Every day its seems like there are more trucks on the road. And every night, it seems like there are more trucks trying to park in the truck stops- and not enough parking spots to accommodate them. When truckers are tired, they need to park. Hours of Service legislation requires a 10 hour break, and when enough 10 hour breaks overlap, parking becomes scarce.

One option for truckers is parking at weigh stations. Some states allow it, some don’t. It’s best to know ahead of time so that, if you can’t find a parking spot at the truck stop, you can have a backup plan! In Scalehouses and Parking, Part I, we covered California, Georgia, Florida and Kentucky weigh stations. This article covers Arkansas, Connecticut, Michigan, South Carolina and Wyoming.
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Rumor has it that on April Fool’s Day (April 1st), truckers are shutting down to protest high fuel prices.

Fuel prices are sky high. There’s no question about that. But what are struggling owner operators to do about it? Complain to each other on the c.b. radio? Lose their trucks? Cry?

Many truckers are planning to shut down from Tuesday, April 1, to Friday, April 4, 2008 (the dates vary from source to source, but the 1st through 4th is the general consensus). It’s being called a “fuel shut down” or “trucker strike” (though it’s not a traditional strike). It’s not much, but it’s something. And frustrated truck owners are looking for something to do about fuel prices.
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Tags: Fuel Prices, Owner Operators, Fuel Shut Down, Trucker Strike, Truck Owners

The rest area at mile marker 31 on I 86 west bound in American Falls, Idaho, has DOT set up inside and they are working hard! This is not a permanently marked weigh station location- it’s just a rest area. Idaho State Police and Port of Entry mobile units have set up signs telling motorists that ALL TRUCKS MUST ENTER. When a truck pulls in, one officer is heading to the cab to inspect paper work while two other officers look over the truck and trailer for safety violations. The focus is mainly on commodity haulers- potatoes and the like- but ALL TRUCKS are required to stop a the rest area. Better make sure your book is in order and your paper work is straight!

There is a rumor that this inspection is part of a 72-hour-style DOT crack down, but, according to officers at the Ports of Entry, State Police and the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Headquarters, there is no official or state-wide crack down in effect. Rumors are sometimes more exciting than facts!

Want to receive weigh station alerts in your email? We send out weigh station alerts to our Coops News newsletter subscribers. If you know anyone who would like to receive Weigh Station Alerts, please help get the word out. And, as always, if you see increased weigh station or inspection activity, keep us informed!

Tags: Idaho State Police, Port Of Entry, Safety Violations, DOT Crack Down, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, Weigh Station Alerts

There’s a lot of hubbub about APUs (Auxiliary Power Units- or generators) these days. Yes, the federal government is allowing up to 400 lbs for trucks with APUs- or any device used to reduce fuel use and emissions. It’s part of the idling reduction strategy- to encourage truckers and trucking companies to install APUs. But that doesn’t mean you can always get it.
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Tags: APU, Auxiliary Power Units, Federal Government, Idling Reduction

Thank you for listening to John’s interview with Evan Lockridge today on Sirius Radio, Road Dog Trucking channel 147 (the Lockridge Report airs weekdays 2 pm eastern/1 pm central). We’d like to welcome you to The Coops Community. Feel free to leave comments on weigh station pages and articles, to join in the conversation in the message board, and to drop us a note with questions or concerns by using the “contact us” form.

As an edit, we’d like to mention an omission. During the interview, Evan asked about our staff. We neglected to mention our message board moderator “Russellmania” who volunteers much of his time helping us to keep the message board free of spam and keeping the website up to date.

Those of you looking to join in the Weigh Station Alert system will need to sign up for the free CoopsAreOpen.com Newsletter. The newsletter goes out the 1st of every month and shows updates to the site and other items of interest that you won’t necessarily otherwise learn of. Weigh Station Alerts go out when we get them. If we see DOT working hard or if a driver informs us of a DOT crack down, we send out an alert so that you can be prepared. We need your eyes and ears to let us know what’s going on- we can’t be everywhere!

As a result of the news story run by Austin, Texas, NBC affiliate KXAN about CoopsAreOpen.com, there are some rumors floating around.

One of these rumors is that Texas DOT is looking for us (and by us, I mean us here at CoopsAreOpen). They’re not. If they were, we’re easy to find. Just click “Contact Us” and send us a message.

Another one of these rumors is that CoopsAreOpen.com is giving truckers a bad name. We’re not. We provide truckers with as much information as possible about weigh stations, rules and regulations, and enforcement procedures. Information doesn’t give truckers a bad name. Organizations like CRASH and PATT aren’t going to like truckers whether we provide the information or not.

For those of you who’d like the real scoop about CoopsAreOpen.com, come look through the site, leave comments, contact us, and join our message board. You’ll find out that we provide you with a platform to share your knowledge and to learn from what others know.
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Tags: Texas DOT, Weigh Stations, Rules And Regulations, Enforcement Procedures, Truckers

If you park in a Massachusetts service plaza at the start of a long trip, you’d better hope you’ve got someone at home watching your mail for you!

Considering the lack of truck parking in New England, we think the Massachusetts State Police is playing a dirty trick on truckers who are parked in service plazas. If they want to issue parking citations, they should inform the trucker he should expect a ticket in the mail or issue a warning only ticket. Mailing tickets with extremely small response margins to over-the-road truckers without warning is simply another way to squeeze money out of truckers through late fees.

Even if you don’t have a parking ticket waiting for you when you wake up or return to your truck, you may have a ticket waiting in your mailbox. And if you don’t respond to the mailed ticket within 20 days of the violation, you may have late charges to deal with- the instance discussed here did not result in late charges, but a longer delay in payment might.
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Tags: Truck Parking, Massachusetts State Police, Service Plazas, Parking Citations, Over-the-road Truckers, Parking Ticket

You’ll find plenty of articles out there giving advice on how to get a better job in trucking. This one focuses on how to ensure you’ll get one you’ll hate (or wind up hating the one you’ve got). The 7 steps here are guaranteed to land you a trucking job you’ll hate.
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Tired truckers are everyone’s problem. And no trucker wants to drive tired. Some truckers insist that if you plan your trip properly, you should always be able to find parking. Other truckers understand that no matter how much you plan, truck parking can be elusive. Truck stops fill up, usually later than earlier. But truckers can’t force themselves to be tired according to a plan. Laying in bed wide awake when your plan calls for sleep doesn’t make for a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, looking for a place to park is simply part of being a truck driver.

Most drivers avoid parking in weigh stations like the plague. It’s understandable. But, if you’re tired, maybe it’s not such a bad idea. The following is a guideline to some states’ policies toward truckers parking at weigh stations- what’s allowed, what isn’t and what the truckers can expect.
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Tags: Tired Truckers, Truck Parking, Truck Driver, Weigh Stations

Truckers have had to comply with environmental regulations around the country by shutting off their engines (anti-idling laws), paying more for supposedly more environmentally friendly truck engines in newer trucks, and switching over from low sulfur diesel to ultra-low sulfur diesel. Now truckers who run refrigerated trailers (trailers that can be temperature controlled through use of a refer unit) are up against more anti-diesel legislation from the state of California. Of course.

The way things are going, we’re pretty sure APU/generators will be next on the chopping block…
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Tags: Truckers, Environmental Regulations, Truck Engines, Low Sulfur Diesel, Ultra-low Sulfur Diesel