Talk:Truck stop

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It is requested that an image of a GALLERY of many truck stops be included in this article to improve its quality, if possible.

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[edit] Truck stops in Wytheville, Virginia

Idle comment: Wytheville, Virginia is a college town, not a truck stop town (I'm writing this from the college's academic resource center). The author may have been thinking of nearby Hillsville or Rocky Gap, Virginia... Almafeta 15:03, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Sorry, Wytheville has 5 such truck stops in the area, all providing eating establishments as well. One on I-77, one exit north of the merger of I-81, three of them between Wytheville and Fort Chiswell and one inside Fort Chiswell, plus other minor facilities. The Wytheville region is a trucking paradise and has been for over 30 years. There is a truck driving school in the town, the economy of Wytheville relies mostly on transportation.
Those facilities are there because I-81 and I-77 is two of the most heavily traveled truck routes in the US. Wytheville has one of the most serious congestion problems for a town of it's size as it is also inhabited by tons of outsiders in other vehicles. It's isolation from major cities in each direction makes it a major pit stop. ~SSM

[edit] Opening is misleading

The opening line of this article is very misleading. A truck stop does not denote it as an eating establishment. Many of the truck stops that I frequent offer no more than fuel and coffee.~Paul Mundt

This article is indeed inaccurate. Contrary to what this article says; in the UK there are both transport cafés and truck stops. They are two different things. The former is a roadside greasy spoon frequented by truckers. The latter is a much bigger establishment with Diesel pumps and facilities for those staying overnight such as showers, restaurant and bar etc.. Not everyone pronounces café "caff" either. It depends which part of the UK they come from. Apgeraint 16:30, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

I changed the article around quite a bit, hopefully making it more accurate and informative. Matheson 07:26, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge to Rest area

This article (Truck stop) should be merged to Rest area. Any objections? —Quarl (talk) 2007-02-28 09:37Z

Truck stops are commercial enterprises that, at their heart, cater to the long haul trucking business. Rest areas are break areas for travellers that are government maintained. I don't see the benefit in merging the articles. VulcanOfWalden 17:20, 25 April 2007 (UTC)
I don't believe there is any connection between a truck stop and a rest area. A rest area is little more than a wide spot in the road with parking and rest-rooms. Some truck stops are practically shopping malls. The only thing they have in common is the parking and rest-rooms. Rsduhamel 17:28, 13 May 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Truck Stops and Gay Cruising

I'm wondering if there is any value in writing something about truck stops as sites of homosexual cruising and heterosexual prostitution. I tried recently to do some research about the history of truck stops and gay culture, but found that there is virtually zero documentation about the subject. Truck stops and heterosexual practices (mostly prostitution) fare only slightly better in scholarly accounts.

I can certainly predict some of the more obvious, reactionary rejections to such a suggestion, but I mean only to stress the truck stop as one particular site of many where gay men have cruised for other gay men. Depictions of gay truckers or homosexual behaviour and truck stops, while exclusively negative (usually for the purposes of comedy...there was that Ben Stiller movie a few years back???), remains a part of Hollywood (and literary) vernacular, but I'm more interested in unearthing some real, documented scholarly evidence or discourse on the subject. Any ideas, feedback? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.149.129.64 (talk) 04:14, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

I have no idea if there has been much scholarly research on this topic. As a working trucker I've been to most of the truck stops in northern and central California, and haven't noticed any particular 'gay' activity. Yes there are 'lot lizards' a.k.a. 'sleeper leapers,' and almost by definition, these are female. Some trucks stops play host to unofficial workers, such as the 'polishers' who will do detail work on a visiting big rig, for a negotiated fee. Allegedly, some of these persons are also conduits to "extras" such as illicit drugs, and it wouldn't surprise me if sex (gay or straight) was also on the menu. However, while some public highway rest areas have long been notorious for gay cruising, commercial truck stops are not. Cuebon (talk) 05:55, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] World View

Added additional information about T/S in the US. This needs to be considered and balanced by someone knowledgeable about stops in other countries. SkoreKeep 07:15, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree, and wish I was in a position to provide that knowledge.

Mainland China, South Korea, coastal Brazil, and many other nations have large industries and busy container ports. Obviously there are many thousands of trucks serving that commerce. Where do they fuel up? Stay the night? Where do those truckers hang out? Surely we can glean these details!

On the other hand, in the USA, truckers have a limited online presence. There are only a handful of 'ongoing' truck driver oriented web sites, and no blogs that I can find. (I myself just launched a regional site, with specific information for truckers heading into the San Francisco Bay area -- even in the Silicon Valley there were no such sites!)

71.131.21.93 01:51, 28 August 2007 (UTC) -Paul C

Well, I don't know if you can find this on the internet (because why would anyone set up a website on truckstops anyway?), but I did a lot of traveling in China, and most truck stops are essentially just like American truck stops, but most of them are found on isolated high ways with no other place in reasonable distance. Oh, and most of them has a tiny motel operated with the same unit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.126.75.181 (talk) 23:07, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Me again. Here's a group of resources, but it'll take someone with better language skills than I to utilize the German site. A trucker/webmaster who goes by 'iMax' has collected links to several non-American trucker's web sites.

http://members.tripod.com/~imax4/

(Scroll down about halfway.)

