The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has taken the lead on one of the industry’s troubling facts. The country is sorely lacking in safe parking infrastructure for truck drivers.
On the heels of Washington, D.C., politicians passing a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending package, trucking industry leaders appear to be forcing the issue. A recent letter sent to U.S. Department of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was less than subtle.
“We are extremely disappointed that the IIJA (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) does not dedicate any funding exclusively to truck parking, despite the broad bipartisan and industry support for federal investment,” an Owner-Operator association letter reportedly stated. “With the significant amount of new discretionary funding your department will be responsible for allocating under the IIJA, we believe that you have the ability to direct funding to critical truck parking projects across the country.”
According to the American Transportation Research Institute, truckers typically spend nearly an hour looking for safe parking spaces to comply with FMCSA downtime regulations. The wasteful use of on-duty time suppresses independent truckers’ annual salaries and adds to the supply chain bottleneck.
“Basically, they’re not getting paid. It’s frustrating time and costs the average driver about $4,600 in direct lost compensation looking for truck parking,” Dan Murray, of the American Transportation Research Institute, reportedly said. “It’s not just a safety and compliance issue. It’s an economic issue for some of these drivers, and our data shows for some of these drivers it’s the last nail in the coffin, and they’re out of here. It’s costing them time and money.”
Lack of safe and readily available parking areas has been a legitimate complaint of truckers for years. Following the tragic and avoidable murder of trucker Jason Rivenburg in 2009, studies were conducted regarding safe parking availability. Broad consensus found that inadequate infrastructure existed for the number of trucks on the road. Although Congress passed Jason’s Law to address the safe parking shortage, this issue does not appear to be a priority for the Biden Administration.
“The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and numerous states have been studying this issue for decades and have all concluded that there is a shortage of parking. Most recently, USDOT released the results of its updated 2019 Jason’s Law Survey in December 2020,” the Owner-Operator letter reportedly states. “The survey found that truck parking shortages are a major problem in every state and region, and that the problem continues to worsen. As part of the IIJA, the White House highlighted that states will conduct additional assessments of the issue. But we are well past the time for more studies and observations. Instead, it is time to take meaningful steps to expand truck parking capacity, and that begins with significant federal investment.”
Adding insult to injury, bipartisan support exists to prioritize safe parking for OTR and other truckers. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio reportedly advocated for earmarked spending, as did Congressman Sam Graves. The mechanisms to funnel taxpayer money directly to building parking areas are already in place.
DOT Secretary Buttigieg could leverage funding through the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America, Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity, or National Infrastructure Project Assistance programs. Rather than ensure truck driver safety and reduce lost time, the DOT is expected to spend upwards of $100 billion on electric vehicle incentives. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association requested a meager $1 billion for safe parking.
Source: fleetowner.com
They’re gonna talk a bit about this, and like usual, they won’t do a damn thing!!!
FJB!!!!!
Yeah, DJT did so much more for truckers didn’t he? Idiot.
More than your hero is doing. FJB
Not my hero, but I’ll take a senile old man over a traitor any day of the week,
That “comment” shows your lack of intelligence. You must have really struggled to type those three letters. You’re too stupid to realize you are stupid.
Parking! The lack of is one main reason I found a job in agriculture that gets me home every night. It’s one of the hardest truck jobs but I’m home instead of searching for a place to park or giving up one to two hours of drive time to ensure a place for the night. Why is it that the job of DOT Secretary always goes to not-wits like this. God save us from the inexperienced and greedy fools of Buracracy!
There was more safe parking til truck stops started charging for it. Now it’s unsafe to pull into a truck stop with people parking on every curb, shoulder, and around every turn.
you got to be afraid to park in the truckstops because you do not know if you will be able to get out when you wake up. I think that is why so many park on the ramps now.
Where are the stat’s saying there was more safe parking before paid parking started? Drivers are parking that way because it’s easier just to park where ever and not care about anybody else.TRY planing your day better!
