WASHINGTON — Better trip planning would allow truckers to avoid creating a safety hazard by parking illegally on the side of busy highways, according to the national organization representing 1,169 travel plazas and rest stops.
Natso Inc. launched a public awareness campaign May 9 urging truck drivers to “Drive Smart-Park Smart.” The yearlong series of ads in national trucking publications will remind drivers and carriers about the hazards of illegal roadside parking and urge drivers to plan routes carefully to ensure they can find safe parking at the end of their legal driving day.
“We know from state transportation department research that some professional drivers park on shoulders and exit ramps even when there is plentiful, safe parking nearby,” W. Dewey Clower, president of the organization, said at a Capitol Hill press conference.
“Drive Safe-Park Smart will make the safest trucking industry this country has seen even safer, by helping eradicate dangerous roadside and shoulder parking,” he said.
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