A threatened April 1 shutdown did take place for some owner-operators, who in spots across the country parked their trucks or slowed highway traffic in protest of diesel prices. Similar actions continued as the average price spiked to $4.06 per gallon April 14.

Near Florida’s Port of Tampa, more than 50 trucks parked in protest. About 25 truckers parked along Expressway 83 in Alamo, Texas. About 30 truckers gathered outside Jackson, Miss., for a convoy to Atlanta.

Some truckers demonstrated by simply slowing down. On the New Jersey Turnpike, trucks clogged lanes at slow speeds, while another group of truckers rallied outside the Vince Lombardi Service Area in Ridgefield, near the George Washington Bridge. Trucks also slowed traffic on the Stevenson Expressway in Chicago.

Dozens of West Virginia truckers convoyed to the state capitol of Charleston on April 4 in hopes of telling Gov. Joe Manchin about the hardships of high diesel prices. Manchin wasn’t in, but an aide did speak with them.

Outside South Carolina’s capital of Columbia, a couple of dozen truckers protested April 4, while in Georgia, truckers continued to slow business at the Port of Savannah by parking their trucks.

About 60 trucks parked along I-5 at Chehalis, Wash., on April 11 in support of a 24-hour fuel boycott organized by owner-operator log haulers Sherrie and Bob Bond. Their goals include getting owner-operators invited to testify on Capitol Hill and persuading President Bush to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a measure also advocated by the American Trucking Associations.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association reported receiving hundreds of calls concerning a shutdown. OOIDA has cautioned that even in the 1970s, when many truckers participated in strikes, the action did nothing to lower fuel prices. Fuel supply experts argue, meanwhile, that one- or two-day boycotts do nothing to change long-term purchasing patterns and therefore do nothing to bring down prices.
- Jill Dunn