FJB and Peter Puffer
We may be lacking in parking but it seems to me it’s only at certain times, I haven’t figured out what makes this happen at times and not other times but when it does happen it’s bad cause these drivers we have today will park anywhere. I’ve seen them with the ass of their trl sticking out in the roadway, but just as important how can we have a shortage of trucks/drivers if we have so many we can’t find parking? It says to me there ain’t a shortage just another bureaucrat pushing crap we don’t need which in turn helps to drive up cost..now when some bureaucrat gets something done about the parking we(trucker) will pay for it or it won’t happen..so I would like to know why do we need these idiots in government to do it? Since we’ll pay anyway why can we not find a way to buy land near the hwy, pave it, and park..my thoughts on this is it would not work any better than the freeway system, by the time you build an extra lane for traffic, that was needed yrs before, it’s not enough. Parking will be the same, by the time you get more parking some bureaucrat will have pushed this idea that we need more trucks/drivers til they get it and so you fix parking for what you have but now we added crap load more trucks so it ain’t never enough..to add parking would likely lead to more paid spots and 90% of truckers don’t want to pay, most think they pay enough and most will pay as a last resort, I say this last wk, at a petro, 300 parking spots but the lot was old,broken, and no painted lines and guess what ,you couldn’t find two truck drivers parked straight or together in a row anywhere, which meant we lost parking space..so which of these evils do you choose, paying for it anyway you choose..I’m not happy about any of it..but I’m damn sure tired of everything we do no matter what it is, driving up my cost of operating.
most of the money goes for bus transportation and railroads and not for highways
Drivers. If YOU don’t contact your elected reps in DC and explain to them the situation and how to correct it ,then you only expect someone else to do it for you , You get what you worked for. Nothing.
Remember this, The FMCA has not one person with a CDL that know anything about how truckers do their job. They still tell you how to do you job and have never even sat in a Semi truck. It is time to change it. You don’t let anyone drive your truck, Why let them tell you how to do your job.?Parking ? Closing rest areas was a start ,Drivers almost on the same schedule now finished it..
And while I understand and agree with your comment, truckers have been doing just that for decades. Talking to the reps, talking to congressmen, filling out FMCSA questionnaires. The problem isn’t that truckers aren’t speaking out against the lack and speaking up with ideas on how to fix it. The problem is that NO ONE that can do anything, is listening. Simply put the DOT, state, local and federal government, FMCSA and anyone else that COULD do something, don’t. Won’t. They kick that can down the road as “some one else’s problem” and the reality is it is everyone’s problem because what is a problem for the trucker that brings your stuff is also a problem for you and you and you and you, i.e. everyone. But the politicians don’t care because they are going to get their 40K office furniture every year.
I still can’t believe with all the issues of today the Secretary of Transportation is on maternity leave, he’s gay, a man that married another man, they adopted a baby, they are on maternity leave? WTF, think this administration cares about you or your parking problems, they have more woke issues to concern themselves with, just get their products on the shelf or lose your job. My hopes were that shippers/receivers would work with companies alleviating the parking issue, yeah I won’t hold my breath on that one….
As a Owner/Operator I pay for parking every night and I reserve my spot early in the morning, I plan my day that way(700+)miles.It is not the Federal Government’s job or responsibility to provide parking for truck drivers!
There is a for profit industry out here called TRUCK STOPS or (as they are now called Travel Centers) it is their responsibility to build and maintain these location.
Many years ago when you had your 76 or chevron’s your large mom & pop T/S they had 350 to 500 parking spots. Now LOVES puts out a big press release making a big deal about adding 350 spots @ 7 new locations figure that out average 50 spots per location?And LOVES isn’t the only one.they’re all getting that way.They’ll put self storage or motels location’s next to their facility’s it shows you where the priority’s are.
I want to know if and when the Feds do this so called safe parking how are you going to get the Truck Drivers to park so others can also use the parking spots?
Who’s going to clean these location? Because we see it out here everyday TRUCK DRIVES(not all) are pigs just look at WALMART parking lot’s! or truck stop themselves!
As far as I’m concerned let these Large Corporation’s provide and pay for parking they make a fortune off of us anyway.
The local community’s where new location are being built make it mandatory that there are at least 250+ spots!
Also I’ve been this industry long enough to remember when you either bought fuel or you paid for parking.(76,T/A,Petro,Chevron,Burns Brothers,Huskeys and yes even some Flying J’s etc. It helped keep the riffraff out!
It doesn’t matter how much new parking there is. As long as we have to run ELD’ s we have to go from point A to point B. There could be a pickle park 5 miles from your delivery with all kinds of open parking. But if you stay there you have to start your next day driving 5 miles and setting, on average, 3 hours to unload which comes right off of you 14 hr day. It’s BS.