Finding an authorized and safe place to park your 18-wheeler has always been a challenge in the trucking industry, especially with the ever-increasing amount of semis on the roads. Now with the HOS regulation being enforced by the ELD mandate, truckers are finding it even harder to find an adequate place to park. The American Transport Research Institution found that truck parking diaries revealed that drivers using ELD devices were more likely to spend over 30 minutes looking for available parking spaces than those drivers without ELD devices.
Trucks Park Here launched at the start of 2019 this year, is an initiative that uses technology to help truck drivers find an adequate place to park. Truck Park Here provides live details of parking availability to truck drivers across 8 Midwestern states. Drivers can receive real-time updates about parking availability through smartphone apps, message boards, and information websites. There are currently 127 parking sites feeding data into the system which equals about 4,500 sensors monitored spaces. Currently, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin are collaborating in the project to help provide timely parking information to drivers.
Trucks Park Here is hoping that the initiative will help drivers find a timely and safe solution to parking; thereby reducing the amount of time spent looking for parking spaces. This will, in turn, save money on fuel and wear and tear of the semi, reduce emissions, and prevent accidents otherwise due to driver fatigue and illegal parking.
