Smart truck parking system set to save the economy over US$40bn

摘要

In March 5, 2009, New York trucker Jason Rivenburg was murdered in his truck cab for US$7 - a tragedy that could have been averted had he been able to find a safe place to park. Since that terrible day, Jason's widow Hope (who is also the mother of his three children) has campaigned tirelessly for safer truck parking in the US. July 2012 marked a big victory as Jason's Law, which makes the issue a national priority, came into force as part of the new federal transportation bill, MAP-21. Thanks to this, state DOTs have access to new funding to improve parking availability for truckers. Now Truck Smart Parking Services (TSPS) is helping them make the dream of a truly 21st century truck parking system a reality. TSPS has installed the nation's first fully operational, scalable, smart truck parking system, on Michigan's I-94. The patent-protected system has a host of tangible benefits. First, of course, it makes truckers' lives safer as they can always find a dedicated place to park. Second, it makes the road itself safer by alleviating the problem of illegally parked trucks and truckers driving over their legal time limits. Truckers are mandated by federal law to pull over and rest after an 11-hour shift; however, if they can't find somewhere to park at the end of their shift, they must either park illegally or continue to drive illegally. Fatigued driving is a principal cause in 17% of all truck/auto crash fatalities: it's a lose-lose situation.