I drive OTR, and most nights I continue to run into the problem of not being able to find a parking spot at a truck stop or Rest Area past 9pm. This is really starting to get frustrating, since you are required by the stupid government regulations to find a safe place to park your rig for 10 straight hours (assuming you aren't doing a split), and your 11 hrs are up or your 14 hour clock is up, but yet every truck stop in the area you're in is filled up after 9pm. Then you try to park on an on-ramp and they will give you a parking ticket. You try to park in a Wal-Mart and they will call the local police to make you move your rig. This is crazy!!! How can they have all these government regulations in place and enforce them when they don't have the infrastructure (enough places to park trucks) for doing so?!?
If you exceed your 11 hrs to continue looking for a spot to park the truck for the night, they will still ticket you for a log violation. We just can't win. This is all total nonsense.
I'm sure all of you guys have been in this position before. My question is, what do you guys usually do once your 11 or 14 is up and you have to park the truck for the night, but there is nowhere to park? What advice can you give me which will not result in a parking ticket or log violation? I'm really out of ideas here and would appreciate any input you can give me.
I blame all these truck parking problems on the stupid 14 hour rule. All the rule does is causes a majority of the trucks to be on the road at the same time and off the road at roughly the same time. Therefore you have 100 trucks vying for 15 available parking spots. DOT just doesn't understand this I guess. If safety is what they are really concerned with, how is it safe to have most of the trucks all on the road and off the road at the same time?!? The 14 hr rule forces more drivers to drive while tired so they can get to where they need to be before their 14 runs out. This leaves them no time to take a nap if they get tired and need one. Instead, they are forced to continue driving through the fatigue so they can stay on schedule and get to their customer on time.
So does anyone have any tips for parking the truck for 10 straight hours when your time is up and you are struggling to find any spots open at truck stops or Rest Areas? What should you do if this is the case? What CAN you do without getting a parking ticket or log violation? Thanks in advance.