No Overnight Parking at Interstate Rest Areas

[Honeybee8888]

I know a number of states do not allow overnight parking at the state-run rest areas along the interstates. Has anyone been asked to leave one of these locations during the night? We've stayed in them a number of times, and we've never had anyone ask us to move. But maybe we've just been lucky? How about you?

[Atlee]

I've never been asked to move on, but I've never stayed over night either. if I'm on the road during the day, sometimes I begin to get a little dozy. In those cases, I'll stop at a rest stop, but I just put the seat back. All I need is 30 to 60 minutes, and I'm good to go.

Done this many times.

At night, I will either be at a Walmart or similar place, or at a camp ground.

[Edd505]

KD4UPL wrote:
I know of a VA State Trooper who ran all the sleeping truckers out of the rest area. The signs in VA say no sleeping at the rest area.

Been there, only state that ever had me move to a ramp. Parked behind a U haul so I was not "completely in the painted stall" but not blocking a thing. Plain stupid.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

I've rested in many "rest" stops over the years. Never was told to leave. I would question anybody that tells me to leave a "rest" stop when I was resting to stay safe.

Stay safe. Rest often.

[Eric_Lisa]

mike-s wrote:
In general, if you don't cause problems/attract attention, no one will bother you....

Bingo! Don't be a problem and no one will treat you like you are a problem.

We will pull in an end space away from the prime spaces by the rest rooms. A bit of dinner, lights off, and to bed. A shower the next morning, a few minutes of generator for DW's hairdryer, a quick breakfast, a walk-around vehicle check, and then we roll out. Some rest areas have dump stations, so we will always avail ourselves of the opportunity as we depart. I think the longest we have done is 10 hours of rest or so - depends on how far we have traveled and how far we have to go. Never been bothered by any 'authorities', and never had any problems with other travelers who are getting rest.

[drsteve]

mike-s wrote:

drsteve wrote:
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.

One can't prove a law doesn't exist. You're claiming one does, so the burden of proof is on you to point to it.

Here's a hand getting started - MCL search.

Yeah, that's why I said "as far as I know". If you want to spend time searching for the statute, go for it.

But regardless of the existence or not of a prohibition or time limit, it's easy to see that truckers (and others) are being allowed to sleep in rest areas in Michigan.

[Matt_Colie]

We are travelers and not so much campers. When we are traveling, I may have chosen stops that we can't make. DW is usually driving in daylight, but after dark is mine.

We do use rest areas a lot, but they are a last choice as they are always noisy. We do nothing other than shut down and level the coach if it is needed. Then we walk the dogs and go to bed. We have never been told that we can't stay. If we can, we take up two spaces in the car park. That leaves the bid spaces for the trucks.

So, we were northbound once on the way through Tennessee and Kentucky and were way late for the scheduled stop, but there was supposed to be a rest area ahead. I was now driving, it was dark and running SA as a navigator. It said that there was rest area just over the line. I was real ready.
According to SA, I went right by.
I never saw the signs.
Was I that tired?
Well, there was no place to tired and there were no RV friendly stops nearby.
I was watching real hard for the next.
Then I saw an empty set of sign posts.
Then I saw where the ramp had been and they had plowed it in....
Well, (expletive deleted) what to do now?
I watched signs for anything and we pulled off the highway to park at a national chain country restaurant and took up two spaces in the empty lot.
Memory serves that was Kentucky, and we do our best to skip thought there now. If we are going north-south, we can be thought there without stopping at all, so that is just what we do.....

Matt

[mike-s]

drsteve wrote:
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.

One can't prove a law doesn't exist. You're claiming one does, so the burden of proof is on you to point to it.

Here's a hand getting started - MCL search.

[hornet28]

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

That is what "Truck Stops" are for. Which btw are more plentiful on the interstate than rest stops anyway.

Where have you been traveling that truckers are not in rest areas? Check out some truck stops and you'll find many of them full very early in the evening. A rest area or exit is where many truckers forced to sleep

[okoboji_fan]

One of the reasons for enforcement at the rest stops is because law enforcement is cracking down on the sex trade industry. Interstates are a major pipeline

[Honeybee8888]

Wow, I didn't expect such a lot of answers! I realize I wasn't entirely clear in my original post-- by "staying" in rest areas, I didn't mean "camping". No slides, no chairs, no anything other than parking, walking the dog, maybe having lunch or a late dinner, and then sleeping. Sometimes it's just a nap, sometimes it's been overnight. Even if it says "no overnight parking," if we are tired enough and it's dark and late in the evening, I figure it's better safe than sorry. Once we did that in Ohio, and it was only later than I discovered that there's no "overnighting" on I-70 rest stops. I-80/90 (the Ohio Turnpike) doesn't have a problem with it, so I didn't know. But no one bothered us anyway. Which was a good thing, because we were exhausted and really needed to stop.

It seems that no one really has had any experience being told "you have to leave now, you can't park here overnight." So I guess that answers my question! Thanks to all who weighed in!

[shelbyfv]

I sometimes feel self conscious parking my small rig in the big rig section of rest areas. I remind myself that I'm a citizen/taxpayer and though my rig is relatively small, still too large for the car parking. We do need to make more provisions for folks, truckers included, who just need to park and sleep w/o needing amenities.

[Supercharged]

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.

[monkey44]

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.

[ajriding]

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.

[Cummins12V98]

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.