Rest area semi parking

[CarolynT]

I'm wondering if anyone can tell me why so many semi drivers do not pull into the long spaces in rest areas but instead park on the on/off ramps. Or they park in the driving lane where we need to drive to pull into or out of those spaces. I'm not talking about a full rest area or when the semi is a double or triple tow. We've encountered this multiple times and it has made it difficult for use to pull our 45' 5th wheel safely thru the rest area. Been traveling for 3 years and 20 states and find this all over.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Usually it's because the long spaces were full when they arrived or the on/off ramps are in the shade. I think they also do it when they are going to be there resting for a length of time and don't want to be disturbed by rigs next to them when they're trying to rest. Or maybe they're just being contrary.
I agree it's a pain and not safe or probably legal in most cases.

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

Usually it's because the long spaces were full when they arrived or the on/off ramps are in the shade. I think they also do it when they are going to be there resting for a length of time and don't want to be disturbed by rigs next to them when they're trying to rest. Or maybe they're just being contrary.
I agree it's a pain and not safe or probably legal in most cases.

X2

Plus there are just not enough spaces in other locations like truck stops.

Keep in mind the interstates were built for interstate commerce not for RV traffic !!!

Trucks here even have to park for night rest on the on / off ramps....... not legal but necessary. We did have a car hit the rear of a tractor trailer on an off ramp. The trucker was ticketed for improper parking as a car passenger died........... the car driver is in the local jail as he was arrested for traveling 125 mph / and illuding the county police.

[1100mike]

Semi drivers have to stop when their clock runs out. Many times they don't have much choice..

[NMWildcat]

We travel I10 a lot with and w/o the RV. It is basically bumper to bumper semis these days. Which is a good thing considering the distribution problem of the last few years.
I will concede that the quality and professionalism of some semi drivers are not what they used to be. I attribute it to the lack of drivers and the push to get new drivers in the seat.
In the SW heat we travel very late at night sometimes and it is amazing how every ramp, rest area, and truck stop is packed with semis. Not enough room for everyone evidently.
But I have never seen any of them blocking access to a driving lane where it made me uncomfortable. If they did so, I'm sure their driving brethren or DOT would correct them. If the semis crowding all the rest areas can get in and out, so can you and your RV.
When I find myself getting annoyed with a semi I try to remember that they are working for a living and delivering products to keep store shelves stocked.
Sometimes it works

[Sunseeker16]

Semis will park in the first open spot they find usually. It could be on the way in or the way out. I stay in rest areas when traveling with the rv and I do the same.

[PDFOR3]

X2

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

We travel I10 a lot with and w/o the RV. It is basically bumper to bumper semis these days. Which is a good thing considering the distribution problem of the last few years.
I will concede that the quality and professionalism of some semi drivers are not what they used to be. I attribute it to the lack of drivers and the push to get new drivers in the seat.
In the SW heat we travel very late at night sometimes and it is amazing how every ramp, rest area, and truck stop is packed with semis. Not enough room for everyone evidently.
But I have never seen any of them blocking access to a driving lane where it made me uncomfortable. If they did so, I'm sure their driving brethren or DOT would correct them. If the semis crowding all the rest areas can get in and out, so can you and your RV.
When I find myself getting annoyed with a semi I try to remember that they are working for a living and delivering products to keep store shelves stocked.
Sometimes it works

[mmartin_tdc]

On my recent trip from CA to AR, via I40 there and I80 back, I ran into one rest area where all spots were taken and one semi parked in the driving lane for the rest area. He either left the truck to use the restroom, or was sleeping in the back. Another semi was behind him, and honked his horn every few minutes, attempting to get through. I came in behind this combo and ended up backing up the 30' or so, just so I could pull through the car side to exit the rest area. Some drivers are just inconciderate, both cars and semi's.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

Keep in mind the interstates were built for interstate commerce not for RV traffic !!!

Not exacty. Here's why the Interstates were really built:

On June 29, 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The bill created a 41,000-mile “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways” that would, according to Eisenhower, eliminate unsafe roads, inefficient routes, traffic jams and all of the other things that got in the way of “speedy, safe transcontinental travel.” At the same time, highway advocates argued, “in case of atomic attack on our key cities, the road net [would] permit quick evacuation of target areas.” For all of these reasons, the 1956 law declared that the construction of an elaborate expressway system was “essential to the national interest.”

https://www.history.com/topics/us-st...highway-system


Eisenhower championed the Interstate system after seeing Germany's Autobahn system.

