Quick question about parking

[the_lone_wolf]

Hi all

Not my usual section but having done a fair few miles in the last few months I see a lot of trucks parked up in laybys and the like...

I've noticed that more often than not, the artics won't be parked straight, but will have some left steering lock on and also the articulation points the cab into the verge relative to the trailer

I always wonder if there's any reason for this? To stop lights reflecting off the wing mirror into the cabin? So that if they get rear ended the truck will naturally turn into the verge and not the carriageway perhaps?

Or maybe it's just the natural position a truck ends up in after parking up?

[imagineifyeswill]

Its so if there hit from behind it will push them off the road not back into traffic.

[s p a c e m a n]

For me when I park up with the cab at an angle it is so that I can open the door without passing traffic taking it with them, so I don't have to look in the mirror then leg it out during a gap in traffic. Another reason some of them park a bit weird is playing the level game.. ever tried to lay on a wonky bed, or cook dinner on something that isn't level? I've seen foreigners on a weekend park up spend half an hour with bits of wood and bricks getting their house level

[bigfatnick]

the above, plus you can open the passanger door to have a pee on a night and the cab is kind of turned further away from traffic. id rather not offend people with my pasty white hulking torso and ginger bodyfur.

i also think that the cab wobbles about a little bit less from the wind blast of trucks/cars passing. something that is far more pronounced than i ever expected when i started this job.

[GC8]

Yes, definitely less affected by the draught from passing vehicles.

[the_lone_wolf]

Thanks all, that settles a question...

[Hooli]

I'd always thought it was so some drunk east european trucker can't knock your mirrors off as they go past.

[GC8]

Manifold benefits.

[agent006]

bigfatnick said:

i also think that the cab wobbles about a little bit less from the wind blast of trucks/cars passing. something that is far more pronounced than i ever expected when i started this job.

I was told that's also the reason you sometimes see trucks parked with the trailer unhitched. The passing trucks wobble the trailer but the cab stays more stable unhitched so you get better sleep.