Talk:Rest area

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Yes. These articles should be merged, due to their similar content and the Motorway Service... article being very small. Changes should be made to the Rest Area article so that it contains more information on areas outside of the US. --Benbread 13:42, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Accuracy dispute 2 UK Motorways link 3 Rest Stop movie 4 Merge

[edit] Accuracy dispute

In many states it is illegal to sleep in rest areas if you are not in an 18-wheeler. the state police will tell you to vamoose. -matt

This would be worthwhile to add if you could be more specific on the information (and provide sources) than "many states".

I know that in Virginia, on the rules and regulations list posted at rest areas, it is illegal to sleep in the rest area building, but there is no mention as to the legality of sleeping elsewhere on the premises, such as in one's vehicle. I have seen many people late at night stop at rest areas to take a siesta, and have also done so myself, and no one's ever given me problems over it, nor have I seen anyone else have problems with it. SchuminWeb (Talk) 23:58, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] UK Motorways link

I took a look at the link that MarkSG inserted and reinserted, and I don't see anything wrong right offhand with including it. SchuminWeb (Talk) 14:56, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

I see that all but one of the offsite links have now been removed. I'm not going to revert it this time, but I'd ask that other editors check the links that were removed (and, indeed, the one that remains) and make their own judgment on which are relevent and which are not. MarkSG 06:47, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Hi - I'm the editor who removed all but one link. As to the ones I removed I always refer to WP:EL & WP:NOT when looking at links. I also check the actual link out. Wiki is not a directory so links to service stations on all roads throughout the world look to be inappropriate. The fact that there weren't many more there seems a matter of "so far" there aren't - the presence of the heading would have merely encouraged other contributors to think that the links were wanted. In general Wiki requires encyclopedic content not links.

The one I left (to me) really seems to add something to Wiki in terms of history & information and also provides other appropriate links without the need for them to be placed on Wiki itself (additionally it has no appearance of being commercial (WP:SPAM). Hope that clarifies things for everyone --Nigel ^(Talk) 12:01, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rest Stop movie

The page Rest Stop redirects to this page, when perhaps it should be a disambig page because there is a movie called Rest Stop (Rest Stop (film). Thoughts? -Elizabennet 02:55, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

We don't need a full dab page for it, but definitely a dab line for it at the top of the article. I'll put one in there. SchuminWeb (Talk) 06:29, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge

A number of articles should be merged here: Highway oasis, Illinois Tollway oasis, Overhead restaurant, Truck stop, Lay-by (though Lay-by overlaps with turnout, so maybe not that one). Any objections? —Quarl ^(talk) 2007-02-28 09:40Z

Highway oasis, overhead restaurant, and lay-by, merge away. I'd keep Illinois Tollway oasis and truck stop separate, though. SchuminWeb (Talk) 16:23, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

I tend to think of a rest area as being the same as a lay-by; more of a simple roadside parking area provided by the highway department, that may not even have restrooms or running water. A truck stop, OTOH, is a privately-owned business, near the highway but not directly on it, where you can buy food and fuel, and that might also include other features catering to truckers like shower and laundry facilities or even a motel. The thing the rest area article currently describes is what I'd call a highway service plaza -- owned by the highway department, with direct limited access to the highway like a rest area, but with private contractors providing some of the services of a truck stop. So, my suggestion would be to rename the current rest area article to service plaza, rename lay-by to rest area, and merge highway oasis with service plaza -- all with appropriate pointers back and forth to explain how the three things are different. Dr.frog 22:58, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

I think that renaming one article and then giving another article the first article's name would get somewhat confusing pretty quickly. So I'm opposed to that. Reading lay-by, though, I don't see why it couldn't fit right in with the rest of the article. It would broaden the topic coverage in rest area, and would consolidate similar topics. After all, what is a lay-by but a "diet rest area"? SchuminWeb (Talk) 06:46, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

I disagree with Dr.frog and agree with Schuminweb. --Coolcaesar 07:33, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Schuminweb, thank you for doing the merges! I agree with the friendly amendments regarding lay-by and truck stop. I also agree Rest area shouldn't be renamed. I didn't post about this before, but before I rewrote the lede in February, I did some research, and the most common names for the subject of this article are "rest area", "travel plaza", "rest stop", and "service area", in that order, and less commonly "rest and service area" ("RSA"), "service station", "resto", "service plaza", and "service centre". —Quarl ^(talk) 2007-03-13 08:53Z

Here are some references on the terminology I'm familiar with. Rest areas in Michigan have parking, restrooms, and picnic areas, but no restaurants or service stations. The Massachusetts Turnpike calls the kind with restaurants and service stations "service areas", not "rest areas". "Full-service rest areas" on other Massachusetts highways include "rest rooms, information kiosks, telephones, and vending services", but not restaurants or gas stations. Connecticut distinguishes between "rest areas" and "service stations" on its highways. Rest areas in Utah area also the restrooms-and-picnic-area variety, not the restaurant-and-service-station type, as are those in Missouri and Washington. In other words, this is the common usage in every US state I've ever lived in. Dr.frog 14:54, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Right. I'm with you on that one. However, they all fall under the same overarching concept, and so "service area", "rest area", "service plaza", etc. are all basically variations on the same thing. Thus why we did the merge. SchuminWeb (Talk) 15:36, 14 March 2007 (UTC)