Disabled Parking Abuse (surgery, smoking, doctors, exercise)

[sillygal]

Stiff fines should be handed out to these people along with people who think they are special and park right in front of the door......I work in retail and some days there are 4 or 5 vehicles parked in front of the sidewalk, why have parking spaces if everyone is parking where they want too? This esp makes me angry when I see a person having to drop off or pick up a handicap person, or an elderly person who can hardly walk.
I have a friend that has CP and has to call his apt manager all the time because his neighbor blocks the entrance from the sidewalk to the parking lot that he can't get out in his wheelchair to even take a stroll.......!!! He has even gone and knocked on the neighbors door a few times, but then the guy from upstairs starting doing it. Well, needless to say he can't get upstairs to knock on his door.......!!!

[tallrick]

Let's just go back to the way it was in the 1950's, no special parking for anyone. How did people manage before this communist government came up with "special" parking spaces?

[christina0001]

In the 1950s there were less cars, and handicap people were more often homebound because there was not the portable medical equipment available that there is now.

[Sampaguita]

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. My husband has MS and has a motorized wheelchair. We have a ramp van; often when we are together I drive as it is easier than him having to transfer in/out of the driver seat.

I have no qualms about calling the police department to report cars parked in a handicap space OR the cross-hatch (for ramp access). I always make sure to walk around the car & peer inside because I have at times forgotten to put the placard up.

The things that really tick me off:

*when people lend out their placards to their able-bodied spouses, friends, children/teens, etc...;

*when people with placards will deliberately hunt out any handicap spot JUST to park in a handicap spot when there are regular parking spaces right next to where they are actually going ("society owes me" is one response I got when I asked someone about this - that is BS - yes - it's unfortunate that you are disabled but show some respect for your fellow disabled and use a regular space if you don't need ramp access);

*when you politely remind someone that unless they have a placard they should not be using the only handicap spot as their personal loading zone or their "standing only" spot; we've had people mouth off at us with loud, foul language;

*when people justify having a placard because they can't walk from their car to the MALL - if you can walk around a mall, you can walk from the parking lot. I had one acquaintance, 5 months pregnant, tell me that she needed a placard because "you have no idea how hard it is to carry all the packages when you're walking through a mall and pregnant...I don't want to have to carry that all to my car. Being pregnant sucks!" WRONG thing to say to someone who a) has been desperately trying to get pregnant and b) has a husband that struggles daily to do the things you'll never have to think about...like moving that toe...or flexing that ankle to get your socks on.

*able-bodied people who say to my husband, "Wish I had a chair like that" or "How can I get a placard? Those are cool!" My husband always replies, "No you don't. Be happy that you have the use of your legs and that you can walk anywhere you want to. Don't ever wish you had something that a disabled person has in order to be mobile."

I just wanted to let everyone know what I did today, and I will keep on doing. I went to get my child from school, I get tired of people taking up the handicapped parking spaces.
I have called the police, they come after the people are already gone, I have called in plate numbers.
So today, I called the police dept. called in the same plates I have called in about for at least eight times, got mad, found a small tablet in my car and wrote a nice note to the driver of that car.
The note said: I have called your license plate number into the police dept. for parking in a handicapped parking zone, you may be receiving a ticket in the mail or a phone call, if you get lucky this time, take it as a warning, because your plates will be turned in everytime I catch your car parked in the handicapped area with no placard or tags, saying you have that right to park here. Thank you!!!!
I was talking with another mother who also has a handicapped placard, she said I did the right thing, when the father came out with his child, neither handicapped of course, he seen the note, and cussed about it, maybe he has learned. If not I will keep my little notebook in my car and at least give others something to think about, next time they park in the handicapped area zone, since the police do nothing about it, at least we can have a laugh at the look on their face when they read the note.
I should just print a bunch of them up and then have them ready when I need to put one on the windshield of a car. What do you think????

Good for you! I think it's a great idea to have pre-printed messages like this. While someone will just snicker & crumple it up, you will have someone who is genuinely mortified. Include the price of a ticket, too. Here in San Diego County, depending on which city you live in, fines range from $350-500 for parking in a handicap zone w/out a placard and up to 3k for placard abuse (lending it out for starters).

