Posted on 04/01/2008 5:16:53 PM PDT by SkyPilot
RIDGEFIELD, N.J. -- Truckers angry about the high price of fuel staged a rolling protest on Tuesday, using their big rigs to slow traffic to a crawl on the New Jersey Turnpike.
The protest was part of a loosely organized nationwide effort by independent truckers to draw attention to the high prices they face.
On the Turnpike, southbound rigs "as far as the eye can see" slowed to about 20 mph near Newark around lunchtime -- jamming traffic on one of the nation's most heavily traveled highways.
State Police said several drivers were issued tickets as troopers broke up the slowdowns.
At a Turnpike rest area in North Jersey, about 200 truck drivers carried signs and protested high fuel prices.
"The gas prices are too high," said one of them, Lamont Newberne, a 34-year-old trucker from Wilmington, N.C. "We don't make enough money to pay our bills and take care of our family."
Newberne said a typical run carrying produce from Lakeland, Fla., to the Hunt's Point Market in The Bronx, N.Y., had cost $600 to $700 a year ago. It now runs him $1,000.
Some truckers, on CB radios and trucking Web sites, had called for a strike Tuesday to protest the high cost of diesel fuel, saying the action might pressure President Bush to stabilize prices by using the nation's oil reserves. But the protests were scattered because major trucking companies were not on board and there did not appear to be any central coordination.
Outside Chicago, three truck drivers were ticketed for impeding traffic on Interstate 55, driving three abreast at low speeds, said Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Luis Gutierrez.
Near Florida's Port of Tampa, more than 50 tractor-trailer rigs sat idle as their drivers demanded that contractors pay them more to cover their fuel and other costs.
Echoing Newberne, many truckers said they can't support their family on what they make.
"We can no longer haul their stuff for what they're paying," said David Santiago, 35, a trucker for the past 17 years. "If it wasn't for my wife, we would have been bankrupt already," Santiago said.
Charles Rotenbarger, 49, a trucker from Columbus, Ohio, said he felt helpless.
"The oil company is the boss, what are we going to be able to do about it?" said Rotenbarger, who was at a truck stop at Baldwin, Fla., about 20 miles west of Jacksonville. "The whole world economy is going to be controlled by the oil companies. There's nothing we can do about it."
Jimmy Lowry, 51, of St. Petersburg, Fla., and others said it costs about $1 a mile to drive one of the big rigs, although some companies are offering as little as 87 cents a mile. Diesel cost $4.03 a gallon at the Jacksonville-area truck stop.
Teamsters union officials said they had nothing to do with any kind of protests. An independent truck drivers group, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said it also was not organizing anything. Federal law prohibits the association from calling for a strike because it is a trade association.
In Washington, meanwhile, top executives of the five biggest U.S. oil companies said Tuesday they know high fuel prices are hurting consumers but deflected any blame and argued their profits -- $123 billion last year -- were in line with other industries.
Dan Little, a cattle hauler in Carrolton, Mo., said he stopped working Tuesday and would likely remain idle the rest of the week in support of fellow truckers striking in Georgia. He said he's gotten around 50 phone calls and 100 e-mails from fellow Missouri truckers also stopping Tuesday. "We are trying desperately to send a message to Washington to open your eyes to the disaster going on in this industry," said Little, who wants Congress to suspend fuel taxes on diesel fuel for Class A trucks.
There are many factors at work as to why oil prices are spinning out of control - none of them matter much to people who are losing their livelihood or business because of them.
I know a great guy, mid-50s, honest, family man, staunch Christian. He bought his own rig last year after saving for years.
Now, he cannot affort to operate it, and he cannot sell it. He calls it a very expensive piece of scrap iron.
A woman I work with drives over 200 miles each day to and from work. Between tolls and gas, she cannot afford to work with us anymore.
And if you all think food prices are going up at a steep rate now, just wait until next year.
If the GOP wants to lost Congress and the Presidency, they are poised to inherit all the blame for out of control gas and fuel prices. The MSM will make sure of it.
I am in no way justifying the cost of fuel. We clearly need more refineries and more drilling. But, the cost of fuel is an operation expense. Your friend needs to charge more to cover the cost. It's not like the competition doesn't need to cover the same cost for the same fuel.
In any event, high oil prices are killing average American families. The Republicans will ignore this huge problem to their political peril.
The GOP has to hammer away at the Democrats and environmentalists for blocking drilling in places like ANWR and for blocking the building of new refineries.
It is true that untold wealth is being amassed by Arab oil producing nations. It is a shame so much of our wealth is going to a bunch of Muslim nations who hate us.
I’m with the truckers in spirit.
As an added benefit if there was more cargo going by rail, then it might actually make long haul passenger rail more cost-effective.
There are companies who are trying to add passenger cars to freight trains, but these plans don't make sense if there are not enough trains traveling from Point A to Point B.
If there is a continuous amount of rail traffic moving along the tracks, then passenger cars can be added and people can be guaranteed acceptable schedules, travel time, and pricing.
I love traveling by train.
susie
Their calls for depleting the strategic oil reserves sound awfully familiar.
......instead, the rat basterd politicians on both sides of the aisle are handing over the economy to the federal reserve which is a consortium of foreign entities who do not have Americas best interest as a priority.
God help us.
A friend of mine just sold his rig. After his last run, after expenses he cleared $39.00. Independent truckers don’t have a chance.
No, actually there's only ONE factor at work. The choke-hold that the "Green" faction of the Socialst party has on increasing the production of domestic oil and gas, by drilling in Alaska, and offshore of both Florida and California.
If these damn-fool truckers think differently, then they are idiots. And all these "slow-down" tactics do is piss off the section of the public who would normally be sympathetic to them. There is not one thing preventing truckers from driving a uniform 55 mph if they wish---no laws or regulations on speed limits are needed.
The GOP held the White House, The Senate and The House from 2001-2007 and could not pass a bill to drill in ANWR.
Railroads are good but they don’t go everywhere. Trucks are still needed to move freight.
Polar bears and caribou!
Thankfully, the internal combustion engine came to our rescue!
It's dejavu all over again.
Why don’t they shut off all truck shipments in and out of Washington DC. That’ll get the dumbass politicians excited.
They did it back when Jimmy Carter was in the White House. Truckers will do it again. The Teamsters hate Bush. Get out your popcorn, people! This is an election year.
from what I heard is is not organized and is just whipped up in CB radio land.
Over the road trucking is a subculture within america tied together mostly through CB radio communication. The trucking companies throw into lobbyist groups who act like they support the independent when in reality they try to sqeeze them out to maximize corporate profits for the mega transportation entities like Pepsico, etc
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