Truckers abandon rigs to protest diesel prices

LOS ANGELES -- Truckers parked their rigs on a busy freeway outside Los Angeles on Friday morning, snarling rush-hour traffic for miles in a wildcat protest over high diesel prices. About five tractor-trailers stopped in the northbound lanes of the Golden State Freeway in Commerce, 17 miles southeast of downtown, according to the California Highway Patrol. "They just sort of slowed traffic down, parked their trucks, and got out," CHP officer Ricardo Quintero said. "They just took off in a car." Quintero said several truckers were arrested.

CHP had no other reports of trucks being abandoned on Los Angeles-area freeways.

Robert Nunley, 40, was filling his tank at a gas station when he heard about the protest on the radio. He planned a route to San Diego that would let him bypass the problems.

"I'm not looking forward to it, but I've got no choice," he said.

The American Automobile Association said California diesel prices were as high as $2.41 a gallon, compared with less than $2 a gallon in other states.