Indian River Shores winter residents should tell the companies hauling their cars back up north – or bringing them back in the fall – that truck drivers won’t be able to park their 18-wheelers along the side of A1A anymore, and least of all in the middle turn lane.
If the big semi-trucks can’t get right to the front of your house to load or unload your car, they have to get a parking and loading permit from the town’s Public Safety Department and park on Fred Tuerk Drive near the public safety headquarters.
And you’ll have to get your car over there yourself to have it loaded – or pick it up after it is unloaded in the fall.
It had always been a town ordinance that all large vehicles, including the car haulers, needed to get a permit from the public safety department, but Assistant Chief Ed Ryer, who has been with the department for about three years, admits that enforcement of the rule had been lax, if not non-existent.
That made the big car carrier trucks on the side of the road along A1A – and even sometimes in the middle turn lanes – a frequent sight in the past in the springtime as snowbird seasonal residents moved back up north, and again in the fall when they returned to the Shores.
Following a discussion at a recent Town Council meeting about the safety hazards posed by the trucks parking in undesirable spots along A1A, the town’s public safety department was asked to begin more proactively enforcing the regulation mandating permits for the loading and unloading operations, but, according to Ryer, the department has started doing so “in a relaxed manner.”
“We’re giving the truck drivers a little bit of leeway,” Ryer said. “We haven’t actually written any citations yet. If one of our officers finds someone who’s in the middle of loading a car, they’re not going to make him take it back off. They let them secure the vehicle, and then they’ll guide them to Fred Tuerk drive to get the permit before they perhaps pick up another car in the area.
“And we’ve never denied anyone a permit yet,” Ryer said. “It’s easy to get.”
Truck drivers were advised of the change in policy by the town’s public safety department to ban car carriers from parking on A1A through a lighted sign at the southern entrance to the town on A1A just north of the 7-Eleven convenience store, and residents were also advised through the town’s Facebook page on social media.
The town took the initiative on its own and did not coordinate the move with the City of Vero Beach or the Indian River County Sheriff’s Department, and Ryer said he is not aware of any similar moves by the other law enforcement agencies in the areas they patrol on the barrier island.
“It’s something we wanted to for the safety of our residents, and to use the space we have available on Fred Tuerk Drive,” Ryer said.
“Moving the car haulers off A1A was really a safety issue,” Ryer said. “Parking the trucks in the center lane is absolutely prohibited, but even if the truck was parked on the side of the road, it would only take a second for someone to run into the rear end of the truck. Those are usually big vehicles with not much give, and we could have a serious accident, or maybe even a fatal one, on our hands.”
Ryer said the town’s police force is not looking to write citations, but has been told to “make it more of an educational thing” for the drivers of the car haulers and their resident clients alike.
“I would hope that the residents all know about it by now,” Ryer said, “and the road sign gives the truck drivers a number to call if they don’t already know where to go to get the relevant permit.”
Traffic on A1A has become noticeably lighter in the past couple of weeks as many snowbirds have already returned up north after this year’s winter season in the Vero Beach area.
It is estimated that fewer than half of the island’s seasonal residents with homes up north actually drive themselves back and forth. Most take a plane and have car haulers move their vehicles. Several different companies offer the hauling service at competitive rates.
