Survey finds top truck stop amenities ensuring safety for female truck drivers

As the trucking industry continues to address the concerns of female truck drivers, Trucker Path has identified how truck stops are responding to the needs of women in trucking.

In collaboration with Women In Motion, Trucker Path spoke to female truck drivers to find out which amenities they look for to ensure safety at a truck stop. The trucking app then looked into how many truck stops offer those amenities.

According to the Trucker Path survey, when it comes to truck stop safety for female truck drivers, it’s all about lighting. The top seven truck stop amenities to ensure safety include:

1. Lighted parking
2. Lighted bathroom access
3. Lighted lounge area
4. Lighted shower facilities with 24/7 access
5. Lighted laundry facilities with 24/7 access
6. 24/7 security present onsite
7. 24/7 maintenance available

Trucker Path identified 320 truck stops within its network that have at least one of those amenities. Of those, nearly all (95.6%) have lighted parking. More than half have lighted bathroom access. Only a few have 24/7 maintenance or lighted laundry facilities.

Of the truck stops that completed the survey, 14 offer all seven amenities female truck drivers look for. Those truck stops are:

• Shoemaker’s Truck Station – Lincoln, Neb.
• Big Apple Travel Centers – Joplin, Mo.
• Walburg Travel Center – Georgetown, Texas
• American Truck Plaza – Milton, Pa.
• ACME Truck Stop – Orlando, Fla.
• Dukes Travel Plaza (TA Express) – Mount Vernon, Texas
• Sumner Truck Stop & Travel Plaza – Sumner, Wash.
• Circle C Travel Plaza – Walterboro, S.C.
• Texas Travel Center – Salado, Texas
• Mankato Travel Center – Mankato, Minn.
• Compass Travel Center – Demotte, Ind.
• Ports to Plains Truck Plaza – Lamar, Colo.
• King Travel Plaza – Kingsland, Ga.
• Garden Inn Truck Plaza – Forest City, Mo.

Trucker Path’s survey highlights some of the challenges female truck drivers face as carriers continue their efforts to hire and retain those drivers.

In June, the American Transportation Research Institute published a study “Identifying and Mitigating the Challenges Faced by Women Truck Drivers.” ATRI’s research found six key challenge areas facing women in trucking and suggests ways the industry can address those issues. Those challenges include:

• Negative industry image and perception
• Inability to complete truck driver training
• Unsatisfactory motor carrier company culture
• Inability to acclimate to over-the-road driver lifestyle
• Limited parking and restroom access
• Excessive gender harassment and discrimination

“While the visibility of women in trucking advertisements has increased and the percentage of women drivers has been rising slowly over the past few decades, significant challenges persist that deter women from considering or continuing a career in trucking,” ATRI states in the study.

More recently, ATRI discovered that female truck drivers experience more detention time than men. A detention time study revealed that more than a third of female drivers’ stops included short waits (compared to 27% for men), and detention time of two hours or more made up 15% of stops for women (compared to only 10% for men). LL