Overview
- The new ADAC spot checks at 100 rest areas found trucks in high-risk zones at 48 sites, with 85 using prohibited spaces and 91 outside marked bays as occupancy rose from 22:00 to midnight.
- Kassel Ost Lohfelden on the A7 again stood out with up to 138 violations, while Plater Berge West (A14) logged none and Kutzhof Süd (A8) only one.
- Despite about 4,500 new bays since 2018, the club counts a shortfall of roughly 20,000 spaces, and industry group BGL puts the gap near 40,000.
- Legal driving-time limits force drivers to stop even without legal bays, creating collision hazards that groups say have led to serious and fatal crashes and adding cost to logistics.
- Authorities are piloting telematic allocation and real-time occupancy for about 1,000 sites with wider rollout planned, but ADAC presses for faster construction plus tools like reservations and column parking alongside enforcement.