The Indiana State Police will have extra patrollers monitoring the 50-mile I-465 loop around Indianapolis on Thursday as a group of truckers, many of them owner-operators, plan an on-highway protest.
Thursday’s planned protest is a part of a larger effort calling for an April 12 shutdown, organized around a variety of truckers’ Facebook groups under the Truckers Stand as One banner — most prominent in advance media has been the “Black Smoke Matters” group. Thursday’s Indiana “slow roll” protest, as it’s being dubbed by the organizers, is intended to garner media attention for the April effort. Similar efforts were staged in recent weeks in Illinois and Texas.
The drivers say they’re protesting the electronic logging device mandate, current hours of service regs and other issues, such as a lack of safe truck parking options. Overdrive explored the protest efforts in depth in January, including interviews with organizers and a few dissenters.
Indiana State Police spokesperson Sgt. Matt Ames says that based on social media activity, troopers anticipate between 300 and 400 drivers to show.
Protest organizers have been in touch with the state’s commercial motor vehicle enforcement division, and Ames said organizers told the state they plan to avoid the left lane and plan to do two laps around the 50-mile loop.
Ames said ISP anticipates the protest to last between two and three hours, and in addition to the increased patrollers presence on I-465, ISP will monitor social media to for any incidents.
