Last rescue for truckers? Lower Saxony fights against truck car park!

Last rescue for truckers? Lower Saxony fights against truck car park!

in Germany it rumbles on the highways - not only because of traffic. A lack of truck parking spaces causes increasing difficulties for truck drivers, especially in Lower Saxony. According to a current study by Auto Club Europe (ACE), the situation is alarming. Between April and June this year, the ACE team took a closer look at the parking facilities at 132 rest areas and found that the average occupancy is 151 percent. A significant part of the parking spaces is thus overdo, which endangers traffic safety and puts truck drivers into great difficulty. Süddeutsche Zeitung reports of a survey in Lower Saxony were counted, but 1,032 trucks were found on these areas.

The situation at the rest areas is particularly precarious. A frightening 77 percent of the parking areas examined are already occupied on entrances and exits or on the hard shoulder. This means that many truck drivers are forced to park their trucks in dangerous places. In order to illustrate the situation: At the Zwertstage Zweidorfer Holz Süd, a load of 207 percent was registered - there were 195 trucks with only 94 parking spaces. In a nationwide comparison, the location is not much better, with 7,664 trucks parked on 5,088 parking spaces, which also means an alarming utilization of 151 percent, such as the Stern.

problems and demands

The ACE spokeswoman advises caution and emphasizes that the observations are to be understood as snapshots and should not be overrated. Nevertheless, the ACE urges indispensable measures: tens of thousands of additional truck parking spaces have to be created and dangerous alternative parking areas should be closed urgently. On the main traffic axes, such as the A3 in Bavaria or the A5 between Frankfurt and Karlsruhe, the defect is particularly pronounced, which not only puts a great deal of the transport industry, but also traffic safety, as well as the ADAC.

Around 23,500 truck drivers look in vain every night a legal parking lot along German motorways. Only about 70,000 truckers find a parking space on rest areas, car furnaces or other storage locations. A solution could be the investment of 90 million euros in the federal government in the construction of 4,000 new truck parking spaces-these should be created in a three-kilometer radius for motorway connection points. Such a project can fix a sixth of the current parking space deficit, and the introduction of intelligent parking systems would have to be promoted to expand the capacities.

A rapid implementation of these measures is essential so that truck drivers on the highways do not still have to search in vain for a safe place. The current situation makes it clear: there is an urgent need for action here, because traffic on our streets is not only more expensive due to the lack of parking facilities, but also more dangerous.