It's a proactive approach at keeping us safe on the roads. Surprise truck inspections were conducted across the metro Wednesday and troopers found a lot of violations.

"Make sure everything’s functioning the way it needs to be." Nebraska State Trooper Sean Wilson was one of dozens checking out the big rigs, looking for safety violations at his checkpoint at 120th and Q.

"We're going to check your brakes. I'll give you two commands. When I say apply, apply. When I say release, release."

The hope was to catch any safety violations that may result in a bigger problem if unnoticed. "If you look on the back you can see the actual brake and up front there's not one,” says Wilson. “If it's over 3,000 lbs., you need a brake on each axle."

Even pickups with trailers were checked. Weight limits for the trailers have to be under the limit.

"It'll be 3,050," says Wilson. "Instead of leaving the trailer here all he had to do is unload some weight, which put him under 3,000 lbs., so he's able to take the trailer and go."

“It's what I call a necessary evil,” says Cedar Construction truck driver Shannon Bladt, who agrees this proactive approach protects everyone.

"You can't catch everything all the time and these guy's main priority is keeping everybody safe and you know, which is what we all want."

Trooper John Lewis says these operations net a lot of suspended drivers and companies that try to cheat the tax man by using dyed diesel fuel.

"We check their fuel to make sure they are using the regular diesel, not off-the-road diesel which is for farm vehicles," says Lewis.

Everyone in the vehicle was checked and in one case, it paid off. One man was arrested for an outstanding warrant. In most cases, drivers spend little time off the road, a small price for safety.

Overall, the state patrol conducted 120 inspections and found 442 violations.

Sixty-three vehicles were taken off the road. Ten drivers were not allowed to continue driving.

Troopers also wrote tickets totaling more than $13,000 in fines.