No over–the–road driver that has struggled to find a parking space when it’s time to rest needs to be informed that a parking shortage exists. In fact, an American Transportation Research Institute report ranked parking as the number two issue in the trucking industry. So when an email arrived stating that Lytx, a provider of in–cab video services, had announced a solution to “help commercial truck drivers nationwide find safer parking spots wherever they are,” interest at The Trucker was high.
Unfortunately, those words turned out to be misleading. The truth is that Lytx has developed a product that will inform a client–carrier when a driver parks in an area deemed “unsafe,” such as the shoulder of a highway or an exit or entrance ramp. The notification can include video of the area. The carrier representative, whether fleet manager, safety professional or someone else, would then contact the driver to discuss parking options.
The Lytx product offers no “help” to find parking and does not alert the driver that a chosen parking space may be unsafe.
There is no question that most carriers have “sitting duck” policies that prohibit parking in areas that may be exposed to a motorist hitting a commercial vehicle. Additionally, “nuclear verdicts,” those court decisions that award huge payouts to plaintiffs for accidents with trucks, are a concern for every carrier struggling with ever–increasing insurance rates.
According to Tamara Prewitt, Lytx vice–president of product marketing, the company’s Parked–Highway/Ramp solution will help carriers avoid some of those situations.
“The Lytx technology can identify when a vehicle is stopped on the side of the road on highways and ramps in what may be considered an unsafe manner using GPS data and by conducting geospatial analysis,” she responded to an emailed question. “Additional parameters used to determine if a vehicle is parked unsafely include the amount of time a vehicle is stopped and known legal parking locations near highways.”
The Parked–Highway/Ramp feature isn’t new. It was introduced in 2022 and has been provided to subscribers to the Lytx Driver Safety Program and the Lytx Risk Detection Service.
The feature is automatically enabled.
“Clients can disable the feature, but there is no additional fee for this feature, and it has been widely adopted,” Prewitt explained. “Since it was released in 2022, millions of Parked–Highway/Ramp alerts and events have been generated, helping to keep drivers and highways safer.”
Since the Parked–Highway/Ramp feature alerts a carrier when a vehicle has been parked in unsafe area for more than ten minutes, it provides an additional benefit when those situations are caused by a vehicle breakdown.
Drivers have expressed privacy concerns since in–cab video systems were introduced, and a feature that tells the boss when the vehicle is parked outside of a truck stop or rest area space will not be welcomed by everyone.
Prewitt addressed those concerns.
“If drivers have concerns about privacy, fleets can activate the video privacy mode setting for Parked–Highway/Ramp. This gives clients visibility outside the vehicle while addressing driver privacy concerns. When privacy mode is enabled, the in–cab view is blacked out.”
Cliff Abbott is an experienced commercial vehicle driver and owner-operator who still holds a CDL in his home state of Alabama. In nearly 40 years in trucking, he’s been an instructor and trainer and has managed safety and recruiting operations for several carriers. Having never lost his love of the road, Cliff has written a book and hundreds of songs and has been writing for The Trucker for more than a decade.
