The recent 110 year sentencing of a Texas trucker has inspired some drivers to claim that they are choosing to boycott loads to Colorado indefinitely, not only out of support for Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, but out of concern for their own well being.
Since Aguilera-Mederos’ 110 year sentencing last week, footage of trucks stopped for inclement weather has been circulating the internet with captions depicting the stopped traffic as a protest. While that footage is not the result of a trucker protest, the rumors have inspired some drivers to actually take a stand by refusing to take loads to the state of Colorado.
“Who the f*** going to Colorado?” said one trucker in a Tik Tok.
“They giving out 100 f***ing years. My brakes might go out. I ain’t going nowhere. You better send me the opposite way.”
“This truck is never gonna go to Colorado in his life. Trust me,” wrote another driver.
“We all make mistakes on the road but it doesn’t mean we will be put in prison for 110 years.”
“This trucker is no longer going to Colorado. Truckers he needs our help,” added another.
While some truckers may be taking a stand by refusing Colorado-bound loads, experience from past trucker protests and industry experts alike say that the demonstration will likely do little to disrupt the supply chain, but it may get lawmakers’ attention.
“I personally have seen this many times [and] don’t foresee that happening in a way that it has a tremendous impact,” says John Esparza, President and CEO of the Texas Trucking Association.
“I think that we should certainly as a country relook at that case,” said Tony Salas, co-founder of the Greater Houston Trucking Association, to Fox 26.
“As far as the state of Colorado they have a lot of work to do in terms of their laws,” he continued.
“We fully support and stand with the boycott of industry and business to Colorado. A lot of truckers are afraid to go to Colorado. Colorado has a lot of mountains, a lot of hills … [Aguilera] was only 23 years old and had never drove outside of Texas and went into a terrain that has a lot of mountains. From our understanding, there was already an incident ahead of him, and his equipment failed on him, so when you look at the accountability, it should really be on the trucking company that put this man on the road.”