The widow of a trucker, who was killed during a robbery as he parked his truck in an abandoned gas station, is spearheading legislation to allocate funds for truck stop and rest area expansion across the country.
Hope Rivenburg’s husband Jason was shot on March 5, 2009 by a robber at a gas station in South Carolina. Rivenburg was waiting for a milk store to open to make his delivery. At the time of his death, Hope was pregnant with their twins.
A year later, Hope Rivenburg is lobbying for legislators to pass Jason’s Law. The legislation will pay for a pilot program to build new parking facilities and rest areas in high-tech corridors across the country that are currently starved for such truck stops. The law will also provide for enhancement of current truck stops, opening up of current parking facilities to allow parking of trucks, and easier access to safe parking areas.
Several states across the country are cutting down funding for truck stops as they struggle with budgetary constraints. This means that truck drivers have fewer safe areas to park their vehicles when they need to pull the vehicle over for some rest, or if they have to wait to make a delivery. In the absence of safe areas, truckers are often forced to pull over on a highway shoulder, which is extremely unsafe. Other drivers simply continue driving on, when they don’t find a convenient place to park.
A truck driver’s workplace is the highway, and he has every right to a safe workplace. This includes access to safe rest areas when he needs to pull over. As trucking accident lawyers in Atlanta, we wholeheartedly support any efforts to expand existing truck stops and build new ones, so truckers can safely rest when they need to.