Ramp Parkers

There are times I prefer to park on the on ramp. Especially if it's later in the evening when the vultures are circling the truck stops.

Guess I don't qualify as a professional driver then.

So I'm unprofessional and lazy....NOT. I really don't care what you think because you don't sign my paycheck.

I've had more issues in truck stops then I have parked on an on-ramp. Saturday night while waiting for my pork load, I got a call that it wouldn't be ready until yesterday morning. So I got out of the truck at this little convenience store gas station with truck parking in Marshalltown IA. Car pulls up and a guy asked me something which I couldn't hear. So I walked up to the car and Monty was excited to see a person. I looked in so I could hear what he was saying and saw that he had something on his passenger seat that looked like white powder wrapped up in Saran wrap. Then he asked me if I wanted to party....nope, I needed to get some sleep. I'm not sure what time it was but probably around midnight and had somebody knock on my door. Monty went ballistic. It was the same guy wanting to party. I have never had any issues on the on ramps, except in Nebraska which will get you a Level III and Wyoming, the year they shut the ramps down to parking, and that's a $250 ticket. So I avoid those ramps, but do park in many other States on the on-ramps.

My parking places:

1. Weigh Stations/POE

2. Official pullouts

3. On-ramps

4. Restaurants and WalMarts that have truck parking

5.Truck stops

Oh and this company that I'm driving for has had 4 trucks get damaged by hit and run trucks in truck stops since Mar 2020 and 0 trucks damaged when parked on On-ramps.

Laura

I think it's admirable that you can avoid parking on ramps. Whether or not everyone shares your aversion to parking on ramps, if it is a goal you set for yourself and something you take pride in, then by all means consider it a victory for yourself and be proud of that.

I've had to park on a ramp once. On my first load ever. Horse Cave, Kentucky. That's before I found out about the big, empty lot down the road, around the bend that had been a gas station at some point in the past.

I do occasionally park on the shoulder area of rest area entrances and exits if it's the only option.

Interesting, fairly polarizing topic. Perhaps I should have chosen my words more carefully to clarify that I find the practice of ramp parking to be unprofessional and lazy.

Perhaps one can say that because a driver occasionally engages in an unsafe practice, it doesn't necessarily make them unprofessional.

Obviously it creates a huge safety issue. One of our drivers caused a fatality accident as a result of the practice. As many companies prohibit it, we are not to do it except for an emergency. I've personally witnessed the immediate aftermath of two very horrible accidents from it. Parked semi on off ramp, vehicle impacted the trailer. The other, a semi impacted the trailer. Both were severe.

Logic would dictate that if several states impose fines and or outright ban it, and a majority of companies ban and or discourage the practice, it is unsafe and therefore unprofessional to do so.

It seems I may hold an unpopular opinion in being against it, but that simply is what it is.

I agreed with everything you said.....until this:

To me the thought of starting a shift without knowing where and when I'm going to stop and how far I'm going to drive is a failure.

In my very successful OTR career, I almost never knew where I was going to park at the end of the day, or how far I would drive. There were far too many variables in my day for me to plan 14 hours ahead. Locking myself into a predetermined parking spot could cost me miles and productivity.

Rather, I'd do the best I could until just a couple hours before my shift ended. Then I would look ahead and map out a plan for where to park the truck. And I never had to park on a ramp.

The only exception is when I knew I'd make it to a customer's location for the night. Then it would just make more sense to stay there. Otherwise, I'm grabbing all the miles I can until it's time to start thinking of where to park.

Valid point about not nailing oneself to one particular place to park. But, this doesn't mean that a driver shouldn't have an idea as to how far in the direction of one's destination a driver can go. It doesn't mean that a driver shouldn't spend the time to see what parking is available that distance. If I have a load going 700 miles, and I am not going over 65 mph, I know that I have to park before getting to my destination. Am I going to plan to park 650 miles away? Probably not. I might be able to get that far, but it's not likely. So, I am going to find the places along my route that are around 600. At my 30-minute break, reassess and maybe 650 is possible. I have several spots in mind in a general area so that I am not hauling butt into a rest area with no time left and no spots remaining in the rest area.

I don't disagree with you, but I do think that you are not being intellectually honest in responding to the idea of planning a place to park at the beginning of one's trip.

I find Ramp parkers to be very annoying, unprofessional and it denotes laziness and a lack of pride in our trade.

When I ran nights I along with other LTL drivers took our break on the ramps, since the rest areas and truck stops are full.

Do we still count as unprofessional, or do we qualify for an exception?

I am with Davy that I think you just aren't taking the time to find a better place to park. It may require driving a couple of miles from the highway, depending on location. But isn't safety the objective over production? On ramps and off ramps really aren't safe. Drivers justify their usage in the name of getting the job done, but that logic could then be used to justify doing anything that is unsafe for the sake of productivity.

I'd much rather see a ramp parker than an in front of the enyrance of the only cat scale in a 40 mile radius parker.

It's not like the driver can't be woken up and asked to move. Yeah, it's annoying, but it's easily rectified.

Ryan tries to nitpick:

But, this doesn't mean that a driver shouldn't have an idea as to how far in the direction of one's destination a driver can go

I never said that, or anything like it. You should pay closer attention to the context in which I spoke.

I don't disagree with you, but I do think that you are not being intellectually honest in responding to the idea of planning a place to park at the beginning of one's trip.

That's because I wasn't responding to that at all. I was however responding to the notion that anyone who doesn't plan a place to park is a failure.

Try to keep up.

Interesting, fairly polarizing topic. Perhaps I should have chosen my words more carefully to clarify that I find the practice of ramp parking to be unprofessional and lazy.

Perhaps one can say that because a driver occasionally engages in an unsafe practice, it doesn't necessarily make them unprofessional.

Obviously it creates a huge safety issue. One of our drivers caused a fatality accident as a result of the practice. As many companies prohibit it, we are not to do it except for an emergency. I've personally witnessed the immediate aftermath of two very horrible accidents from it. Parked semi on off ramp, vehicle impacted the trailer. The other, a semi impacted the trailer. Both were severe.

Logic would dictate that if several states impose fines and or outright ban it, and a majority of companies ban and or discourage the practice, it is unsafe and therefore unprofessional to do so.

It seems I may hold an unpopular opinion in being against it, but that simply is what it is.

Polarizing topic because it is related to truck parking in general and that is a BIG issue nation and industry wide.

It would be great if ramps were actually designed and built to be parked on by trucks. Personally, it scares me to park on an exit ramp. I will occasionally park on an entrance ramp if need be. This is the case if I come to the rest area at night and there is a line of trucks parked along the exit ramp. I never want to be the truck at the very end of the line, which would make me the first to get hit. So I will proceed into the rest area and commonly find there are no official spots remaining. Then I will consider parking along the entrance ramp if there is a spot available.

Too many trucks, too little parking.

I tried parking on a ramp once. The truck stop was 100% full.

I don't see how guys go to sleep on ramps, at least not in busy areas. The cars whirring by, shaking my truck just unnerved me.

Plus the idea that at any time an officer of the law could pull in and give me trouble, or some dummy would run into me while I slept.

Nah count me out!