Parking areas and 11 hours up!

I believe this is a major problem. The government has made the HOS a pain in the but. They have closed down rest areas. Truck stops get full. They have made it illegal to park on the side of many highways and offramps. If you get stuck in traffic and run out of hours they will tell you that it was poor planning on your part. So you need to plan on only driving a few hours a day. Not sure who could pay their bills on that theory. Something needs to be done.

 

Guess if someone can't pay their bills at a job they need to look for another job; maybe have two of them if need be or even open their own company to earn more.

Anyway is it more advisable to park in the back of shopping centers etc because it seems better to me to be out where someone doesn't try and break in or steal etc just safer it seems I guess?!

 

I've parked in the back a few times before/after delivering and never had a problem. I figure the back is quieter and I'm more out of the way. Never been bothered yet. Maybe I've just been lucky. But I really don't do it often.

 

How exactly do you propose to have two jobs as a truck driver? If they get any more restrictive with the HOS the only people that are going to be able to afford the good life, trucking, will be the Mexican drivers. All I am saying; is that they should have more government provided places to shut down for 10 hours, if they expect us to do that. I see that you are a student. Give it some time. Wait tell you are stuck in traffic and out of hours without a truck stop in sight. What do you do then? Especially in Chicago where you can easily be in traffic for 5 hours.

 

Most rest stops in CA are for 8 hours max, yeah 8 hours but I have never had a problem yet. There was a rest stop just s/o Winnemucca, NV that allowed 18 hours but then again, that's the only place for miles to park and the spots were long enough for two rigs to park one behind each other too. I have parked in a receiver's lot before in King City with no problem either but i called ahead and he gave me permission to do so.

 

Are the CA rest stops usually full? Do you find you are looking in other areas i.e. malls etc?

Thanks again

 

I loaded and instead of going home I showered and went to bed. (Loaded at one of our yards) Left early am and had a heck of a time finding a place to tighten my chains. Went thru 3 rest areas and finally went and got in line at a fuel island. Got out tightened chains then waited for the fuel/ shower/ 34 restart line to move so I could leave...

 

That depends on the corridor. The 5 has plenty of rest stops while the 99 and 101 are limited. Also after 6 pm it starts to get difficult to find parking at rest stops unless you're n/o SAC.
I don't park in malls nor Wally world. Most retail parking lots are patrolled and you will be cited.
The trick is to plan your day out knowing how far you can go and get a carrier's atlas that shows the rest stops on your route. Don't be in a situation where you're down to the last hour of driving and the next rest stop is 80 miles away. I'd rather get in only 400 miles and call it an early day than chance it and run out of time.

 

From how I understood things. If you run out of hours while driving and there is no safe/secure area to park, DOT does allow you to drive to the nearest safe haven/parking area.

I had this problem once in Denver, Co. The T/A was full so I did what I had to do to find a safe place to park.

 

Actually no.

A friend of mine got caught when he was over by less than 10 minutes and only 1/2 mile from a place to park.

Nice ticket received. Put out of service. Escorted to the stop.