Nationwide truck shutdown delivers attention, scattered participation

Nationwide truck shutdown delivers attention, scattered participation    A nationwide April 1 'call to inaction' by independent truckers to bring attention to the high cost of diesel fuel prices, Tuesday came and went with a great deal of media attention but only scattered participation.
   Truckers had hoped to make a significant show of strength by staging the protest, but with large trucking firms and national trucking associations staying out of the plan, the protest never developed a focus and participation largely came down to individual drivers in widely separate areas taking the day off.
   Many of the truckers commenting on Internet forums about the shutdown, cited rising diesel fuel prices, and its impact on their business, as a main reason for wanting to participate in the shutdown.
   'The drivers and motor carriers have been absolutely devastated by fuel prices in the past few years, and the frustrating thing is, there aren't a lot of options,' Patty Senecal, an administrator at Rancho Dominguez, Calif.-based Transport Express, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
   The nationwide average price-per-gallon of diesel fuel rose slightly to $4.03 a gallon, according to the results of an AAA survey of 80,000 service stations across the country. Released Wednesday, the survey said diesel was at $3.67 last month and $2.86 a year ago.
   Regional prices were somewhat higher than the national average in key trucking areas, such as California and New York. According to eTrucker.com, which monitors 9,600 truck stops around the nation, New York drivers were facing the highest price of any state, with a reported average of $4.28 per gallon Wednesday.
   On the West Coast, eTrucker reported California truckers were paying an average of $4.10 per gallon for diesel Wednesday. Oregon drivers were paying an average $3.79 per gallon and in Washington state, drivers were facing an average pump price of $4.13 per gallon.
   The president of the Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association told the Land Line Now radio program that while a full shutdown by all truckers was not likely in any situation, Tuesday's protest did generate significant attention.
   'It's great that it's getting the attention of the mainstream media, who then report it to the public,' OOIDA president Jim Johnston told the program. 'That's really the key to getting the public to realize it's not just a trucker issue.'
   While industry watchers said determining an accurate picture of how many truckers stayed home Tuesday is nearly impossible, media outlets from California to Florida reported scattered incidents of participation.
   In New Jersey, several hundred people took part in a rally at a truck service area and Reuters reported about four-dozen protesters outside of the Port of Tampa, Fla.
   Highway Patrol officials in California and Florida reported no evidence of disruptions or protests.
   James Parm, of Mayfield, Ky., told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that he had idled his truck Tuesday because he felt it was important to get the word out to the public about the high fuel prices. Parm parked his rig Monday night at an Ontario, Calif. truck center, where the number of parked big-rigs was noticeably higher Tuesday.
   Police officials in New Jersey and near Chicago handed out tickets to truckers that were driving below the legal minimum speed, one of the actions called for by protest supporters.
   A lunchtime show of support along the New Jersey Turnpike near Newark had trucks 'as far as the eye can see' moving at about 20 miles per hour and jamming traffic, local police told the Associated Press.
   'There are some localized minor disruptions. We have taken enforcement actions which resulted in issuing summonses,' Lt. Gerald Lewis, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police, told Reuters.
   In Texas, dozens of independent truckers parked their rigs at a truck stop near Alamo and rallied passing motorists to honk their horns to show support. Some of the drivers at the Texas rally did not expect fuel prices to change any time soon.
   'It's going to go on until you see more of these trucks out here — right here and around the country — because nobody really cares,' truck driver Alex Mascorro told the Valley Morning Star.