Recently, the Dept. of Transportation announced an initiative to improve the truck parking situation in the U.S. It’s about time.
I’m sure I don’t need to spend time explaining the need for additional, and safer, parking to the industry. But for some reason, that need must be explained to government leaders. We ask drivers to spend days, weeks, even months out on the road and yet, as a society, we can’t come up with a solution to keep them safe.
At least DOT is making what I hope is a sincere effort to correct the problem. The agency has kicked off the second phase of its Smart Park initiative (when was the first phase?) to pilot parking assistance systems and communications to help drivers find available parking spots.
“Our Smart Park initiative will leverage cutting-edge technologies to ... determine the availability of safe truck parking places and ... provide real-time information to truck drivers rolling down our highways,” said FMCSA Acting Administrator Scott Darling. “We are looking to several platforms for disseminating safe truck parking information, including a smartphone app, a website, and signs on the road that continually update truckers on availability of parking.”
According to DOT, it will make grant money available to states to purchase equipment necessary to set up systems. Will it be enough? Money flowing from the federal government, as we all know, is rarely enough.
The Michigan Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) put into operation a “truck parking information and management system” along I-94 in 2014. Using a grant from the Federal Highway Administration’s Truck Parking Facilities Discretionary Grants Program, MDOT added dynamic roadside signs, a Truck Smart Parking Services website, smartphone applications, and a fleet of “pilot trucks equipped with onboard-connected vehicle equipment.”
While grant money is a good start, a letter I received recently offered up some more basic solutions that with or without grant money provide a good starting point for drivers. Charles White, vice president of sales and marketing at the RoadPro Family of Brands, spoke with three members of the firm’s Pro Driver Council and came away with these tips:
- Be aware of surroundings. Use Google Earth to map out your route before leaving and locate potential overnight parking areas. Also, consult with dispatch. “If it’s not safe to park, they’ll usually tell you pretty quick,” said Tony Justice, a Tennessee-based driver.
- Check with online driver forums and if you have a CB radio, listen.
- Driver Tom Kyrk recommends Walmart parking lots or casinos because their lots are usually well-lit.
- At truck stops, park with the cab facing the same way as other trucks.
- Sleep with your windows up, or with window screens to prevent a thief from reaching inside the cab door to grab an item or unlock the door. You can use your seat belt or bungee cords to tie the door shut.
- Avoid driving through and stopping in high-crime areas.
- Consider carrying devices such as pepper spray or, as driver Maggie Stone does, a handgun (legally, of course).
The biggest tip from the Pro Driver Council, though, is very simple. “No load is worth your life. The load can be replaced, my life can’t be,” Kyrk said.
Tips to live by.
Brian Straight is Fleet Owner’ s managing editor. He can be reached at [email protected]. Join the conversation on Twitter @truckingtalk.
