75% of Drivers Cannot Find Safe Parking When Required to Sleep

Federal HOS rules mandate that a driver must stop after 11 hours of driving, but there are only ~313,000 truck parking spaces nationwide — roughly 40,000 at public rest areas and 273,000 at private truck stops — for the 3.5 million CDL holders actively driving. Over 75% of drivers report problems finding safe parking at least once per week, and 90%+ report difficulty between 7pm and midnight, which is precisely when HOS clocks typically expire for daytime drivers. When a driver cannot find a spot, they face an impossible choice: park illegally on a highway ramp or shoulder (risking a ticket, towing, or being struck), keep driving past their legal limit (risking HOS violations and fatigue-related crashes), or stop early and lose 1-2 hours of driveable time (losing $50-$100 in income). This problem persists because truck parking is a negative-externality problem — municipalities actively resist new truck stops due to noise, traffic, and NIMBY opposition, while the federal government funds surveys but not construction. Jason's Law, passed in 2012 after a driver was murdered while parked at an abandoned gas station because he could not find a safe spot, has produced studies but minimal new capacity.