Searching further, I found a large collection of European links.

http://www.mbmcargotech.nl/html/partner_sites.html

71.131.2.7 02:49, 22 September 2007 (UTC) -Paul C

[edit] Re: Truck stops in US, UK, Australia, etc.

I removed the following from the head of the article:

A Truck Stop is not as described below. It may not offer other than a place to park, and that might be for a limited time. It may offer more but it may not,, and need not! as can be the case in the UK and Australia.

A Transport Cafe would offer food and may be (usually is) a place for a truck to stop, while a lorry park would be an official parking area possibly with charges for different periods of time. Some countries like America may use the term Truck Stop to describe something different,, that is a matter for them,, but the English language is English and it means simply place for a truck to stop.

I realize that "truck stop" designates different things in different countries, but the matter should be integrated into the body of the article and not tacked on to the opening. Please be aware, SkoreKeep, that I am not opposed to your intent - only the method. Matheson 16:17, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

The unqualified description of the meaning of a Truck Stop is not correct for the United Kingdom (which is the home of the English Language) or even more so in Australia and possibly other countries. A Truck Stop should not be taken to be what America says it is, it can be a just what it says, a place for a truck to stop/park. It can indeed be more, but it definitely should not be assumed to be more outside the coastline of America. Australia has a mass of Truck Stops, which are simply open country off road places to park.
I am concerned that Americans editing this are assuming that the Internet is only American; it is global so we need to adhere to the English language. If Americans have taken the words to mean something else other than a place for a truck to stop, then they should make it plain that this is an American term and it does apply to America and Americans who often use the English Language in their own way. I have no problem with this,,, but,,, again,,, it is reasonable to expect America to appreciate that this site is global, not an American intranet, so to initially state the meaning without qualification is just plain inaccurate and "Wrong". In fact a magnanimous approach is required not a parochial one, which is a shame for such an illustrious website and great country. (user Eden)

How many people are going to look up an article about empty spaces where a large vehicle doesn't have to move? Did you come to this article looking for information about nothing? Since the North American (this includes Canada) sense of "truck stop" is a rest area geared towards truckers that features a restaurant and has an attendant culture seems to be of greater importance, I invite you to start another article and put a disambig notice atop this one.Theamazingzeno (talk) 08:59, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] HELP

I spent a the good part of 2 hours on this but now I need to go to bed, Id like a bit of hand this article cheers Beaver (talk) 11:05, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] HELP

I spent a the good part of 2 hours on this but now I need to go to bed, Id like a bit of hand this article cheers Beaver (talk) 11:05, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Stupid puter clicked save twiceBeaver (talk) 11:06, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Uncited assertions

This is in general an outdated stereotype, as most modern truck stops are generally clean and safe, becoming a "home away from home" for many truck drivers. However, it should be noted that most truck stops do reflect the social environment of the area they are in; consequently, one still occasionally finds seedy truck stops in seedy areas.

Neither of these propositions are cited, and I find it dubious that "most truck stops reflect the social environment of the area they are in." Most truck stops are in the middle of nowhere, and have an almost entirely transient population of non-local passers-by. NTK (talk) 21:03, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

As a truck driver, I would have to agree with the statement that truck stops reflect the environment of the area. I find it dubious that you assert that "most truck stops are in the middle of nowhere." Do you have proof of that statement? While most truck stops are located between major cities, I doubt the cities where these truck stops are located would agree that they are located "nowhere." Truck stops located within the larger cities are known by most drivers to be "seedy," reflecting the higher crime rates within the urban environments in which they are located. Truck stops in Tulsa, and Oklahoma City are notorious for having prostitutes and drug dealers roaming the parking lots. Most people would consider Oklahoma the "middle of nowhere" but that is another dubious assertion. The company I used to work for banned drivers from stopping at any truck stop located in Dallas, Texas because of their notorious seedy reputations and the tendency for drivers to get into trouble with the law and thrown in jail while parked at these truck stops. --ErgoSum88 (talk) 01:21, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
"No one wants a truckstop in their back yard," O'Connor says. "People think they bring a lot of problems. Urban areas have the most problems. Most of them are pretty good, but there are some problem sites in the inner city."[1]
Just as the highways that truckers crisscross are different, types of truck stops vary widely. Security needs for truck stops rely on a number of specific factors, like: Where is the truck stop located? Truck stops located in rural areas have different security concerns than urban area truck stops.[2]
--ErgoSum88 (talk) 01:36, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

NTK, if you want some information from a respected source, check out John McPhee's new book "Uncommon Carriers." I've long noticed that (with exceptions) truck stops within urban bounds are much lower in quality than those farther out along major highways. Cuebon (talk) 06:02, 29 March 2008 (UTC)