As part of continued protest efforts by truck drivers affiliated with various groups — Truckers Stand As One and the Facebook-based Black Smoke Matters — a few dozen truck drivers participated in on-highway, convoy-style protests in Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia this weekend.
The Ohio-based protest appears to have been the largest of the four separate initiatives. Local media outlets estimate that about 40 trucks participated in the so-called “slow roll” convoy, though organizer Scott Reed, a former owner-operator based in the state, estimated that more truckers were present and participating than the reported 40.
Media outlets in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia report slightly smaller turnout.
This weekend’s protests were both isolated events and part of a build-up to a planned larger protest on April 12, the date for which Truckers Stand As One and Black Smoke Matters advocate for a nationwide driver shutdown. A group of drivers held a similar protest last month in Indianapolis, when roughly 75 truckers twice circled the city’s 50-mile I-465 loop, operating at speeds of a 45 mph and driving in the right lane.
Reed said the Ohio legislature’s recent move to propose an increase on diesel taxes, alongside a much smaller increase in per-gallon taxes on gasoline, was one of the key reasons for protesting around the state’s capitol of Columbus.
However, he said the drivers there were also protesting hours of service regulations, driver training regs and lack of truck parking. The group may plan more protests around the state’s diesel tax plan, he said, arguing that the state isn’t properly allocating the increased revenue from fuel taxes for highway projects that would actually benefit truckers.
The convoy in Ohio lasted about four hours and covered about 140 miles, Reed says. It began in London, Ohio, and traveled I-70 to Columbus, where drivers looped the city’s downtown Interstate interchanges a few times and then headed back to London.