Once the Interstates were built the trucking industry capitalized on it and siphoned a lot of freight off the railroads that previously carried long distance freight with trucks more relegated to local or regional delivery.

As for trucks parking on ramps, for many it's sometimes easier to enter and leave without having to squeeze in or out between long trucks with narow "traffic lanes" in the Rest Area.

Rest Areas are for ALL users, not just trucks.

A lot of truck drivers I know and have met prefer to combine rest with fuel and food stops. They stop at truck stops and rarely at rest areas.

[hkreck]

I've seen rest areas in Nebraska with signs put up not to park on the off and on ramps. these are pretty small rest areas.

[johnlochbuie]

They park on off ramps and on ramps because it is more quiet when I was driving over the road I use to do it .

[Tabasco_Joe]

PA has a 2 hour limit on rest area stays.
I think the SP allow some tolerance, but truckers shouldn't be sacking out.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by Tabasco_Joe

PA has a 2 hour limit on rest area stays.
I think the SP allow some tolerance, but truckers shouldn't be sacking out.

I'd rather have a trucker sacking out on the side of the road than driving while tired.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by Tabasco_Joe

PA has a 2 hour limit on rest area stays.
I think the SP allow some tolerance, but truckers shouldn't be sacking out.

Seems like PA has more than it's share of nonsense laws

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

Seems like PA has more than it's share of nonsense laws

PA is not alone. Here's a list of Rest Area "Rules" and some just flat prohibit overnight parking. Others limit from 2 hours to 24 hours. (WA State is 8 hrs but based on my last stop to dump my holding tanks it appears that if you're homeless you can park your trashed out MH or TT as long as you want. Maybe long enough to start receiving mail deliveries)

https://www.interstaterestareas.com/...parking-rules/

Unless there is an entry "gate" that issues a time stamped ticket, or someone on site 24/7 to monitor entry times, any time limit would be real difficult to enforce.

As for me, the times I've stayed in a Rest Area it's only from time I arrive and until I wake up. I'll stay just long enough to eat a meal and get some sleep. Staying next to an idling Semi or running refrigeration unit any longer than necessary is low on my "fun list".

[johnlochbuie]

Why do you think they are called rest stops and why do you think they have semi parking it isn't a campground for rvs truck drivers have to stop and sleep for 8 hours after driving for 10hours plus they have to keep log books up to date they can't do it in trucks stops to noisy and you have hookers knock on your door . I would rather have truckers in the rest stops instead of on the road falling asleep .

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by johnlochbuie

Why do you think they are called rest stops and why do you think they have semi parking it isn't a campground for rvs truck drivers have to stop and sleep for 8 hours after driving for 10hours plus they have to keep log books up to date they can't do it in trucks stops to noisy and you have hookers knock on your door . I would rather have truckers in the rest stops instead of on the road falling asleep .

Ok that made me laugh . Most noise is other trucks running or a refrigerated unit going and should not effect filling in a log book . I am not bothered by the white noise of the diesels idling . Since our Tax payer dollars pays for rest areas for all [trucking companies pay their share] it is open to all . Truckers have the added benefit of all the trucker parking at loves, pilots, travel plazas , truck only parking areas etc all of which can be noisy .
Now About the hookers have yet to have one knock on my door or even see one in all my travels . maybe we just go to different places .

[PodGeek]

I have no issue with semis parking on on/off ramps away from the traffic lanes...I just wish the drivers would quit leaving their plastic jugs of lemonade outside on the edges of the ramps.

[K5460]

In a recent article I read, the reporter said that on any given night there is a shortage of over 1,000,000 truck parking sites. Even with all the truck stops and the rest areas we still need over 1,000,000 more parking spaces. That is why they are parked on the on ramps and off ramps. This has just gotten progressively worse over the last 40 years.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by johnlochbuie

Why do you think they are called rest stops and why do you think they have semi parking it isn't a campground for rvs truck drivers have to stop and sleep for 8 hours after driving for 10hours plus they have to keep log books up to date they can't do it in trucks stops to noisy and you have hookers knock on your door . I would rather have truckers in the rest stops instead of on the road falling asleep .

Log Books? Since December 16, 2019 (full compliance date) all drivers required to maintain Hours Of Service Logs have to have ELD devices installed on their rigs. Hours of service are now electronically recorded. A couple of exceptions:
Short Haul (inside 100 mile circle) and trucks manufactured before 2000.

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/hours-serv...about-eld-rule

Sounds like less time "concocting" a log book.