is it ok to sleep at truck stops?

herbie · Guru

RE: is it ok to sleep at truck stops?

Duh · Guru

Tim thetruckie wrote:
Flicka this is a very wide problem , people that have had nothing to do with trucks just dont understand the dynamics of them . Your normal semi running up the road can be loaded upto 46tonne , B Double 68.5tonne and road train depending on the configuration upto 140tonne . None of these can stop on a dime or take off like a sports car . They all need room on corners , the longer the combination the more room .

Slightly OT, but worth a read;

Not on a Sixpence.jpg

-- Edited by Duh on Monday 1st of July 2013 10:06:47 PM

Grams · Guru

Thanks for the reply Herbie, if you look behind the trucker in the video he had plenty of room to reverse his truck closer to the MH, allowing the other truck driver more room to negotiate his exit.

As for the truckie who was fined, he should never have planned on using only this rest stop. If he had of thought ahead, that it may be full of trucks, etc, he should have allowed time to get to the next one.

Sorry but I have no sympathy for the drivers, of what ever vehicle, who get fined for getting caught out. Those that speed, get mad because they got caught, the road rage driver who gets caught blames the person who he is mad at, the person picked up for using their mobile phone always has excuses. If I do the wrong thing, I am the first to admit my responsibilities, not blame someone else for them.

We as travellers plan on our stops and stay overs, hubby being a trucker does the same. Yes I have seen some of the roads you talk about, and yes I understand he couldn't stop there, but if he had of planned his time better he could have gone to the next stop or the one before. Hubby works on the BFM, Basic Fatigue Management, he works his days out within the 14 hrs he is allowed to drive. He would be a fool to try and drive to the absolute limit of his hours.

Tim thetruckie · Senior Member

Grams wrote:

I agree RVs and Caravaners should park to the side of the rest areas, not side by side. I watched the YouTube video with my husband, also a truckie, and we both said the guy who parked near the exit was at fault, he could have backed his truck up to allow plenty of room for the road train to leave easier than he did.

The rest areas are for everyone, they are NOT for trucks only, this may be the case in other states but in SA it's not. I can't say about other states, though we have used the ones trucks frequent where they have showers and toilets, and never had a problem.

Yes common sense should always be used, and some people don't use it unfortunately.

Grams you have missed my point about the video . In the 1st few seconds you can see 1 motorhome and at least 2 vans parked on the side with 1 m/h parked right at the end in shade on the dirt , later there is another m/h parked the same at the other end , so why couldnt the ones parked on the side where the second train would have no doubt parked .

You say he could have backed up , you really have to be joking , that is a triple road train not a round town wheelbarrow . There are operators who can back them and make it look easy but they are few and far between .

Tim thetruckie · Senior Member

Grams I say again you are missing the point . If the vans and m/h weren't parked on the side in the middle there would not be a problem for either the double or the triple , which by the way seemed to have no problem leaving .

herbie · Guru

Tim thetruckie wrote:
Grams I say again you are missing the point . If the vans and m/h weren't parked on the side in the middle there would not be a problem for either the double or the triple , which by the way seemed to have no problem leaving .

Hi Tim, reading between the lines , I recon some people just expect to be able to park where ever they think they feel like stopping, no no regard for the truck driver's fatigue management policy.Sounds like to me these people see a truck stop empty around 3/4 pm empty and think ..This looks a good freebie to sleep for the night,before the kangaroos and the other road kill come out to play on the road.But the poor truckie has not got that pleasure,he still might have another 6odd hours to work,and believe me looking forward to the stop he pulls into every trip on this same trip.but when he arrives tired no he finds it full of RVs,so what is his option other than bang on their door and tell them to bugger off out of the truck stop or just keep driving until he finds (if lucky )to find another truck stop to pull into. It is not so bad for these truckies who do the same run day in day out they kinda can work out the stops and so forth but for the TRUE long distance truckie the score is not the same. And as for pulling off the road just any place along say the Bruce h/way the truckie would be hard pressed to find a safe place to do it,I bet my bottom dollar these people who say they can just pull off to the side of the road ..well I say why don't they try it for a night and see how much sleep they would get,or bogged or clipped by another vehicle. Some of these trucks up our way if they tried to do that with the weight on they would just sink down to there axles.

Grams · Guru

Tim - I do get your point, and I did say that people should use common sense, like where they park, but I don't think it's all the blame of the travellers. The truckies themselves must also make sure they don't put another trucker in a tight situation, and yes it's done often. I have seen truckers with no regard for anyone including other truck drivers on the road, or in these rest stops. Though most are great.

Herbie - I did say I know there are places along some roads that a truck cannot park. As for the first time trucker in that area, he does what most first timers do...he uses his CB and asks someone where he can park up. And yes I have stopped and parked on the side of the road many times, yes it's noisy, but you get used to it throughout the night.

Well this is my last post, I will agree to disagree. We all have different opinions, it's what makes the world turn...

Gerty Dancer · Guru

I reckon it would be very useful to have a road safety campaign of advertisements on TV radio and newspapers to make car drivers aware of trucks and what they can/cant do and need. After all our nation runs on truck deliveries, and the highest proportion of car drivers hardly ever leave cities and have no idea. These are the drivers who cause most hassle in truck-stops, slowing down in front of a truck after passing, etc etc

Thank you for this thread Flicka.

brickies · Guru

Truck Stop and Truck Rest stop are two different things, Rest stop are built and maintained by state governments and control by state police , Truck stops are servo on private property who make there own rules

hako · Guru

I thought I'd check at the Qld Dept of Transport website and found this:

"Heavy vehicle rest areas are for rest and safety of truck drivers. Caravans are not considered heavy vehicles, and should not stop at these locations."

So based on that advice from an official site, I'd consider it 100% wrong to park in one of them under any circumstances.

Source:
http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/Driver-guide/Driving-safely/Planning-your-trip.aspx

brickies · Guru

Yes you are right I had google this early in this post , I would not pull into truck rest ther are lots of free camp just need to plan ahead

herbie · Guru

We have hashed over this very subject some time back ,and as I mentioned back then in QLD is not permitted forcaravans or hotor homes to use truck parking stops to use...I was at a meeting before I went on this lot of leave and even asked a Queensland road traffic policeman re this very question,and he said it is very illegal to use these stops,even to the point of police issuing fines to RVers .I think in some other state this practice is illegal as well. There is more trucks on the road than ever before transporting very heavy large some times over size gear through out the country to different mine/gas projects,and with more RVs on the road there just is not not enough stuck stops to cater for them let alone RVers as well....We have all day to find some where to camp up the pore truck driver has not got that same privilege.