Safe and Secure Truck Parking
Secure parking places for trucks and commercial light vehicles has been listed as a top priority in the ITS Action Plan. European Truck drivers need to have appropriate information on safe and secure parking places in Europe.
They are often confronted with insufficient number of parking facilities and therefore often park in non-secured zones or unsafe locations like hard shoulders, exposing themselves and other road users to potential thefts and high risk of accidents. All safe and secure parkings have to offer drivers showers, toilets, access to food and water and an internet connection.
The European Commission adopted in April, new EU standards for safe and secure truck parking areas. The new standards assign truck parking areas one of four security levels, ranging from “bronze” to “platinum.”
There’s still a shortage of overnight parking places for trucks in the European Union, and most of the existing areas have not been confirmed to be secure. According to the Commission, the EU needs an extra 100,000 overnight parking spaces, and just 7,000 of existing 300,000 areas are certified safe
European Access Point for Truck Parking Data
The EC is managing a European Access Point for Truck Parking Data to enable continuity of services throughout the European Union.
The European Access Point for Truck Parking aims to provide access to safe & secure truck parking data in DATEX II format. In line with Article 5 of Commission delegated Regulation (EU) No 885/2013 in the framework of the ITS Directive 2010/40/EU public or private parking operators and service providers shall share and exchange data related to safe and secure parking areas through a national or international access point.
At this moment the Access Point only supports static data. A planned update of the bloc’s Trans-European Transport Network rules would require countries to erect secure parking areas at a minimum of 100-kilometer intervals.
The TENTec Portal of the European Commission is providing a visual overview of available data: TENtec Interactive Map Viewer (europa.eu)
