Truckers on Omaha roads Wednesday ran into a surprise as the Nebraska State Patrol was out conducting inspections. Officers found hundreds of violations.

“He's pretty much finishing up right now, it should be 5-10 minutes if you're legal,” says truck driver Matt Herrmann, stopped at 30th and Redick. Is he legal? “So far, so good."

To catch illegal rigs, more than 20 law enforcement officers conducted inspections, from the cargo to under the hood, everything from steering to suspension.

“A lot of the companies in town may think that they can operate outside of the law of the federal government because they don't go outside the city and they don't go across the scales," says State Patrol Trooper Katie Johnson.

Troopers checked out trucks from one to 50 tons, from the bottom to the top, plus the driver behind the wheel. “We make sure they have current registration, make sure insurance is current," says Johnson. "As far as vehicle defects, we look at almost everything."

“Most of the drivers, they want to be driving safe equipment, they don't want to be on the road in something that is a hazard to themselves or others,” says Johnson. "Occasionally, you find the driver that is a little upset that we're gonna put 'em 20 to 40 minutes behind schedule."

One driver received a ticket for not having a safety device for the trailer. "The total fine is $94.” All part of an effort to make the rest of the year much safer on the road.

The State Patrol started doing the surprise checkpoints 10 years ago. Some of those stops resulted in finding drivers wanted by the law.

In all, 130 inspections were done, finding 383 violations with 48 vehicles taken out of service due to violations relating to bad brakes or tires or other problems that posed an immediate safety risk.

Six drivers were not allowed to continue for driving with a suspended license or not having a commercial driver's license.

Officers issued a total of $7,050 in fines.