Parking Diaries Give Voice to Truckers Struggling to Find Parking

Truck drivers are spending too much time hunting for parking between 4 p.m. and midnight, a problem that has prompted them to stop driving earlier than necessary at a cost of $4,600 a year in lost productivity, according to new research.

But GPS fleet tracking technology is available to help improve fleet efficiency in most cases.

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the trucking industry's nonprofit research organization, found that a significant lack of parking during certain times plagues drivers with “a confluence of challenges, including increased search times, and truck parking spaces clogged by non-commercial vehicles, which results in drivers parking in undesignated or unauthorized locations such as roadway shoulders or ramps during those same times.”

ATRI surveyed drivers over a 14-day period with over 4,700 unique parking stops documented in the diaries. Drivers surveyed lost an average of 56 minutes of revenue drive time every day looking for parking. That equates to 9,300 revenue-earning miles a year.

For more information on how GPS fleet tracking can help improve your fleet’s efficiency, check out GPS Fleet Tracking: Increased Profitability.