Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1002866
Voices 8 | Overdrive | July 2018 A multiplicity of factors now has OTR truckers in Georgia negotiating a span of 190 miles with little to no probability of designated nighttime parking. Those factors include the implementation of the ELD mandate, the state's closure of four rest areas along the I-75 corridor for sched- uled renovation, the shuttering of a large truck stop in Adairsville, recent crackdowns by area businesses, and a generally improved economy that has resulted in greater traffic. The last points of probable parking after that – Unadilla, at mile marker 121 to the south, and Adairsville, at mile marker 306 to the north, plus the additional mileage going around Atlanta on 285 – make up a veritable 190-mile parking desert. Many truckers with loads to points north and south simply settle in for the night outside the red zone, leaving two to three hours of utilization on the table. Some just plow ahead anyway, blowing past the parking desert, letting their hours expire and taking their lumps from safety the next morning. Those whose circumstances demand they attempt to find parking within the span of those two points after 7 at night, like 747s low on fuel with no clearance to land, wind up touching down in some of the worst possible situations. Wisconsin-based independent owner-operator Rob Hallahan had to find parking in Union City, an Atlanta suburb, in an abandoned lot next to his customer to make his hours of service work for the next day. That night, he was attacked by a parking desert viper called The Booter. The lot, according to Mr. Hallah- an, was poorly lit with sparse signage prohibiting truck parking. He saw a pickup circling the lot late at night with its lights off, then disappearing behind the abandoned business. The truck reappeared with a yellow siren light on top. The viper had slithered up to the side of Mr. Hallahan's W900B and his stain- less-steel spread-axle van under cover of darkness and shackled the Badger State native's pride and joy, the 20-time truck show winner "Big Orange." A good ol' boy came out of the pickup and informed the indepen- dent trucker he had been booted. Mr. Hallahan, outraged, called local law enforcement, who informed him they would not intervene, as it was a "civil matter." So he had to cough up $500. Mr. Hallahan is not alone in his outrage. The pox of private parking enforcement has been sparking anger among the general citizenry of great- er Atlanta for some time now, with even former Mayor Kasim Reed's GMC Denali taking its place as one of the privateers' victims. On May 24, the Atlanta Jour- nal-Constitution reported that "Atlanta car-booting practices may finally get the boot." On June 1, at city hall, a public meeting was held to discuss proposed legislation designed to reform the booting industry. As we plowed full-bore into the first peak freight season since the ELD mandate's implementation, one thing was becoming increasingly clear about Georgia's truck parking situa- tion. It has depended on the driver's ability to create a paper narrative that surmounted real-world obstacles such as those that Mr. Hallahan and so many others have faced. Such incidents also raise questions with regards to rates on loads going in and out of parking deserts. One thing that will always be in the inde- pendent's arsenal is the inexorable power to say, "No. I won't go there. Not for that." Perhaps there's need for a park- ing-desert surcharge just for putting up with the untenable situation he faced. $500 sound about right? "Long Haul Paul" Marhoefer is among active trucker contributors to the Overdrive Extra blog. Find more from him via OverdriveOnline. com/Overdrive-Extra. 'Booter' haunts a 'parking desert' " I've never had an issue finding parking along that corridor. " — Dale from Jesup, Ga. " This article is b.s. Plenty of parking in the 75 corridor, just not in Atlanta. … There's a truck stop almost every exit south of the city until you reach Florida. " — Steve from Warner Robins, Ga. " Just don't do business in that area. … Last good parking place Adairsville, then Valdosta or Tifton (if you know where to go). Rates out of Florida at the junk level. There's plenty jobs and opportunities around. Just dump that sinkhole. " — Kenny BY LONG HAUL PAUL