Truckers blocking I-5 and other freeways in LA area to protest high gas prices

KTTV-TV/DT Los Angeles - Fox 11 - "Good Day LA" | 4.30.04

[mhking]

I-5 NB in Commerce (north of Los Angeles) is completely stopped right now with multiple trucks (at least seven) which are stopped on the highway. The truckers then got out of their trucks and left.

There are reports of similar blockages on I-10, CA 60 and other highways across the Southland.

It is unknown whether there are other protests of this sort across the nation.

[mhking]

CHP has to get multiple wreckers to get the trucks off of the road. The protest is tied to high gas prices, which are continuing to escalate nationally.

[inkling]

Democrat union bosses strike again.

[OXENinFLA]

Well, this is one way to get attention.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

This is nuts.

[unixfox]

If they want the price of gas to go down they should be protesting the TAXES that have been bestowed upon them.

[ChuckShick]

Where do they think they are? France?

[commish]

Probably happening mostly in Cali where the state screws truckers with ungodly taxes on Diesel Fuel. Here in Alabama Diesel is 1.54, no protests here.

[Hodar]

IMHO, when a truck is stopped with the intention of blocking traffic, then abandoned; the vehicle is no longer a truck, but rather a road obstruction.

Remove it, and destroy it.

Then hit the owner with fines including 'littering'. There are legal means to protest, without obstructing everyone else's rights.

[OXENinFLA]

Daily Fule Gauge report

[stainlessbanner]

Call the Rubber Duck! This hear's a convoy

[Victor]

Exactly my thoughts...union thugs out to hurt Bush in an election year. This is so transparent....

[Frank_Discussion]

Tow their trucks, impound their cargoes and designate them aboandoned freight. Let them pay for the cost to reimberse their clients for the products they carry.

Mabye then they'll think twice about being a**holes?

[familyofman]

Senseless - this will not solve the problem of higher gas prices. What idiots!!

[eastforker]

They would get more attention if they would just refuse to load.A trucker shutdown would generate higher trucking rates in a matter of days.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Yes, abandoning their vehicles creates alot of attention, but they are being stupid and selfish. Striking would be better and it would not so immediately inconvenience both the law enforcement and traveling communities. This is a bad time to pull this incident, especially with the threat of terrorism.

[Hacksaw]

CHP has to get multiple wreckers to get the trucks off of the road. The protest is tied to high gas prices, which are continuing to escalate nationally.

Seize the trucks, and sell them to Californians at 10 dollars a pop.

[Old Sarge]

Are you sure it's a protest? It could just be that all those trucks ran out of fuel, simultaneously, because they couldn't afford to purchase any more...

::innocently grinning::

As a former truck driver, I can tell you a MAJOR gripe, other than draconian law enforcement, was the price and availability of fuel. When you're buying fuel at 100-gallon shots, even a few pennies added up over time.

[zlala]

Of course the "right" to protest supersedes the real rights of others trying to get to work, school, the hospital, etc. Jerks.

[Alberta's Child]

Maybe Mike Tyson was protesting high gas prices a few years ago when he abandoned his Bentley in the Lincoln Tunnel in New York and gave the keys to a Port Authority police officer.