Another Reason to Not Park On The Shoulder

I disagree. I'm glad I have your permission to do so, even though I don't need it. There is always a choice. I've never had to do it. It's called trip planning. Anywhere off the roadway is better than a ramp, even if it's at the skankiest truck stop in West Memphis.

I know this is an old argument, but I won't concede until I read about someone dying because they hit a truck parked in a safe and legal parking spot at 60 mph. Shoulders and ramps are neither safe nor legal (with maybe a handful of exceptions.)

 

And rest assured,when 5 am rolls around,whether it’s on I-81 or I-95,Virginia State Police is patrolling the shoulders of those rest areas,writing tickets for every truck that they see that is illegally parked!

 

Good.

 

Lol as far as I'm concerned, I did trip plan. My trip plan had me running out of time near Lebanon, TN. I used the ramp at the 245. Thats a safe one to me. Its no traffic there for real. I felt good about that one. You're right, drivers always have a choice. That night, I made a choice to park on the ramp. I felt like the choice I made was safe. Not all ramps are safe, but that particular one, I felt no issue of using that one. I don't particularly care for parking at truck stops, especially the corporate ones. Everyone has their parking preferences, I actually like those types of ramps, side streets, or isolated areas. I don't think it makes me wrong, not does it make anyone wrong if they prefer truck stops and rest areas.

 

Well at least this time you didn't say, "EVERYONE PARKS ON RAMPS AND SHOULDERS AND HITS STUFF EVERY NOW AND THEN AND IF YOU SAY YOU DON'T, YOU'RE LYING AND ACTING LIKE YOUR BETTER THAN EVRYBODY ELSE!!!!!!!!!

 

Dang. I forgot I posted that. I'm honored that my post meant so much to you that you committed it to your memory. Appreciate that. Anyway that's not important. What I'm about to say is. Lol

Yes I still stand by that, but because I've never met a perfect driver, nor have I met a driver that's never screwed up, bent laws/regs for the sake of their own benefit. I'll bet in the paper log days you never indulged in Creative Logging 101 either. It sounds nice to be able to cram 3 to 5 million drivers in truck stops every night, but it's not reality. I don't know why this gets talked about so much. I don't see why the truckers get blamed so much. So many accidents get caused by folks not paying attention. Anyway, we'll just disagree on this topic. I'm comfortable running loads the way I do, as you are comfortable with your methods.

 

Why do some folks keep defending the idiotic drivers in this business and driving actions??…it takes a special kind of people to do so…because pulling out from
The shoulder at a dead stop in front of traffic that is more likely running at posted or above speeds is an asinine thing..how fast do you think a 70mph truck is going to come up on a 5mph semi??..quicker than you can blink an eye in most cases… willing to bet those defending that type of driving behavior are doing the same type of stupidity..

 

Of course they are. If they would just stop saying "Oh everyone does it" and own their laziness to trip plan or just ignorance of the HOS, I wouldn't give them a second thought.

 

Well....sometimes a driver stops on the shoulder in case of emergency. I've certainly done it. I don't understand getting in the travel lanes without building up some speed. That's the dangerous part in my view. It's kind of like when a vehicle merges on to the interstate, 4 wheeler or semi, you never see them utilize the entire acceleration lane to build up speed and merge. As soon as they get parallel with traffic, they try to jump in, like it's kids playing double dutch or something. Some ramps are ok to park on and sleep. That's just my opinion. Now when you see a mile long line of trucks on the ramps at the rest area, I'd never do that. It's got to the point where rest areas look like a lot of truck stops with creative parking now.

 

Oh, so you're one of those guys who parks on the shoulder too? Geez, who in the hell trained you...