# Truckers To Shut DC Beltway 10/11/13?



## The Davy Crockett (Oct 8, 2013)

If AU had a "Screwball News" Area, I'd post this there... This is screwy on SO many levels...

From US News & World Report... 'Truckers for the Constitution' Plan to Slow D.C. Beltway, Arrest Congressmen:



> Tractor-trailer drivers will intentionally clog the inner loop of the Washington, D.C., beltway beginning on the morning of Oct. 11, according to a coordinator of the upcoming "Truckers Ride for the Constitution" rally.
> 
> Organizers of the three-day ride want to call attention to a litany of trucker frustrations and express their disapproval of national political leaders.
> 
> ...



Where to begin...

55 mph during rush hour? We who live here wish!

And that's right, take it out on law abiding citizens who are just trying to get to work... ...the ones lucky enough to not already been furloughed. ...Unless drivers cave to their intimidation and feel forced to but some lame slogan on their vehicle.

Arrest Congressman? ALL of them? Well, maybe not such a bad idea :giggle: , but I bet I know which ones they won't arrest - the ones who already have the Feds in partial shutdown...

This somehow sounds like a great way to lose friends and alienate people to me...

And they have discord amongst themselves...

A headline from the ridefortheconstitution.org website:



> Earl Conlon Advised Not To Misrepresent Himself to Media As Spokesperson



Suddenly the freight railroads seem sooooo much better to ship by!


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## jis (Oct 8, 2013)

So they plan to reduce the average speed of the beltway from 5.5mph to 5.3mph?


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## the_traveler (Oct 8, 2013)

How can you tell the Beltway is intentionally being clogged from the Beltway on a normal day? :huh:


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## Ryan (Oct 8, 2013)

Yeah, I'm not sure how we're supposed to notice.

Also, they've apparently realized that trying to "arrest" Congressmen might be a colossal mistake:

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/08/truckers-change-mind-wont-arrest-congressmen



> News coverage of a trucker protest seeking to clog the roads in and around Washington, D.C., this weekend prompted a schism between the ride's leaders. The ride's loosely organized leadership is now in agreement, however: truckers will not seek to "arrest" congressmen.
> 
> Longtime Georgia trucker Earl Conlon was until Monday morning the coordinator of truckers traveling to D.C. on Oct. 11-13. He claims credit for calling the protest, a vision articulated in part by former country music singer Zeeda Andrews along with social media promotion.
> 
> ...


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## Ryan (Oct 8, 2013)

And now they're even walking back the "we're going to block traffic" part too.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/capital-beltway-shutdown-all-a-ploy-trucker-says/2013/10/08/1e446572-3033-11e3-bbed-a8a60c601153_story.html



> “The comments to U.S. News were designed to do one thing and one thing only: stir the feather of the mainstream media,” said Conlon, a father of three. “Nothing gets the attention of the mainstream media like some sort of disastrous threat. I knew it was going to ruffle some feathers.”
> 
> So while thousands of truckers may indeed come to Washington on Friday and many of them may travel along the inner loop of the Beltway, honking their horns, they won’t intentionally shut down traffic, he said.
> 
> ...


What a loser.


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## jis (Oct 8, 2013)

As usual following the maxim "Put your brain in gear before releasing brakes on your mouth (or typing finger)" is not being followed too often these days, landing people into uncomfortable corners of their own volition. Fast back-pedaling seems to be becoming an art form of late.


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## fairviewroad (Oct 8, 2013)

The Davy Crockett said:


> And that's right, take it out on law abiding citizens who are just trying to get to work... ...


I agree that this idea is nutty (assuming it even happens, which sounds doubtful). But it's not accurate to say

they are affecting "law abiding citizens" if indeed they do travel at the 55 mph speed limit. It would be more

accurate to say they are affecting the "law breaking citizens" since the last I checked, exceeding the speed

limit is against the law. :excl:

The thread title suggests that the truckers plan to "shut the dc beltway." Driving vehicles at the posted speed

limit (rush hour congestion aside) does not equal "shutting down" a highway.


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## jis (Oct 8, 2013)

fairviewroad said:


> The Davy Crockett said:
> 
> 
> > And that's right, take it out on law abiding citizens who are just trying to get to work... ...
> ...


I would like to see them manage to do 55mph on the Beltway without causing some gross mayhem, and thus breaking the law in multiple ways.


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## Bob Dylan (Oct 8, 2013)

Anyone who hasn't Experienced the "Joy" of Driving on the Beltway during Rush Hours (pretty much anytime Now- a-Days) hasn't Lived! I think Austin has hired the Traffic Planners and Engineers that Previously Worked on this Nightmare System! :angry: The Metro gets lots of Deserved Criticism in the WAS Area but its like Comparing a Gulfstream V to a Wright Brothers Flyer when it comes to Transportation in the DC MetroPlex! :help:


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## chakk (Oct 8, 2013)

So if their plan is to clog the inner (clockwise) loop, then the simple solution is to drive to your destination on the outer (counterclockwise) loop. Might have to go 3/4 of the way around the circle, but maybe it will be faster

(Spoken by someone who lived in the Washington suburbs for 16 years prior to the construction of ANY of the Capital Beltway.)


