From tragedy to awareness
It took a tragedy, but the national truck parking crisis is starting to get some mainstream media attention.
The crash
At about 1:48 a.m. on July 12, a 2014 Prevost 50-passenger motorcoach with 21 occupants was westbound on Interstate 70 near Highland, Madison County, Ill. The bus was owned and operated by Greyhound Lines Inc. and was on a scheduled route from Indianapolis to St. Louis.
As the bus approached the westbound Silver Lake rest area near mile marker 27.4, the bus departed I-70 onto the rest area exit ramp, where it collided with three tractor-trailer combination units that were parked on the ramp’s right shoulder. As a result, three bus passengers were killed. The driver and remaining bus passengers sustained injuries ranging from minor to serious. The three tractor-trailer drivers, who were inside the combination vehicles at the time of the crash, were uninjured.
At the crash location, I-70 is a four-lane divided highway with the eastbound and westbound lanes separated by a median. The posted speed limit on I-70 is 70 mph, and the exit ramp had a posted advisory speed limit of 40 mph.
The National Transportation Safety Board is taking over the investigation. It said it will look into the truck parking situation at the westbound Silver Lake rest area, which was constructed in 1973 and has a total of 64 designated parking spaces. Of these, 21 are designated as commercial truck parking spaces, with one of those being a commercial truck handicap space.
“Rest area safety is one of the issues that will be a part of this investigation,” NTSB Member Tom Chapman said during a media briefing. “Again, we don’t know enough to be able to say with certainty that’s what occurred, but that’s certainly one of the issues we’ll be looking at as part of our investigation.”
Media response
Mainstream media was quick to pick up on the truck parking aspect of the crash.
On July 14, The Associated Press published a story titled “NTSB looking at risk parked semis posed to Greyhound bus in fatal Illinois accident.” That story was picked up by several news outlets, including ABC News, Yahoo News and a myriad of local news stations.
In The Associated Press story, Collin Long, director of government affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, gave the perspective of the truckers.
“We’ve had instances of drivers assaulted, murdered, robbed because they’re parking in places they shouldn’t be,” Long told The Associated Press. “It puts them in a real no-win situation.”
Rep. Mike Bost, sponsor of the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, also got a shout-out in the article.
Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act
Although mainstream media is just now picking up on the national truck parking crisis, Bost’s bill is proof that at least some in Congress are up to speed and trying to do something about it.
Also known as HR2367, if passed into law, the bill would allocate money for the creation of more truck parking spots. Specifically, the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act will allocate $755 million over three years to the construction of parking spots. According to the bill text, any project funded by the bill cannot include paid parking. All parking under the bill must be publicly accessible and free of charge.
As of press time, the bill had 30 co-sponsors. Let your federal lawmakers know about it and how important it is to highway safety. Go to FightingForTruckers.com and click the link mentioning truck parking. From there, fill out a quick form that will be sent directly to your federal lawmakers. Strike now while the iron is hot. LL