[momoffive]

or maybe (just to kind of creep that guy out) you could take a picture of him when he is right next to the car (maybe he'll think it is going into the local newspaper)......LOL

[unknown stuntman]

I've seen people park in the fire lane in front of a store for so long, they actually are napping while their significant other is inside shopping. I despise lazy, trashy people. There, I said it.

[ladyprime]

i know my dad is a very young 82 years old, hes had both knees replaced and doesnt get around as well as he should, but he is a very strong 82.ive heard people in parking lots complain to him that hes not disabled, the shame is the ones that complain are people that arent even disabled themselfs..
what they should do in my opinion is have one or two levels of handicapped.. level one being folks in wheelchairs, and those spots should also be made a bit wider...level two for folks like my dad that may not look like hes having trouble, but belive me ,if he walks too much, he ends up crawling back to the truck...and anybody that parkes in disabled spots should have far bigger fines than they do now..
i know, when i drive my parents cars, im not one to use their plac to get a better spot, more people should simply have common respect for others..
and if you see someone struggling with a door, smile and open it for them!! being nice is not hard to do, belive me

[unknown stuntman]

My best friend is a police officer and while he doesn't have quotas to meet, generally when he puts in OT doing day-time patrol, he is suppose to show evidence of putting in his money's worth: namely tickets he wrote up during his shift. Of course this comes off to most as nothing but a revenue generating scheme courtesy of all our local and state governments who just can't control their childish, reckless spending habits while finding any way to pass the cost along to hard working average Americans. But my friend is never one to pull over people for "speeding" on a main access road for doing 42 in a 30. He refuses to waste his or the motorist's time and money with that nonsense, especially in a region where violent crime is rampant and thus there are much bigger fish to fry. He does however enjoy decorating windshields left-and-right of those many handicap violaters, as well as vehicles sitting idly in fire zones in front of department stores more than five minutes, especially when there are occupants he already verbally warned minutes early.
Believe it or not, he constantly gets approached minutes later when some of these folks find the tickets tucked neatly under their wiper blade and gets the excuse that someone else not authorized is doing the same thing as though he can knock out every one of these violations with one five-minute sweep (and there are alot of them at every given moment in every shoping district/outlet). Ah yes, 21st century America where no one is responsible and everything can be justified!
Besides the shenanigans, he just flat-out hates lazy people. I see the same scenarios every day that I shop all the time. If you need to ticket people, I don't understand why more police departments don't focus on these low-lifes. Justified revenue for the towns and cities and much quicker and painless than the procedure for writing up moving violations. Too many people judging especially by the reactions my friend gets from the perpetrator are pretty accustomed to expecting to lazily park or sit idly in a fire zone or handicapped spot just so god forbid, they don't have to walk an extra few hundred feet, or make their significant other stand outside in the front of the store with a cart of groceries for one minute.

[Delaneyland]

I have an Uncle that has had polio since the age of 16, he's now 76. I took him shopping once and parked in the handicapped spot, he looked at me and said "What are you doing", when I pointed out the opvious, he scolded me and said "There's a lot of folks worse off than me". Keep in mind, he needs canes and braces to STAND UP. GRRRRRRRR The abuse of the handicapped parking just puts me over the tipping point, thankfully I worked for 15 years writing ticket after ticket for every single abuse I was able to find.

[Sampaguita]

Originally Posted by ladyprime

what they should do in my opinion is have one or two levels of handicapped.. level one being folks in wheelchairs, and those spots should also be made a bit wider...level two for folks like my dad that may not look like hes having trouble, but belive me ,if he walks too much, he ends up crawling back to the truck...and anybody that parkes in disabled spots should have far bigger fines than they do now..

i know, when i drive my parents cars, im not one to use their plac to get a better spot, more people should simply have common respect for others..
and if you see someone struggling with a door, smile and open it for them!! being nice is not hard to do, belive me

My husband actually wouldn't mind having some van/wheelchair accessible spots located further away since he has a powered chair. Those faraway spots would be less likely taken by those who don't really need wheelchair/ramp access. There's nothing worse than driving round & round trying to find a spot where you can park AND let your ramp down.

When he first went into the wheelchair, my husband noticed that more often than not, people were more than happy to hold open a door for him. He always, always gives them a big smile & a thank you and in return, you get the distinct impression that that person walks away feeling good about him/herself. Not a bad thing.