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## Ryan (Oct 8, 2013)

fairviewroad said:


> The Davy Crockett said:
> 
> 
> > And that's right, take it out on law abiding citizens who are just trying to get to work... ...
> ...


Their plan was to run bumper to bumper in the right lane, not letting people merge in unless they had one of their dumb stickers on their car.


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## GG-1 (Oct 8, 2013)

Aloha

This notion is as silly as the rest of them that think their war is the only way. No wonder this country's infrastructure and people are falling apart.


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## fairviewroad (Oct 9, 2013)

Ryan said:


> fairviewroad said:
> 
> 
> > The Davy Crockett said:
> ...


Ah, gotcha. I didn't pick up on that. However, if they were truly driving at 55 mph there is no conceivable way they could

hang so close to each other as to prevent people from merging on.


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## Ryan (Oct 9, 2013)

Sure you can, it happens all the time here.


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## SarahZ (Oct 9, 2013)

Ryan said:


> Sure you can, it happens all the time here.


Same here, especially when trying to block some jerk who waited until the last minute when approaching a construction zone.


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## fairviewroad (Oct 9, 2013)

Ryan said:


> Sure you can, it happens all the time here.


I guess I disagree. Cars can certainly tailgate close enough at 55 mph to prevent rationale people

from trying to merge, but I just don't think a long line of 18-wheelers can be disciplined enough to hang

close enough to each other at 55 mph to prevent a typical driver from cutting in. You might get two or

three in a row who could maintain such a formation, but enough to effectively "shut down" the beltway? I doubt it.

Though it certainly would be fun to see them try.


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## railiner (Oct 9, 2013)

I don't think they would get much popular support from the general public, if they do attempt such a scheme.....they did get sympathy a few years back when they did a similar 'convoy' to protest the very high diesel fuel rates, and other economic woes suffered by owner-operators.


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## fairviewroad (Oct 10, 2013)

This protest got the Colbert treatment last evening:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/543756#i1,p0,d1


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## The Davy Crockett (Oct 11, 2013)

The online magazine of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), LandLineMag.com had this to say about this screwball plan. Here is my favorite part:



> The leaders of the effort generally have no affiliation to the trucking industry, and up until recently did not have a trucking-centric agenda. Within the past couple of weeks, some trucking issues were added.
> 
> One of the leaders, Zeeda Andrews, is a former country music performer who toured the truck stop circuit years ago. Another, Pete Santilli, has an Internet radio program, which is not trucking related.
> 
> ...


Screwballed might be putting it too mildy! :wacko: How about wacko? :wacko:


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## Ryan (Oct 11, 2013)

These guys seem to be as organized and get along as well as Congress. Instead of arresting them, they should run for office and join them, they'll fit right in.



> Zeeda Andrews, one of the organizers of the event, said the ride is a go but emphasized that it will be peaceful. She said that Georgia trucker Earl Conlon “overstepped his boundaries” earlier this week in saying the event was just a ploy to get attention for the group’s agenda.
> 
> “Yes, it is happening,” she said about the rally. Andrews said she expects “a few thousand truckers” to descend on the District on Friday.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/trucker-beltway-protest-on-again/2013/10/10/5f7e7096-31b9-11e3-9c68-1cf643210300_story.html


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## The Davy Crockett (Oct 11, 2013)

Here is a link to a live blog on this silliness at local radio station WTOP.

A reporter from WTOP blogged at 7:51 this AM that the lead trucks for the protest were going through Springfield, VA spread out in traffic:



> didn't *appear* to be more than a dozen.


At that rate this morning's rain will cause more traffic problems than these clowns.


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## afigg (Oct 11, 2013)

Washington Post update: Trucker protest hits Beltway but causes no major delays, authorities say.



> At one point, four tractor-trailers started driving side-by-side, across all four northbound lanes of the inner loop. That caused traffic to slow to 15 miles per hour. State police troopers stopped the vehicles and “warned them not to impede traffic,” Geller said. The drivers were not issued tickets and allowed to “proceed on their way.”


Many of these protest groups don't understand how used the DC, local, and state police forces, the DC media and the DC area residents are with dealing with protestors and protest marches. A small group of truck drivers impeding traffic on the Beltway? With the typical traffic conditions on the Beltway, hard to tell the difference.


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## Bob Dylan (Oct 11, 2013)

afigg said:


> Washington Post update: Trucker protest hits Beltway but causes no major delays, authorities say.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


True this!  How could you Tell????? hboy:


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