CAPITAL REGION — Commercial trucks and buses that rolled through the Capital Region Wednesday were subject to spot checks by state police that were part of a three-day blitz of inspections in Canada and the United States.

Federal highway officials said the checkpoints were aimed at national security as well as making the roads safer.

State police Lt. Glenn R. Miner in Albany said vehicles were scrutinized as well as their loads, the drivers and their log books.

“ ‘Roadcheck 2008’ focuses on the importance of commercial drivers, continuing security efforts that have been in place since Sept. 11, 2001, to make North American highways safer and more secure for everyone,” he said.

But for Charles Claburn, who drives big rigs for a Fort Ann trucking firm and is director of New York Truckers and Citizens Unite, the stops only serve as a moneymaker for the state.

He was stopped on the Thruway Tuesday afternoon and said he passed the inspection, but he questioned the need for the number of spot checks that take place throughout the year.

“The checkpoints have become a revenue stream for the state,” he said. “A level 1 inspection should take an hour and 15 minutes to complete. Most of the ones I’ve had are about 20 minutes. [Inspectors] look for obvious things and they write a ticket.”

Although Claburn said he has never received a ticket during an inspection stop, he has talked with many long-distance haulers who have paid fines for mistakes in their log books or for having burned-out bulbs in their lights.

“Anyone can make a 15-minute mistake in a logbook, but that 15-minute mistake can cost a trucker $500 or $1,000,” he said.

Miner said the checkpoints are not run on a regular schedule but are put in place to ensure compliance with the laws governing commercial vehicles.

“Trained inspectors check critical safety elements on the vehicles, inspecting the load and checking for compliance with the seat belt and hazardous materials regulations,” Miner said.

He said the checks are an opportunity to distribute educational information to commercial vehicle drivers.

Troopers at a checkpoint on the Northway Wednesday morning said they would inspect only a small portion of the commercial trucks and buses on the highway that day.

They said with four officers on duty, they would be able to stop only three or four trucks at a time and wouldn’t hold others up waiting for an inspection.

A trucker who asked not to be identified Wednesday said he was once waved through an inspection stop by an officer who couldn’t see the truck had a blown tire on the left side of the trailer.

“I’d blown the tire about three miles before I got to the inspection stop,” he said. “The DOT inspector was on my right and couldn’t see the blowout.”

He said he went to the next truck stop along the highway and had the tire changed.

John Wilson of Beamsville, Ontario., and David Ramsey of Perth, Ontario., were allowed to pull into and immediately out of the checkpoint. Wilson said police inspectors are often busy with stopped vehicles and wave other truckers on without an inspection.

“We went through one near Plattsburgh earlier today without stopping,” Wilson said.

He and Ramsey were driving separate trucks filled with General Electric appliances made in Quebec and bound for Maryland.

Ramsey said he hasn’t been stopped in the United States for an inspection lately, but in his experience he has found the American inspections are easier than Canadian inspections.

“We get stopped more often in Ontario and the rules there are even stricter,” he said.

Both men said they try to fill their fuel tanks in Canada because even though the price is higher, they receive a government rebate on the tax they pay for fuel.

“Owner-operators get the ‘Goods and Services Tax’ back when we file paperwork,” Wilson said. “The price for diesel today was $1.47 a liter, which translates to about $5.59 a gallon on the Canadian side.”

The price of diesel in the Capital Region Wednesday ranged from $4.89 to $5.19, according to the Web site Albanygasprices.com, which tracks fuel costs.