Not So Convenient Parking At Night

Also, I'm not much of a gun person, but my husband has really been encouraging me to get one for safety purposes. Does this pose a problem when traveling into jurisdictions that do not allow guns, or when crossing into Canada? (Prime is my choice of employers right now, and I understand they go into Canada quite a bit.) Are there company policies on these things?

1 SOLUTION- Bear spray from Cabela's, or another sporting goods store. You can clip this to your belt on your hip and spray directly from your hip. Or clip this to a purse. I sprayed this on my neighbor's dog- it works. I had chickens.

2 I think no major Company would allow a gun. Do not carry a gun into Canada. At the border they are very strict.

3 I don't see any way you could carry a gun as a Trucker. My daughter's 20 yr old male friend spent a year in jail in New Jersey or New York. He was stopped by police, they searched his car and found his firearm. He was a fine young man, never broke the law in his life. His parents did everything they could and could not get him out. His Uncle, a Texan Judge, could not get him released.

4 If you do carry a gun, and I don't blame you, get a CCW- concealed weapons permit. I am a Member of the NRA.

I've been in and out of Canada a bunch of times when I toured with rock bands, so I know how their customs works very well. That's why I was curious about reading how people had guns while trucking. Maybe they don't go into Canada. I'm not concerned about the gun issue, as I really don't see myself carrying one at all. I like the bear spray idea, or mace, or something similar. I'm more concerned with parking my truck someplace safe overnight in a remote area. That seems the scariest to me, and is why I'm considering driving mostly overnights.

I look at it as a matter of statistics. The odds of me getting attacked while in a truck should be about the same as my is of getting attacked while camping or traveling by myself otherwise. Since those odds never stopped me, I'm not going to let these odds stop me. That being said, I've read that there are ways to better secure your doors at night and I'm not going to walk entirely unarmed out by myself, but those arms will probably consist more of tools (you can do a lot of damage with a Crowbar or long screwdriver) than my handy dandy Glock or Bersa. I don't carry paper spray because I've had enough training on it to know all the ways it can go wrong. I always have a pocket knife and phone on me. Most people who would do anything are looking for easy targets. Keep aware of what's around you. Act like you shouldn't be messed with. If they have a gun, luck may have run out, but the odds would have been against me even if I did have my gun IF they're willing and able to use it, but I figure the odds of that aren't good.

I look at it as a matter of statistics. The odds of me getting attacked while in a truck should be about the same as my is of getting attacked while camping or traveling by myself otherwise. Since those odds never stopped me, I'm not going to let these odds stop me. That being said, I've read that there are ways to better secure your doors at night and I'm not going to walk entirely unarmed out by myself, but those arms will probably consist more of tools (you can do a lot of damage with a Crowbar or long screwdriver) than my handy dandy Glock or Bersa. I don't carry paper spray because I've had enough training on it to know all the ways it can go wrong. I always have a pocket knife and phone on me. Most people who would do anything are looking for easy targets. Keep aware of what's around you. Act like you shouldn't be messed with. If they have a gun, luck may have run out, but the odds would have been against me even if I did have my gun IF they're willing and able to use it, but I figure the odds of that aren't good.

I was married to a cop so I know how pepper spray and guns can both be bad ideas. I'm pretty sure I can remain safe with some planning. I also wish the ladies area of the forum was more active. I'm curious how other women handle some of the these types of issues and what their "secret but safe" parking areas are.

This all seems like good advice, but I'm a woman, and while I'll always consider myself on par with men, there is definitely a wider spectrum of security issues with a single female parking in a remote location at night.

You bring up some excellent questions and concerns. I agree with you, I raised three daughters all of whom consider themselves not only on par with men, but to be far superior to any male on the planet! And goodness girl, with hair like that you are definitely superior to most of us.

You have mentioned being nocturnal, and to be quite honest with you that trait will serve you well in the Northeast. I drive through the night quite often, but especially in that part of the country. Driving at night eliminates so many problems associated with that area, but it also raises a few also, such as limited field of vision.

