WASHINGTON The now annual Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration safety sweep of passenger carriers concluded late last month with thousands of bus inspections conducted nationwide.

The National Passenger Carrier Strike Force, as the "surprise" safety blitz is called, ran this year from Aug. 13-27.

Last year, the two-week sweep was conducted in late September and early October, ending Oct. 7. Three thousand coaches were checked during the 11 strike force and the out-of-service rate was 9.6 percent.

As with all such sweeps, most of the inspections took place at destinations, terminals and bus yards, with a few conducted along high-volume routes where passengers could be accommodated.

In Alabama, for example, the Motor Carrier Safety Unit of the state Highway Patrol Division conducted inspections at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, as well as at the Greyhound Bus Station in Montgomery and at Colonial Trailways in Mobile.

In Minnesota, State Patrol and Department of Transportation inspectors checked coaches, limousines, party buses and other passenger-carrying vehicles at Target Field, Mall of America, the Metrodome and area casinos.

Coaches sent to regular-season Minnesota Twins and preseason Minnesota Vikings games reportedly got caught up in the sweep.

In one downtown Minneapolis "saturation" enforcement, personnel from the Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Patrol Commercial Vehicle Section and the MnDOT Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicles, inspected 52 buses and limousines.

A total of 11 citations were issued and 74 warnings were given for various driver and vehicle violations.

Three drivers were ordered off the road and 16 buses were placed out of service for equipment violations. In total, 25 out-of-service violations were discovered between drivers, buses and limousines -- a remarkably high, combined out-of-service rate of 48 percent.

In addition, the Minnesota strike force conducted evening and late-night inspections at major concert and convention venues around the state.

In Kentucky, State Police, working with FMCSA inspectors and local law enforcement agencies, conducted sweeps across the commonwealth, including checks at casinos, theme parks, historical sites, border crossings and carrier facilities.

One detail, in Simpson County, along the Tennessee-Kentucky border, inspected 10 coaches, with two of the drivers put out of service.

"When you can take an unsafe driver who is operating a vehicle with 40 to 60 passengers off the road, it makes you feel good and lets you know that these details can and do work and produce results," said Sgt. Kelly Anderson of the Kentucky State Police.