Parking on the On-Off Ramps

And when a drunk slams into you,

YOU are the one at fault...................

Even though you are parked !!!!!

I Never park on ramps !!!!!!!!

 

I hope you're kidding?

Pickle Park, as seen from the air, trucks look like a bunch of pickles together.


I park on the ramp as a last resort. Maybe once, twice a year. You have to get creative nowadays with the parking shortage. If I can't park in a truck stop, the customer or industrial park is a good safe place. I have driven 2 hours over before looking for a place.

Ramps? Too many things can go wrong.
-Tickets
-Waking up with a headache from sleeping on your head. I have seen a couple layed over from getting in the grass.
-Being robbed because you're isolated
-And worse, someone running into you.

Courts and truckers think different. Lawyers have a hay day when these accidents happen. Interstate shoulders and ramps are built for one thing... breakdowns. It's been a few years back. I seen a car run up under the back of a flatbed parked on the ramp of a rest area. The driver was killed. The trucker was standing there in handcuffs as I went by. I never heard what happened to him, but many truckers have been sued for everything they own. They figure the accident would never happen if you weren't there.

It's one of them things that's okay to do until something happens, then your world falls in around you.

The majority of society could care less about truckers. We're a nuisance on the roads to them and were all like that one nasty rude driver they had a conflict with. They want you to deliver and disappear.

One day they'll wake up and do something about it.

I-80 in IN has the right idea with huge gravel lots. The cost is cheap and truckers can easily park. If each state would buy out some cornfields on each interstate, gravel them. Our problems would be solved.

 

I have been in the trucking industry over eighteen years. Five of the eighteen have been over the road. I have spent the last three hours reading the comments posted from various topics and I have experienced it all. I firmly believe the best thing to do is for every truck driver to walk off their job tomorrow! This includes local and union as well. Let's face it, our country is going into a economic depression anyway,so let's just speed up the process. Another thing to add is that lack of respect that truck drivers get. If we want appreciation for once, then let the job go and let all hell break loose in this country of ours. People will be on their hands and knees begging for us to go back to work. As my favorite saying goes(which I made up) "Truckers truckers unite unite! Let's shut down America! Let us all go on strike!" I am sick of the attitude of non-trucking people in the United States and this will be the best thing to happen in my opinion. Granted, some people will be killed in the chaos, but so be it. This country is long over due for an enema anyway.......

 

Number 1, I am not expecting anyone to fall for anything nor am I selling any crap! I was stating MY opinion to someone elses comment on drunk and drowsy drivers. And also how I feel about truckers using ramps to park when they can not find another place. If you actually read my whole comment you would have noticed that I do not think it is safe, but in emergencies and if pulled over far enough with four ways on I think it is better than driving if you are that tired. You have already admitted to doing it a few times, so apparently you have been in a situation where you thought it unsafe to drive. Other drivers go through that as well.

Number 2, as a truckers wife, I have more than an idea of what my husband goes through. And unless he is a one of a kind driver, then I have an idea of what most other drivers go through also. I do not claim to know it all, but certainly have more than an idea so you can stop patronizing me.

 

Agreed!!!!

 

Some of us aren't driveing for "appreciation or respect" we drive cause we like it and are paid well.So go ahead and strike, you will create a job opening for a newbie! Who will be told NOT TO PARK ON A RAMP!
And yes I have done it but don't any more.

 

If I'm tired and can't make it to another truckstop, I'll park on the "entrance side" of a ramp, but not on the "exit side". I park completely clear of the line, I don't litter, and if there are homes close by, I'll kill the motor (which I don't idle much anyway). I've done it hundreds of times. I've been woken up by a cop about 3 times, I-70 Mo, I-24 Tn, I-94 SD. I've never been ticketed. That's just my experience.

 

In our company its against company policy to use a ramp for anything unless a absolute emergency. now emergency isn't " i drove too long and passed 85 truck stops so lets park on the ramp" its " im driving, have no hours left and no truck stops with in 100 miles. You should know your route, plan ahead, and look in a book where your truck stops are at.

 

That don't help none when every truck stop is packed full. You have to stop somewhere at some point and it better be before you run someone down. It happens. I rarely have to stop on a ramp but if I do, I have good reason.

 

I've been ticketed in VA for parking on a ramp to check a leaking air line. Told him why I was parked there and he stated since I didn't put my 4-ways on that I was parked there illegally. I went and fought the ticket, because it would have been a moving violation otherwise. The law I broke...Illegal Stopping on a Highway. Fine was $105. The judge lowered it to a non-moving violation as I was there less than 15 minutes which the FMCSA states is my maximum allowed time to be on an emergency stopping area without setting out my triangles. The trooper was just an ### with a badge creating revenue for that county.