If you think Australia could do with more truck parking bays along our highways spare a thought for our American counterparts.

Truck parking bays in the U.S. are in an acutely short supply but hope is on the way as  legislation has recently been proposed to authorise the spending of $US755million to expand commercial truck parking capacity across the country.

The American Trucking Association claims that a chronic, nationwide shortage of commercial truck parking bays is having a costly, measurable impact on supply chain efficiency, driver health and wellbeing, highway safety, and the environment.

It says that when truck drivers are unable to find safe, authorised parking, they're stuck in a no-win situation – forced to either park in unsafe or illegal locations, or to violate federal hours-of-service rules that regulate their daily drive-time to search for safer, legal alternatives.

• A U.S. Department of Transportation report found 98% of drivers regularly experience problems finding safe parking. 
   
• The same report found the truck parking shortage exists in every state and region and is most acute along major freight corridors.
   
• 70% of drivers have been forced to violate federal hours-of-service rules because of this common scenario.
   
• The lack of safe parking options is often cited as a serious deterrent to more women joining the industry.

But that’s not the only problem in the U.S.

It seems that nearly 41,000 truck drivers tested positive for marijuana in 2022, according to a report compiled from data in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse.

The new report shows that more than 100,000 truck drivers have tested positive for marijuana since January 2020.

Truck drivers who test positive for marijuana – and other drugs – are prohibited from driving, and must enter a “return-to-work” process and retest to get back behind the wheel.

Cocaine, methamphetamines and amphetamines placed second, third and fourth, respectively, among substances accounting for the most truck driver drug-test failures.

The top four drugs accounted for 90% of the 177,376 total positive test results in the three-year history of the Clearinghouse. The agency tests for a total of 14 substances.