether it's more of a problem, or there's more of it, I can't comment on that but I can tell you that there's more enforcement on it because we have the officers that are out there looking for these types of drivers."

Hinds said there's also one message he wants drivers to heed before they get behind the wheel.

"Make sure you do your pre-trip inspection," he said. "It's very important to make sure that you do that safety check before you hit the roadway to make sure you're safe to be on Sudbury's roads."