South Dakota Trucking Safety for The NY Times
When Tim was 5 he thought being a truck driver was the coolest job he could ever imagine. Hear him out. A fort that you can sleep in at the back of your truck. All the fast-food cheeseburgers you can eat. And you can drive anywhere you want. Now, much older but only slightly wiser he realizes trucking isn’t nearly as glamorous as the five-year-old mind sees it. This was a NY Times story about the issue of trucker safety and the lack of available parking for drivers to safely park at night and sleep. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg also made the trip to address the issue with truckers at a South Dakota rest area. It’s always fun to explore the Midwest and this one like all South Dakota assignments, didn’t disappoint.
Across the nation, there is one truck parking space for every 11 truck drivers. An industry study found that drivers typically sacrificed about an hour per day to find parking. That loss of driving time works out to about $5,500 a year in lost earnings, or a 12 percent cut in pay, according to the American Trucking Associations, a trade group.
Read the New York Times story here.
