Recent spikes in diesel fuel prices have some truckers, known as owner/operators, as they drive their own trucks, in an uproar. Some have even gone so far as to threaten protests and work stoppage in response to the rising price of diesel fuel. Still others acted sooner, with reports of truck drivers going a mere 20 miles per hour on the busy and hectic New Jersey Turnpike.

But despite all the hubbub, officials with the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), an association with almost 160,000 members nationwide—as well as the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA), have said they have had reports of "only sporadic shutdowns" by drivers. Norita Taylor, spokeswoman for the OOIDA, says they've "heard from a lot of members who have no intention of participating." She further states that "what's more important is what happens tomorrow and the next day and next week if diesel prices don't go down. More and more truckers will be faced with [a] decision about what to do, whether or not to stay in the business."

Gary Salisbury is the chief operating officer of Fikes Truck Line, based out of Hope, Arkansas. His operation has almost 500 owner-operators driving flatbed trucks, and he has said that he's seeing more and more of his truck drivers and owner-operators leaving the business entirely, mainly due to the fact that they can't afford to keep their trucks running. Many have been forced to look for work as a company driver so they won’t worry about paying for their fuel as well as repair costs.

"I don't have any...drivers who are striking, but we [did] lose 12 trucks yesterday," Salisbury said. "If they go down, they don,t have the cash reserves to fix it and keep rolling."

Others still say that the unity of the trucking community is enough to cause a nation-wide shutdown, and the consequences of that would be disastrous. Whether or not this happens is now up to the people in charge to try and fix.