Braking point

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TRENTON, N.J. — Independent truckers across the country pulled their rigs off the road and others slowed to a crawl on major highways in a loosely organized protest of high fuel prices.

Some truckers, on CB radios and trucking Web sites, had called for a strike yesterday 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.

On New Jersey’s Turnpike, southbound rigs “as far as the eye can see” were moving about 20 mph near Newark, said Turnpike Authority spokesman Joe Orlando. Other truckers had gathered at a service area near Newark chanting and protesting.

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.

[Maryland State Police broke up a protest at the intersection of Interstate 495 and U.S. Route 50 yesterday, according to spokesman Greg Shipley. Several truck drivers wearing orange vests and holding signs on the shoulder of the Beltway were cited for stopping on a highway ramp and ordered to disperse, he said.]

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.

“We can no longer haul their stuff for what they’re paying,” said David Santiago, 35, a trucker for the past 17 years.

Mr. Santiago, like many of the more than 50 truckers gathered on a side street near the Port of Tampa, said he can’t support his family on what he makes.

“If it wasn’t for my wife, we would have been bankrupt already,” Mr. Santiago said.

Some other truckers, however, didn’t join the protests, saying they doubted a strike or mass demonstration would be effective because trucking companies are not on board and there is no central coordination.

“The oil company is the boss, what are we going to be able to do about it?” said Charles Rotenbarger, 49, a trucker from Columbus, Ohio, 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 Baldwin 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.

Rather than joining the protests, some truckers were forced to sit idle because of shippers’ fears of a possible strike.

•Staff reporter Harrison Keely contributed to this article.