Black Smoke Matters


They did their “slow roll” protest in Illinois. News says that more than a dozen trucks showed up.

A dozen.............


12 trucks


And that is the dramatic news version of the story.

Real life? I’m guessing 1 guy out there
False. They started with 33, picked up more along the way, and ended with more like 50.
 
Ok, so I get that a lot of you48128 don’t like it. I am doing all the video production for the movement now, as well as organizing the Chicago convoys. The Marion Illinois convoy was the first one and was put together on short notice . Even though the turnout wasn’t that big, keep in mind there was a pretty good snowstorm going, it sparked several local and regional news stories and some of the posted videos at last count had over 100,000 views. The next convoy is scheduled for Dallas on February 6.

What’s being protested? The ELD is just one item. The group is also calling for consistent enforcement standards, more HOS flexibility, better training standards for new drivers (no more driver mills with rookies training rookies), adequate parking, and calling for the FMCSA to include a panel of actual drivers to be involved in the process of drafting new regulations.

So no, it’s not just a bunch of outlaw truckers blocking roads and flipping off cops. The convoys are conducted above the minimum speed required, are limited to one lane, and are coordinated with the state police,

This cause may not be for you, but if it is, check it out. They have a Facebook page, which is currently 24,000 strong, as well as a website, and several YouTube videos.
 
Yeah, yeah... everybody’s a truckstop comedian. But there are those of us who don’t like being treated like a criminal with the mandatory electronic monitoring device. Nor do we like being treated like children, having our sleep/work cycles dictated to us by some suit-wearing extortionist who’s never drove anything bigger than their tax-payer funded desk. I get the limits on how many hours a day we can drive, but that rule can be enforced without us furnishing GPS coordinates showing exactly what business or who’s residence we slept at last night, along with a push-button feature showing exactly what time we got into bed. My problem is knowing that ELD’s are just the foot in the door to more restrictive, privacy-invading technology. What will be next? Mandatory driver-facing cams with audio? Sleep monitors to ensure how many hours of sleep we actually got? And why? Because the mega-carrier driver mills are producing sub-standard drivers, but nobody wants to call out the elephant in the room in this crony-capitalist totalitarian nation we’ve become. Because safety has nothing to do with it... it’s all about mandating “approved” electronic devices, manufactured by tech companies who’ve paid millions in lobbying fees so they can make billions. It’s about allowing the mega trucking corporations to put new drivers behind the wheel with no supervision for 18 cents per mile, driving freight rates down and bankrupting the competition. I don’t know about you guys, but I fear for the future of my children if we don’t draw a line in the sand at some point and say “enough”. If you are ready to join thousands of your brothers and sisters in drawing that line, then shut down, join a convoy, and slow your roll. Black Smoke Matters!
 
Black Smoke Matters
Dumbest name ever, if you're trying to get any kind of positive news coverage from the race baiting, cop hating fake news media which makes up the majority of the press and will see this as making light of their precious radical activist group.

Also the smoke reference has very little to do with trucking and makes y'all look like those ass holes who put vertical stacks on diesel pickups and tune them to make tons of smoke for the sole purpose of compensating for abnormally small genitalia.

It's even dumber than "ELD or me". (nobody outside of the industry even knows what that is).

Good cause though. Horrible name.
 
Yeah, yeah... everybody’s a truckstop comedian. But there are those of us who don’t like being treated like a criminal with the mandatory electronic monitoring device. Nor do we like being treated like children, having our sleep/work cycles dictated to us by some suit-wearing extortionist who’s never drove anything bigger than their tax-payer funded desk. I get the limits on how many hours a day we can drive, but that rule can be enforced without us furnishing GPS coordinates showing exactly what business or who’s residence we slept at last night, along with a push-button feature showing exactly what time we got into bed. My problem is knowing that ELD’s are just the foot in the door to more restrictive, privacy-invading technology. What will be next? Mandatory driver-facing cams with audio? Sleep monitors to ensure how many hours of sleep we actually got? And why? Because the mega-carrier driver mills are producing sub-standard drivers, but nobody wants to call out the elephant in the room in this crony-capitalist totalitarian nation we’ve become. Because safety has nothing to do with it... it’s all about mandating “approved” electronic devices, manufactured by tech companies who’ve paid millions in lobbying fees so they can make billions. It’s about allowing the mega trucking corporations to put new drivers behind the wheel with no supervision for 18 cents per mile, driving freight rates down and bankrupting the competition. I don’t know about you guys, but I fear for the future of my children if we don’t draw a line in the sand at some point and say “enough”. If you are ready to join thousands of your brothers and sisters in drawing that line, then shut down, join a convoy, and slow your roll. Black Smoke Matters!
So long after the cow bolted from the barn, you get all pissy, and decide the barn door needs to be shut.

#whining
 
So long after the cow bolted from the barn, you get all pissy, and decide the barn door needs to be shut.

#whining
It's more like the HOS is a dilapidated old prison, with holey walls, that everyone slipped in and out of to make life easier. The ELD ringed the prison with intense light, ensuring no one ever left the prison.

BSM: Turn off the light!
 

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