Plentiful, serviced truck parking is a basic human dignity

It was time to deliver a message to the prime minister’s doorstep.

About 20,000 people had applied their names to a shared call for more truck parking, highlighting the role that such infrastructure plays in efforts to recruit, train, and support commercial drivers. And more signatures were on the way.

While we’ve heard the refrain before, it’s one worth repeating to anyone who will listen. That’s why the Road Haulage Association (RHA) petitioned No10 Downing Street, in hopes the government would help address an estimated shortfall of 11,000 parking spaces. In the United Kingdom.

“Commercial vehicle drivers are vital to our economy so better food, toilets, showers, and somewhere safe and secure to sleep are the very least they deserve,” RHA managing director Richard Smith said in a press release. And in the words of MP Greg Smith, “It is imperative the U.K. ups our game, ensure drivers have safe, secure, comfortable, and affordable options that they know they can rely on.”

The matter is no less dire in Canada, where the sorry state of truck parking is a national disgrace — even if the challenge falls under the watch of premiers rather than the prime minister. In Southern Ontario alone, a 2018 study identified a shortage of 1,200 to 2,600 truck parking spaces, with shortfalls particularly intense around Toronto.

As for those who cross the border, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration estimates a nationwide shortage of more than 40,000 truck parking spaces there. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) has identified just one parking spot for every 11 trucks on the road.

Mandated ELDs highlight parking shortage

Mandated electronic logging devices (ELDs) have certainly dragged the issue into the spotlight. While the shortage of truck parking is a longstanding challenge, the true extent of the issue was partially masked by sloppy lines and fudged numbers in paper logbooks, as drivers bent Hours of Service rules until they could maximize their miles and still find a place to stop for the night. But there’s no hiding from an unyielding ELD.

And while technology of another sort can help truck drivers locate available spaces, using various apps, the data itself can’t create a parking spot out of thin air.

The challenge will intensify before it eases, too. Owners of available parking spaces can be hard-pressed to ignore the rising value of the dirt underneath their feet, and municipalities are ramping up the crackdowns on truck drivers who ultimately give up and park somewhere that trucks are not officially allowed … at least until police or bylaw enforcement officers rap on the window.

This leaves provincial governments to step in to help fill much of the gap. Ontario, for example, has a five-year plan to improve 14 existing truck rest areas, build 10 new sites, and add 178 additional truck parking spaces at four existing ONroute travel plazas. It’s a good start, but even that falls short of the actual demand.

Perhaps it’s time for provinces to require more parking spaces every time they break ground on a project to upgrade or establish a highway – in much the same way that municipalities require housing developers to set land aside for parks in emerging neighborhoods.

Quality and quantity

As important as the quantity of spaces may be, meanwhile, efforts are also needed to ensure a higher quality of related services.

This March, Ontario committed to standards for portable washrooms on construction jobsites, largely to address gaps that affect women who work there. The washrooms are to be private, completely enclosed, with adequate lighting and hand sanitizer where running water is not available. The government is also looking to double the number of toilets at most locations.

“Access to a washroom is a basic human dignity and something every worker should have the right to,” said Monte McNaughton, Ontario minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development.

That basic human dignity is as important to truck drivers as it is to construction workers.