Truck parking spaces on motorways: Risky parking is the rule

A situation no driver wants to experience: You steer tiredly towards a rest stop in the dark, and suddenly a truck is unexpectedly in your lane. For car drivers, this is undoubtedly quite unpleasant, but for long-haul drivers, the parking situation has a completely different dimension. The fact that truck drivers often park incorrectly is not due to a lack of consideration but to too few parking spaces. Drivers are in a dilemma: on the one hand, they are supposed to use the legal driving time available to its full extent, and on the other hand, they must not exceed the driving times. Three years ago, the ADAC investigated the situation, and now again. The club concludes that nothing has improved.

Parking outside marked areas

The testers visited the rest stops at 10 p.m., 11 p.m., and midnight. Already at 10 p.m., most parking spaces were completely occupied. Parking outside marked areas, for example in the lanes between parking spaces, is almost the rule, writes the ADAC. At 85 of the 100 tested facilities, trucks were parked in absolute no-stopping zones or in areas not designated for them, such as car parking spaces. At 48 out of 100, trucks were parked in highly risky areas such as entrances and exits, or even on the hard shoulder.

The situation apparently differs little regionally. As three years ago, the “Kassel Ost Lohfelden” rest stop (A7, Hesse) was the last place with up to 138 parking violations. At the two rest stops “Lichtendorf Nord” (A1, NRW) and “Tecklenburger Land West” (A1, NRW), a particularly critical picture emerged with up to eight trucks each in highly risky areas. Only at the “Plater Berge West” facility on the A14 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and “Kutzhof Süd” (A8, Saarland) were there no or only one violation.

Tens of thousands of parking spaces are missing

Between 2018 and 2023, around 4,500 truck parking spaces were added nationwide along motorways, the ADAC praises, but must simultaneously state: That is not enough. The club estimates that around 20,000 truck parking spaces are missing along motorways. The Federal Association for Freight Transport, Logistics, and Disposal (BGL) even speaks of around 40,000 parking spaces that would need to be created to solve the problem.

At least, it is becoming apparent how the stress of finding a parking space for truck drivers can be somewhat alleviated. Since July 2025, drivers can access real-time data from currently around 1000 rest stops via the central traffic data platform of the federal government. From 2026 onwards, all remaining facilities are to be integrated into the so-called parking space information service, followed by private parking providers such as truck stops.

(mfz)