No Overnight Parking at Interstate Rest Areas

Everybody should stop a W-Mart for a few hrs, I think that is what they say it, just a few hrs. rest. I call it just cheap.

ajriding wrote:
Define camping.

Use truck stops in the day hours. Don't use the big rig parking to stay overnight. Those spaces are limited. Truckers have to stop per law, they have few options where they can park.
You can park anywhere. You are not a trucker.

Rest stops are for Drivers to rest. We all pay for them and are entitled to use them for comfort stations and resting so we drive safely. That includes any driver, including truck drivers.

Truck stops are for truckers to stay and sleep and meet off-drive requirements. THey usually include an eat station, cafe, showers, etc and overnight sleeping.

But why do we have to separate either one or create conflict at all. We all drive, we all need rest. Campgrounds are not always convenient nor available.

Define camping.

Use truck stops in the day hours. Don't use the big rig parking to stay overnight. Those spaces are limited. Truckers have to stop per law, they have few options where they can park.
You can park anywhere. You are not a trucker.

On the West Coast the Rest areas say something like "limit your stay to no more than 8 hours".

We like to travel South when there is less traffic in the evening/night so we typically stay at a Oregon Rest Area for 6 hours or so then carry on. That gets us past Seattle and Portlands HORRIBLE traffic then we stay at a couple Campgrounds or Elks's farther down.

rockhillmanor wrote:

Truckers do not have to have access to rest areas for overnight parking.

All rest stops that I have seen in MI have a separate area for trucks and trailer. If the area is full, I have seen trucks park on the shoulder of the rest stop entrance ramp back on to the interstate. This also gives them an easy "get away".

I know that there are "rest time" laws for commercial truckers. Why any state would not allow at LEAST that amount of time "off the road" in any rest stop is hard to believe.

MrWizard wrote:
I use rest stops frequently too get some sleep, or just some down time, even over night when traveling, it has never been a problem

i'll pull in day or night IF the weather gets bad, especially heavy wind

i'll stay thru the storm even 24 hrs IF necessary,

that said, i have also stayed running ahead of the storm, when it was behind me
unless i got to tired, then i found a safe place to pull into

resting is NOT camping, No slides, No barbecues, No chairs outside etc..
if I can't use the bed, with slides in, its No use too me, and I won't buy it

EXACTLY. It's not a campground, it's a rest area. Amy and I have used rest areas for years.
but no slides, no bbq and no generator.

fj12ryder wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
I only know the law/rules in one state.. Sadly not all law enforcement officers know the laws they enforce.

Both per the STATE police and DOT (Department of Transportation) Overnighting in a MICHIGAN rest stop... allowed.

An awake driver is ... Something we like. an asleep driver.. Bad sceen.

Per a different poster: "MI law prohibits overnighting in rest areas, but since DOT rules were changed to mandate that truckers get their sleep, enforcement has pretty much gone by the wayside."

Okay, which is it?

It's both. The law is still on the books AFAIK, but the rest areas are full of snoring truck drivers. The alternative is to have these guys parked on every on ramp in the state.

Texas has made, and continuing to make, major improvements to the rest areas, completely replacing the old ones with very nice much larger new ones. The new ones have very nice heated/cooled restrooms where many of the old ones simply had buildings with open air restrooms where the inside air temp was the same as the outside temp.

I did find a State by State list, but we all know lists can be out dated fast, but it's a start. The guy that keeps the info seems to have vested (financial) interest in keeping it updated, but it's free to use the website.

Overnight Parking Rules

Calif the rest areas are pretty far apart, and not enough of them ...IMO

And when one is closed, it can be 70 miles to the next one