Anyone who regularly travels our nation’s highways knows there are a lot of trucks out there. Truckers were essential during the pandemic, and their continued dedication to keeping our households stocked with necessities certainly merits our appreciation.
Travelers on the roadways will also notice something else—trucks that are not moving but are parked in the oddest places. Sometimes these trucks are parked in dangerous spots on the side of the road, along off-ramps, or on the entranceways to rest stops—rather than spending the night in designated truck parking areas. There is a reason for this—there are simply not enough spaces for all of the trucks that haul the nation’s freight.
There are about 3 million tractor-trailers cruising America’s highways, but there is only one parking space for every 11 of those trucks. Of course, not all of those trucks need parking at the same time—some are moving, others are stopped at warehouses and terminals. But even so, there remains a huge shortage of **ital{safe} parking spaces for trucks. I emphasize **ital{safe} because a lot of the places they’re forced to use are not safe for drivers or for other vehicles.
Congress has attempted to address the problem. In 2021, legislators introduced the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, but the bill never made it into law. The legislation, which would allocate $755 million to build new parking spaces along our interstates, was reintroduced in March 2023. But ironically, it remains “parked” in committee.
Truckers are not really asking for much—just a safe place to pull over for their federally mandated rest breaks. The U.S. Department of Transportation says that 98% of drivers regularly cannot find safe parking. And 70% of drivers admit they’ve violated the HOS (hours of service) regulations—which limit the number of consecutive hours they can spend on the road—to locate a safe place to spend the night. Often, drivers are forced to end their workdays before they reach their HOS limits simply because they’ve secured a suitable parking spot and aren’t confident they can find another. When they end their day early, the industry loses productivity, and drivers, who are paid by the mile, lose income.
New road construction must include safe truck parking with adequate lighting. Food and restrooms would be nice too. Those amenities are typically found only at commercial truck stops, where spaces are limited.
As this issue of DC Velocity focuses on the nation’s 200,000-plus women truckers, let’s make sure that these women (and their male counterparts as well) feel safe doing the jobs that they love and that we all need them to do.
