Rest Areas Safe?

It kind of depends on your definition of safe. Does the county coroner make it a daily stop to empty the corpses out of the dumpsters? no. Would I leave my wallet and camera on the hood of the car while sleeping? no. It is likely that eventually you will have some shady characters around you in a rest area. The homeless like them because of the restroom facilities with water and often times there are shelters. There are vast numbers of people coming and going and eventually the laws of large numbers will catch up with you and some bad people will be nearby. That situation is exacerbated by the fact there is no one in charge at most rest stops. At least in a truck stop, a Walmart or a campground there is someone there keeping at least a sleepy eye on the comings and goings. In my opinion, they are the stopping place of last resort. Others have a higher tolerance for transients, noise and overall lack of appeal.