Which law should I break today? Trip planning and parking.

Practice backing while waiting at truckstop, or fueling, go find a spot, back in like there trucks there, stay in the lanes of spot.

 

It is illegal in many states where 80% of the US population lives. Some states allow it. It's not a great idea. It was the only rule I sometimes broke when everything else blew up and I had no other options. It's not the first option when nothing better is convenient. You keep a clean record by not doing illegal things, not hoping every cop is generous and understanding every day/night.

 

Some states have no such law, and some states that have the law don't enforce it except close to cities. There is no way to learn whoch is which except by reading the regs for every state and keeping notes of every place you go. Keep thinking what you were thinking about parking on the ramps. Don't do it. It's too easy to find legal parking.

I prefer truck stop parking, then rest area parking, then paid parking, then customer parking, then on-ramp parking. 95% of the time I could park at the #1, 2, or 3. If you set up truck so you have food, drinks, clean-up, maybe an emergency toilet then you can park in spots without 24/7 restaurants, showers, bathrooms, coffee, etc. That helps when parking spots are filled.

IMO, rest areas are less pleasant and safe than truck stops and just as noisy. You do you.

 

Take notes of the places you go so your 2nd or 3rd time you know what to do. I've worked at companies where we had company notes for customers. If you went to ABC Industries in Smallville, OH on Main St the notes would tell you about parking on-site, don't turn in at 1st entrance go around corner to the truck entrance, etc. Not many places have that. But I always kept the phone number of my trainer or other drivers and would ask them about customers or cities for that kind of info. It's harder if you try to rely only on yourself. When you are new you have a good excuse to ask veteran drivers at the company lots of questions.

 

I used Truckers Path a lot. Mainly to see if those pesky scales were open or closed.

 

Maybe for rookies... lol I got that banged out in 3 weeks

 

Lol I don't think I've paid to park 5 times I 15 years.

 

My understanding is that it's only illegal if you get caught. You'll most likely not get caught parking on the ramp, but you'll get caught abusing PC or driving past your 11 too many times. Many states put up signs. They don't mean much. The only states in my experience that aggressively enforce it iss Wisconsin and Nebraska, which is fine because both of those states have a lot of truck stops and parking. Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia, I've had cops knock on the door. Tennessee and Georgia, it's very specific ramps that the cops will mess with you. I-40 exit 320 Crossville, that's hit or miss. I-24 in Clarksville is the same way. In Georgia, don't park on the ramps that takes you to and from that Pilot in Newnan. The local police will run you off there. North Carolina in some places will let you sleep, but run you off in the morning. They ran me off at that Waynesville exit to get to the Pilot(I-40 exit 24 I believe). Other than those places, it fair game for me.