Handicap truck parking?

Emergency situations aside there are niche jobs in this industry that being handicapped wouldn't be a hinderance.

 

People have an amazing ability to compensate for loss. When my dad worked on garbage trucks, there was a one armed driver. The guy always had to prove his ability to maintain control of the truck while shifting when it came time for recertification.

 

I worked at Crete a few years back, they had several drivers that could park there, but didn't. One had an artificial leg (and probably got around better than some of these 300+ lb drivers wedged into the booth closest to the buffet), the other had some sort of issue with his legs working when he walked. The latter had a service dog because he needed help carrying his duffle bag for a shower, or stuff from the truck stop c-store. Both had exemptions on their medical card, but weren't given special loads that were easier to haul/secure.

 

G Anthony hasn't seen any handicapped truck parking
because he drives in Mass
probably hasn't seen a TS in 20 years

 

true to a point. are the handicapped parking spaces (for trucks) west of the Mississippi..????..where the truck stops are bigger than the bread boxed ones here in the east..???

 

The first time I saw handicapped spots at a truck stop was in Elkton, MD at the Petro, they have a few right alongside the fuel island by the door to the main building. As for disabled drivers, I worked with a driver doing towing then car haul who had two artificial legs, he could outwork any one of us, climbing all over the truck, never complained, one heck of a worked. I suppose it depends on what exactly you do as a driver but anything is possible. Kudos to those who work through a disability and don't let it stop them. Now for the 400 pounders who get a handicap placard, well that is a different story.

 

A handicap parking spot is always closer to the place of business than any other parking spot.
This implies that whoever parks in a handicap spot has some form of physical ailment that won't allow them to walk further than where the non handicap parking spots are located. FMCSA regulations require you to be able to perform physical agility tests that rule out any physical impairments. I believe that if you need to park in a handicap parking space, you are not physically able to pass the agility test required by the FMCSA that qualifies you to drive a class A vehicle. Whomever is parking in these handicap spots is not handicapped but just plain LAZY and gaming the system.

 

The FMCSA does not require an agility test; trucking companies do based on what their particular type of trucking requires. I've met drivers with both legs missing and wearing artificial legs and they do just as well as the rest of us. There are drivers out there with only one arm or a hand missing and they can pass the DOT physical.
Truck stops have handicap parking spots for truckers because there are thousand of truckers with disabilities out there and they all can pass a DOT physical.

 

You don't

There was one in a rest area near Kansas City from the south and I put the rig into the whole thing. It fit. Law aside I figure being deaf and wearing hearing aids would do it.

No, if you were that bad off and need handicapped tags to put on a big rig then I don't think you qualified for a DOT Card. Or would you? It's such a thought that other than requiring limbs to work with enough strength for various functions with today's trucks it's possible I suppose to fit controls in the cab to suit any handicapped person and a wheel chair lift on the right side in place of the pax seat.

I just don't know enough. To date I have never seen anything like that in Commercial Interstate and Intrastate trucking.

 

The guy who founded our company lost a leg in WWll. He did just fine and could do any of the work involved in flatbedding or lowbed work.
We have a driver who lost an eye, a foot, and parts of both hands in Vietnam. He runs tanker for us and I don't see anything wrong with his work.
On the other hand, we had a new shop and office built and our entire yard paved a few years ago. All the buildings, including the restrooms ,and sidewalks are ADA compliant and each building has two handicapped parking spots. We had to show compliance before the permits for occupancy were issued. Nobody has ever parked in the handicapped zones but every couple of years we have to repaint them.