Lack of Driver Access to Truck Parking and Adequate Amenities Causes Major Problems

Lack of Driver Access to Truck Parking and Adequate Amenities

The pervasive truck parking problem can be defined with simple math: With 3.5 million professional truck drivers in the U.S. and approximately 313,000 truck parking spaces nationally, for every 11 drivers there is only one truck parking space.

The nationwide shortage of truck parking has plagued America’s motor carriers and professional truck drivers for decades, with a wide range of consequences for highway safety, driver health and well-being, supply chain efficiency, and the environment. Despite a major awareness campaign following the 2009 murder of Jason Rivenburg while he slept in his cab at an abandoned gas station after being unable to find safe parking, the shortage of safe truck parking in the United States continues to grow. Major freight corridors and large metro areas have the most acute shortages, with shortages existing at all times of the day – but mostly overnight and weekdays. In the landmark 2015 Jason’s Law Survey by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), 27 state Departments of Transportation reported problems with truck parking, notably in congested freight corridors in the Northeast, up and down the East Coast, the Mid-Atlantic, and out west in the freight lanes of California and the Pacific Northwest. According to the 2019 Jason’s Law Survey, conducted by the FHWA, 75 percent of professional drivers report problems finding safe parking weekly and another 20 percent report occasional problems (one or more times a month), while only 3 percent report they rarely have difficulty finding safe parking (once or twice a year) and 2 percent claim they never have problems finding safe parking.

Lack of Truck Parking is a Significant Safety Issue for Women Drivers

Do women drivers perceive that trucking is a safe industry in which they can work? According to a recent survey of professional drivers conducted by WIT last year, approximately 53 percent of respondents strongly agreed or agreed, while another

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80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% 2019 Jason’s Law Survey

Percent of drivers reporting problems finding safe parking

76% 75%

Regularly (one or more times a week)

18% 20%

4% 3% 2% 2%

Occasionally (one or more times a month) Rarely (one or twice a year)

2015 2019 Never

Trucking is Safe for Women

Strongly Agree 14%

Agree 39%

Neither Agree nor Disagree 29%

Disagree 14%

Strongly Disagree 4%

Source: Women In Trucking Same Gender Training Policy Whitepaper, ©2022

continued from page 11 18 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed. Approximately 29 percent were neutral in their perception on this. In fact, efforts at solutions to the parking shortage have been compounded by contributing factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, a shortfall of drivers that has ballooned to more than 80,000, the current supply chain crisis clogging many freight lanes and ports, and dramatic infrastructure issues in the United States. Drivers oftentimes park on highway entrance and exit ramps as an immediate solution to the challenge of lack of parking, but in most states this practice is illegal and places drivers at safety risk. There are additional problems driven by a lack of large truck parking. For example, there can be legal implications, according to some respondents to the WIT Safety & Harassment Survey. When truck drivers cannot find parking and are confronting driving limitations due to Hours of Service rules (HOS), they find themselves in a “no win” situation because they are forced to either park in unsafe or illegal locations or violate federal HOS regulations by continuing to search for safer, legal alternatives. According to the ATA, 70 percent of professional drivers have “been forced” to violate HOS rules due to a lack of truck parking. Of course, when there are few places for drivers to safely and legally park their trucks, professional drivers will find places to park that may not necessarily comply with federal

requirements. That can make professional drivers a target of crime. When drivers are forced to find non-traditional or unauthorized truck parking areas, it can turn to tragedy. The significant economic impact of siphoned diesel fuel, and theft of equipment and cargo when it is hijacked in unsafe, unsecured parking locations also is of major concern. The shortage of truck parking also creates a decrease in productivity and has economic implications. According to an American Transportation Research Institute study in 2016, professional drivers need to “surrender” an average of 56 minutes of available drive time per day, as they’re parking earlier than they need to because they’ve found available truck parking and they don’t want to pass up on the opportunity. The economic impacts of the inefficient use of the driver’s time are profound and the practical impact of productivity losses create issues through North American supply chains.

Seeking Solutions to the Truck Parking Shortage

Why is it so critical to find solutions to this issue? Undoubtedly, if more large truck parking is available, professional drivers will be safer and healthier, for-hire and private fleets will be more productive, the driver workforce will be more resilient, and tractor/ trailers will reduce their fuel needs and emit fewer emissions into the environment.

So what are some solutions that can help improve the truck parking shortage? There are a number of solutions that WIT proposes, including seeking creative alternative solutions beyond truck stops, encouraging shippers/receivers to be part of the solution, and educating local and state partners, agencies and law-makers. WIT has developed a whitepaper on this issue as part of its Safety & Harassment Series. To download a free copy of this whitepaper, visit WomenInTrucking.org > Resources > Whitepapers. n

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KayLeigh McCall, Schneider’s 2021 Featured Female Driver

Wife and mother of four, Schneider driver and training engineer