No where to park

Keep your eyes OPEN. It doesn't have to be a truck stop. Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart....lots of industrial areas with DCs and such have places you can get in if you need to.

Costco is another one that is good to slip into if you have to. Most people, even the Mall Ninja Skerrity Guards will assume you're making an early morning delivery.

One of my favorite places to stop along the 80 in Kansas is a closed down, defunct grocery store. It has a good, dark hole, with a c-store in the parking lot and the local cop will usually drive through and wave.

But don't cut yourself so low on hours that you're in a bind for a hole.

 

Noob question about this sort of parking - Are these place you can usually idle your truck if needed? I've seen a lot of questions about that given the summer heat wave many places are experiencing?

 

Don't make a habit out of this but....

Look on your phone and call the local police or sheriffs office. Don't call 911.

Say "I'm a truck driver driving an 18 wheeler and I'm really too tired to drive, can I park here on the entrance ramp? Or on the side of the road? Get a name before you get off the phone. If the answer is no then ask the police where can you park. They run the roads just as much as we do and might even know of a popular place to tell you to park.

Another emergency plan would be...

Park on the shoulder or on the side of the road and place your trangles out. If you get question later by the police just say something like "I was loosing air pressure and I'm waiting on help to come."

Get 1 to 3 hours sleep and then find a better parking spot.. Truck stop. Rest area

 

This is good advice. Don't be shy about asking for help when it comes to parking in an unfamiliar area OR if you find yourself in a bad situation and need to extricate yourself safely.

A few weeks ago I had to call the police twice on the same day. In the morning I had a pick up in LA. The ONLY legal truck route to this customer requires a U-turn from a divided 4 lane onto a frontage road with tall curbs. Narrow, tight, but doable. I studied it on Google Satellite and Street View. The problem was there was road construction that limited my ability to pull forward far enough to avoid taking out a stop sign. The police arrived in minutes and stopped traffic so I could execute a multi point turn. That evening I needed help to stop traffic so I could back into a customer's driveway after hours.

Ask for help. I have always been thanked for making the call.

 

Some dispatcher, for example in New Mexico will say sure keep driving. And then good luck trying to explain that one to a CHP inspector a few days later in California.

 

Every last person is valuable in the workforce. Some people get stuck in certain jobs because of their past. I use Carolina Cargo as an example previously. I understand they wont pay the highest wage but to pay drivers an insulting wage, that's not really livable just because of baggage is BS. They paid their debt to society. Why exploit them even worse? Many jobs dont pay livable wages. That's exploitation. It's not that easy for everyone to move around brother.

 

THIS is really good advice for newbies and probably something they don't teach you in truck driving school ( good example of trip planning too! ). As a new driver I would have never even thought of this b/c I'd figure the cops would show up all pissed off b/c they have to deal w/ my dumb ### and then they'd just write me a bunch of tickets on GP! Now I'll definitely have this in the back of my mind even if it's a last resort!

 

There has been many times I either call for help or a policeman shows up to help. Never once were they upset. Often they thank me for stopping, putting on 4 ways, and getting out to look at my options. Frequently they apologize for some screwed up signage, "You wouldn't believe how many truckers get stuck here. The problems happen when they try to get out by themselves (as he points to damage to a sign)".

 

The fuel island

 

Just move one of the garbage cans to the back of the trailer so people will know you will be there for a while.