I wrote his letter in 1997 NOW 10 years later it is worse
NO PARKING!
Another everyday occurence
that perplexes the over-the-road driver is; the lack of places to park. Everyone
in the country wants their food, merchandise, retail goods, cars, computers, toilet
paper , whatever; BUT! Nobody wants trucks parked in their parking lots. These
people are on the road driving countless hours everyday and sleep is precious,
{let alone essential}. While waiting to get into a loading dock to deliver their
load of bathroom supplies, the only space large enough to accomadate a tractor-trailer
is the back lot behind the business next door BUT ALAS! NO TRUCKS ALLOWED signs
are everywhere { in the mean time they just ran out of toilet paper! {what a shame!}
and there is not one roll left in the neighborhood store. In the meantime the
truck that just unloaded is still setting in the loading dock trying to find out
where he can park to wait on his next load assignment. Oh well who cares it's
just another trucker right? The average person will tell you there is a truck
stop {if they even know} up the road about 25 miles. Well let's add this up as
it must be logged... 25 or 30 miles that is roughly 30 minutes more driving time
{if there is no traffic}. What about the D.O.T. checkpoint or weigh station doing
inspections in between the drop off point and the truck stop? That is at least
another half an hour which must be logged as onduty time. What about the time
of day? Is it rush hour in a major city where the driver might set in traffic
for an hour or more or is it late at night when most truckstops are full and there
is no parking after all. NOW WHAT? Most highway rest areas are "unsecure" and
in someplaces down-right unsafe to stay in. And how close is the closest one?
most are anywhere from 10 to 70 or more miles apart. Another situation: You are
scheduled to deliver to a small town warehouse on Friday evening, guess what someone
hit a wrong key on their computer and you get to the customer and they are closed
for the weekend. What do you do now? Same parking problem. Maybe you want to go
to the movies or shopping or just go fishing for awhile to relax since you are
stuck for the weekend out in the middle of nowhere. Access to most places of entertainment
or recreation are restricted to vehicles under the weight limits or height limits
of a tractor weighing about the same as most RV's nowadays. Add all these factors
in to the logbook AND the already tired driver and you are greatly increasing
the risk of an accident where maybe more than one person could be injured or killed,
MAYBE the person who would not let that trucker park in their unused space, MAYBE
YOU. A tired driver gets aggrevated faster let alone the possibilty of falling
asleep at the wheel. All BECAUSE............. NO TRUCK PARKING -- NO TRUCKS ALLOWED
---- NO OVERNIGHT PARKING --- Come on people wake up! let a trucker sleep!!! HOME