Let’s Treat Drivers Like Real People

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In: In the Spotlight, INTRANSIT NEWS

It’s an unfortunate reality that professional drivers are often not offered the same basic amenities as the public.

How does this photo make you feel? Would you want to use facilities such as the one pictured above? This is the unfortunate reality for several professional drivers, if they are even offered services such as toilets. The building, set apart in a field away from other facilities and buildings, emits a pinkish red light when the door closes, illuminating all the dirt and grime on the steel interior. So how does that make a driver feel?

“It makes me feel like a serious criminal.”

-Female professional driver in Belgium

The same female driver offered another photo of a bathroom and asked if we could feel the difference:

“This one is for normal, dignified people, that’s what it feels like.”

One of the goals of ESPORG is to create awareness within the industry and greater public regarding the conditions of professional drivers. We want all drivers to feel like they are treated as normal, dignified people. We help our network build facilities that offer at least the basic necessities for drivers, like clean toilets and showers, and hopefully, additional services such as warm meals, hospitality, rooms for relaxation and rest. Apart from the fact that these are basic needs ALL people deserve, services such as these provide the necessary rest and care that drivers have to have to continue doing their job safely–without our drivers, the transport industry cannot continue to function.

This is a key reason why ESPORG developed the ESPORG Excellence in Truck Parking Award–we want to highlight the parking areas that are exceeding expectation in terms of driver wellbeing, safety and services, and have them serve as a role model for others. ESPORG also teamed up to develop the EU Parking Academy to educate parking operators, staff, and any other stakeholders about the EU-Parking Standard. This training is mandatory for parking areas who want to certify according to the EU-Parking Standard and free for ESPORG members. Already, almost 500 participants across Europe have been trained in the security and services necessary for parking areas to have in order to fulfill the basic needs of drivers.

Because we cannot continue to keep treating drivers like criminals. We have to do better. We call on the industry, and on all of you, to do better.

For more information about the Award winners from this year, feel free to read https://www.intransitmagazine.eu/2024/03/07/3rd-annual-esporg-excellence-in-truck-parking-winners-announced/.

To learn more about the EU Parking Academy, contact info@esporg.eu.

**cover photo taken by niu niu, provided by Unplash