As far as parking for a woman though, I would agree with you in that it is safest at a truck stop. It sounds like you know how to conduct yourself, and that is important. Always walk like you have a purpose, and don't be slinking around between the trailers... walk to or from the truck stop out in the open lanes of the parking lot. Be aware of your surroundings and practice situational awareness.

There are a lot of ladies out here, and there are probably a few creepy men. While I have never witnessed a lady being harassed, if I did I would step in if I thought intervention was called for, and I'm quite confident there are a lot of others who would do the same. There is a camaraderie among truck drivers. For the most part they will help and protect each other.

Thank you. I would say that from what I've seen here and elsewhere, the trucking culture (as well as almost every other profession out there) has made huge strides in accommodating and including women as equals. You'll still always meet up with unintentional misogyny, but that's to be expected. I'm sure for people who just don't run across it often, the idea of a woman truck driver might seem strange. I'm just glad that the general assumption at a truck stop has changed so that it's not automatically assumed that a woman there is there for something other than driving a truck. But even if they did, I'm completely used to being seen as only there because I'm some sort of sexual commodity to someone. I toured with heavy metal bands. You have no idea how many people out there STILL believe if you're on a tour bus you MUST be someone's "girl". It's maddening. But I'm happy that it seems that for every one guy out there that actually still holds to those beliefs there must be about 10 men who are exactly the opposite. And that makes me feel like I could be safe.

Using a ball-peen hammer as a tire-thumper is good to be seen with when you're checking your tires when you are stopped. I think everyone hit all the key points in personal protection here within the confines of the laws and policies.

Many times when I ran to and from Canada, I was asked about pepper spray and bear mace, because they don't want it in the trucks. There isn't any reason to NOT have various tools on the truck, so good preparation makes for good work.

When I was doing my time in combat, I was in charge of a lot of female troops, and there were times that called for me to step up the personal protection training because in places where everyone has a few guns on them, tension goes way up.

Avenues of approach: these are areas where someone may likely try to get to you unseen, so at night, use a red light to save your night vision. You can also use mirrors to bounce a flashlight beam into dark areas.

Consider putting a big rodeo belt buckle where it can be seen too. Guys like to use huge bras to ward off lot lizards, so this could get funny sometimes. One of my favorites that no one ever expected to come out was putting a couple of heavy fishing weights onto parachute cord with about 4-6 feet of reach on it. When you bring that out and get it moving fast, most people won't feel like they want to continue messing with you and it can get the point across if you need to land it onto someone's scalp.

I used to teach CHL carriers how to defend themselves after they passed the CHL testing, so not only did I teach how to actually use the gun, but also to generally survive the attack and kick some ass. I've only had one real encounter that could have gone badly, and when I told the guy that I am naming him Monica, the whole thing deflated. Normally a person has already created a script for how they see the attack happening, so I guess the point is that making it crazy makes the whole thing more favorable for you. Generally though, there really isn't much reason for concern because people want to be left alone to fall asleep to their movie or XM radios until they can roll out again. If fact, expect to just be ignored 99% of the time.

If you want good pepper spray get a a brand that a lot of LEO agencies use such as Freeze Plus P. Pepper sprays are rated by their heat rating on the Scoville heat scale (Goes up to 2 million) and many of the ones you buy at Wal Mart etc are only rated around 50-100,000. Freeze Plus P is as hot as you can get at 2 million on the scale and you can buy it for about 20 bucks on Amazon. Buy the one that delivers in a stream and not a spray, its more effective.

Great advice everyone. Thank you.

Do not use bear spray, I've seen a man sprayed by it and it blinded him resulting in legal implications. It's a felony to use it on a person, and it is especially illegal to use bear spray in Canada.

Use pepper spray a high volume kind that has the uv dye in it. The uv dye allows someone to shine a black light on someone and it lights them up like a Christmas tree.