Parking on the On-Off Ramps

Basic rule, if there is not at least 10' between any part of your rig and the traffic lane then there is not enough room. It is a safety hazard, for all.

Even when there is lots of room drivers still use the ramp's. Here in our area on 58 (Mojave thru Tehachapi) there are graded areas near the ramps beside the freeway. Cleaned out for drivers to park, where do you think they are parked. Yup in the off/on ramp shoulder hanging out 6" to 2' into the traffic lane.

Last week Mojave towed 2 of the trucks to impound, 1 of which had a driver sleeping in it. Don't know where the other driver was.

 

If they ever towed me away, while still sleeping inside of vehicle...I would consider that kidnapping...

 

If your parked on a ramp and blocking part of the lane, and you decide not to answer your door when they knock your not going to do anything but hang on.

When the shoulder is so narrow that against the curb leaves your left wheels in the traffic lane, and your not broken down your odds of getting towed are very high.

There's rules like, reflectors being posted, 4 ways being on...Not blocking lanes to sleep.

 

IN Texas two weeks ago on I 30 just outside Texarkana, The highway patrol woke up some 30-40 of us parked at an exit that has a 25 ft wide shoulder, Law man Said the City we were in Passed an Ordinance against trucks "Idling" I looked at him and asked Why he woke me up, My truck is off, He Said My Reefer is running and that is good enough for him. I explained I was on ELOG's and that I was out of Hours, He said head up the road to the Wal Mart next town up. Well Guess what Wal-Mart has around the LOT NO Parking for Trucks. Ended up parked in a Mudhole of a Parking lot thanks to a Log Hauler telling me about it, and I had to explain that to my Safety department, what a JOY.

 

With all the trucking companies going to E-logs, and all the states closing down all there rest areas its going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better if it ever does. Each company that switches to E-logs puts a whole new fleet of drivers who if they dont get all there ducks in a row on each trip will end up panicking looking for a parking spot before there q-com violates them.

I trip plan extensively and incorporate multiple redundancy in every aspect of my trip plans, frequently revising them. With E-logs you have to know 3-4 hours ahead where and when you should shut down, have to have back up plans, and still figure in your drive time and scheduling for your delivery into all that. Some places I know are really bad I will pull off a couple hrs before my shutdown time and start calling all the truck stops and asking the attendants if there is usually good parking ets. my gps gives the trk stops and there #s, sometimes have to do the same thing for rest times on really tight runs as I do for the shippers/receivers. Its crazy.

 

In Iowa, the cops don't bother you while you sleep there, that I know of...even though there are signs posted there that say no parking....apparently the bears have more sense than the legislators do.

Funny thing is, the highway dept. seems to put a lot of gravel there which makes it easier for trucks to park there....no driver wants to park on a grass shoulder, which could be soft....always looking for some nice gravel to park on, and that you can see has been used before by another truck.

 

For some reason, Missouri does not seem to have any rest stops, like in MN, IA, and SD, where there is a lot of parking for cars and trucks and restrooms.....they may have a little rest stop with a curved one lane gravel driveway, nothing you would want to take a truck on.

I like I-90 across southern MN, as there is a rest stop every 45 minutes....so if you are driving at night and get tired you know you will be likely to find a place to park.

 

For port operations, containers, and certain other dedicated type routes, e logs won't work...

Anyone who's ever done port work knows what I mean, or other dedicated type routes...

That's where lobbyist with big briefcases filled with doe, come in to play...(certain exemptions will have to apply)...

 

must not be illegal yet in Missouri cause i drive all over missouri all wk long and its pretty rare to not see 2-5 trucks on every down ramp..shoot you think MO has no rest stops what about KS.. its impossible to even find an exit ramp to piss at..

 

That's cause nobody out here cares. The people that get these laws passed call this flyover country and while they're busy flyin over, they're not here to whine. Which is just fine with us.