After four tractor-trailers were recently involved in an accident on a Kentucky highway’s shoulder, the problem of legitimate truck parking resurfaced.
Two people were injured in Madison County when a truck driver reportedly fell asleep before slamming into the rear of a big rig. Colliding with the first semi set off something of a domino effect. Each of the three commercial motor vehicles parked on Interstate 75 southbound around 2 a.m. According to Kentucky law, no vehicles are allowed to park on the shoulders of roadways, even weary truck drivers.
“The issue is that they have hours of service rules, which is a 14-hour day, but no longer than 11 hours driving, so they do have the need to park,” Kentucky Trucking Association CEO and President Rick Taylor reportedly said. “In the country, there’s only 313,000 commercial truck parking spaces, but we have 3.5 million commercial vehicles, so obviously, the math does not add up. That’s about one space per 11 vehicles.”
States vary on how they approach the common practice of truckers pulling to the shoulder to sleep. Texas weighs the difference between drowsy driving and shoulder parking. The Lone Star state generally allows truckers to park on the side of the road and get some rest. Virginia allows trucks to park on shoulders if the space isn’t explicitly prohibited. In states such as Kentucky, rarely do police or highway patrol officers hand out violations for roadside parking, even though it’s generally prohibited. That’s largely because there are no alternatives, given the disproportionately low number of safe, overnight parking spaces.
“From a making a living level, they’re losing about $5,000 per year by parking an hour early, but sometimes that’s the best option they have to go with,” Taylor reportedly said. “Having adequate truck parking for a professional truck driver doing that job for us is important, and I think it’s something that needs to be addressed.”
Based on a 2020 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration report, upwards of 4,000 injuries occurred in conjunction with semi-trucks parked near highway ramps. There were an additional 55 fatalities that can be traced to the lack of legal parking spaces and truckers needing to rest on shoulders.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded portions of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending package to increase the number of truck parking spaces. The majority of the highway infrastructure projects have gone to electric charging stations, roads, and bridges, among others.
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter8/section46.2-830.1/
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/data-and-statistics/large-truck-and-bus-crash-facts-2020
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