One of the lessons I learned from when I worked as a driver for Werner is that once the sun starts going down, many truckers lose their ability to reason. By that, I do not mean that they suddenly swerve into traffic, or drive on the wrong side of the road. They lose their ability to reason in a very specific way, and that way is in their ability to choose an appropriate parking spot. Because of the lessons I learned at Werner, I wake up at 4:30 am or 5:00 am. This allows me to be on the road driving between 5:00 and 5:45; and every morning no matter where I wake up, in a truck stop or in a rest area, I see something like this…
Those trucks are not supposed to be there, that area beside the Fuel Island is not for parking. The space taken up by those five trucks to the left of the Fuel Island is supposed to be wide open for parking trucks to maneuver in. The way it is, there is not enough room for a truck to turn around if it needs to. Those trucks should, by rights, be towed. And yet every morning there are trucks parked in every space they feel like they can park without getting towed. You see, there is a magical time of evening when the laws and rules about parking a Semi-truck do not apply…. Except they do. Luckily, or unluckily… I can offer some insights into why this happens.
I don’t remember the date, nor do I remember what part of the country I was in. I can say it was probably in 2011, but that is about it. I had put in a long day driving, and finally reached my delivery at about 5:00. I had a few hours on my clock, but that should not have been an issue, for I was simply dropping my loaded trailer and picking up an empty one. It was in Kentucky! I remember now. It was a dog food plant near a large river. It was about sixty miles from the interstate. Either way, delivering that load took much longer than it should have. Maybe the numbers my fleet people gave me were not correct, it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that I pulled into a truck stop, my 14 hour clock used up ten minutes previous. It was dark, and the truck stop was a small one. I found myself in a horrible situation. I was legally bound to park my truck ASAP. If I was caught with my truck moving by the Law I would get a big ticket and in a lot of trouble with my company. And yet, there were absolutely no parking spaces open here. There was no close alternative to parking here, no rest area or weigh stations, and I ended up parking right next to a CAT Scale. It made me very uncomfortable, parking there, because I knew it was not an appropriate place to park. But I had no real choice.
Now, before you start calling me out for being a sympathizer with those who chose to park in stupid places, let me say that the situation I was in was 100% preventable. The way to prevent these situations is very simple, have a solid trip plan. Now, it is possible that one could run into a clock situation like this even with a good trip plan, it happened to me the other day (I pulled into a truck stop with about .0456 seconds left on my clock… But –that- is why I always start my day super early... I am getting ahead of myself.
Most trucks cruise at 60-65 MPH. I cruise at 58 MPH because it is only slightly slower but much more fuel efficient. To make it easy, let’s say you average 60 MPH… Given that speed, the absolute max you can legally drive in one day is 660 miles. (60 MPH X 11 hours). So if you have 680 miles to drive, don’t plan on making the whole trip in one day. Make it most of the way and finish the next day. Know your limits! For myself, I start getting a fuzzy-brained after 9 hours of driving. At 9.5 hours I start to hit the line when I am unsafe to drive. I know there are truckers out there who can do 10 or 11 hours of driving without too much trouble (Or say they can)… but I know when I am unsafe to drive. I know my limits. Aside from the straight driving time, there are other things you have to take into account when planning a trip. Sometime in the first eight hours of being on duty you have to take a 30 minute break. You will have to go potty. Are you driving on US or state highways? If so you won’t be able to go as fast safely. 100 miles of US or state highway take more than 100 minutes. Then there are things you can’t specifically account for but can plan for generally. Am I driving near a metropolitan area? Am I driving there during rush hour? What about the weather? If you plan on driving 400-500 miles you can expect the weather to be somewhat different over that distance… You get the idea.
To be fair though, even with the best plan there may be a time when you have to run close to when your clock says you have to stop. These situations are very rare when you have a good trip plan, but they do occasionally happen; and this is why I get up and start so early. Starting the day at 5:00 with a pre-trip inspection, the very latest I can possibly be out is 7:00 pm. That, in most areas, is when the witching hour starts. At 7:00 I might have a hard time getting a parking spot in a truck stop, but rest areas will still be mostly clear. Their witching hour doesn’t start till the sun is fully down. In practice though, starting at 5:00 am I am usually parked and done for the day by 4:30 pm; and at that time parking is easy-breezy.
So, in my opinion, there is no excuse for having to be one of the guys who parks his truck in a no parking zone. When it comes to DOT clocks, it is best to stay as far from the cliff-edge as you can. Plan so that even if you –do- have to skirt the cliff, you won’t have to break parking laws in order to avoid breaking hours of service laws.
There is a sub-lesson here, a cynical one… but I have found it to be true time and time again. I try, more than anything in this job, to be safe and compliant with the law. This means that I don’t park my truck where it is not safe and legal. It means I don’t speed. (I can’t speed really, unless I am on a heavy load and going downhill. My truck is governed at 63 MPH) It means I plan to follow all the rules and regulations that come with driving one of these huge trucks…. However, some truckers… Not most, that is too cynical… but some… more than I am comfortable thinking about, just plain don’t care. When they feel like they need to park and there isn’t a good place, they just park where ever they want. Enough out of the way that no one can have them towed, but still just wherever they want. The optimistic view of all this is that they are simply not well trained… But having worked for two trucking companies now, I don’t think that is the case. I think the more realistic view is that these truckers park where ever they want because they are lazy. I think there is a small percentage of them that truly had a crazy fluke happen and they had to park where they could, but watching these truckers makes me think most of don’t care for parking rules, and are just lazy… Call me a pessimist, but that’s how I feel about it. Making a good trip plan takes some thought, and a little bit of math. It is quicker and easier to just go without a solid plan, but in this job, the quick and easy way is rarely the best or safest way. Here is a short example that makes me think it is lazy rather than lack of training…
That white trailer there, pointing the opposite direction from my truck and the orange one next to me? Bad! No! Bad Trucker!
This is pure 100% laziness… It is much easier to pull into a parking spot like that than to maneuver your way into a proper backing angle and work your way in backwards… It may seem like a good idea… “Crap, I have to pee so badly because of the 64 ounce coffee I drank today. I’ll just pull in and be done with it.” NO. Bad Trucker. Do it right, back in to the spot properly, Huh? The problem with pulling into a spot like this is that when you leave you have to back out into an active parking lot. You can’t see very well behind you, and you certainly can’t trust the other people to see what you are doing and slow down or stop. It’s an accident waiting to happen. In a lot of ways, maneuvering in a truck lot is the time when a driver has to keep safety in mind the most. The safety guy at my company sends out a safety message every morning, and he said the other day that 93% of truck accidents happen in truck stops and lots. That is pretty crazy. So laziness in truck lots is serious business. Do things the right way, that’s what I say.
Anyway enough preaching. I only have two and a half weeks to go before the summer is over and I go back to being a Skeptic normal-guy. It’s been a mostly fun summer!
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