OT - Handicap Parking

For people straddling two non-handicap parking spaces, I have been known to leave a note on their windshield saying:

"Finding a parking space is really difficult today. Congratulations! I see that you found 2 spaces!"

I always thought a clever note to leave would say,
"Others think I am leaving a note to comment on your selfish parking.
What they don't know is about the corundum in my hand, which you will want to wash off your wipers before it rains."

Madalot wrote:

chunkyfrog wrote:Then you see the car parked across THREE handicap stalls, blocking all of them--but they had a permit!
I wanted to call it in, as they had no lift on the side; but I figured someone else would.

I think from now on, I'm going to take a picture with my phone and turn it in to the authorities. The woman the other day WAS disabled, but I still cannot figure out why on Earth she parked on the lines rather than in a parking space, especially since the lot was EMPTY.

Taking a picture might work.
But from experience I have found that the Parking Enforcement people have to actually see the violation themselves before they will issue a ticket.

I used to have people who would park in the fire zone right outside of my office window. And since they would stay in the car while waiting for someone to do their business in another office in the complex, they would listen to their radio with the car doors open. And the music was loud & would disturb us.

So, I called Parking Enforcement & they told me to call them when it was happening & if they were in the area they would come by & issue citations.
And believe it or not, they actually made it there a few times & did issue some citations.

And since I was having recurring problems, they set me up to send the van to my office whenever they were in the area (even when I did not call them to come by). They actually caught a few more that way also.

Also had a problem with some employees of another business in the complex parking at a 90 degree angle behind cars parked in legal spaces - because they could not drive 30 more feet to empty parking spots. By doing that, they were blocking 6 cars (3 on each side of their car). When I or someone else wanted to leave, we had to go get those people to move their car for us to be able to get out.

1 of those 6 spots happened to be a Handicapped Parking Space so they also issued citations to those people as though they in fact had parked in the Handicapped spot. Bad thing for them was if they had parked anywhere else & done that, Parking Enforcement would have done nothing because it was a private lot. The fact that they were blocking the Handicapped spot was what got them in trouble. Even though that Handicapped spot was empty 99% of the time, you still can not block it.

My point (at long last) is find the Phone Number of the Parking Enforcement people in your city.

When you see a violation, call them immediately.
They just love to get "referrals" to meet their "Quota" every month without having to drive all over town.

Madalot, I feel for you when family "doesn't get it". It had been a problem for me. At first my wife questioned if it was such a big issue that I had to go on disability. She was shocked (as was I, frankly) when the US Social Security Administration approved my disability in just three months time. I've not heard anything further from her questioning my decision. I've since had a few incidents when I melt down (due to too much sensory input when I'm out and about). I literally reach a point where I can no longer understand what's going on around me. It's alarming to say the least. It's not any sort of anxiety attack. Rather, I just can't make sense of all the input. That's one of the fun things that happens when you have degeneration of the brain stem and cerebellum. Friends and family have seen these and needless to say are rather worried when it happens! As a result, I don't have any of my friends or family questioning me about my disability. The upside of this is that I don't have to put up with friends and family that "don't get it". The downside is that I get to put up with such occasional episodes.

Here's hoping your family and friends soon "get it".

Madalot,

Who do you call to report illegal parking? I have one co-worker who uses her husband's handicapped tag to park in the handicapped spaces both at work and everywhere she goes. She even uses the spaces nearest to the courthouse steps because she is always runing late and they are the best spaces. When she gets tickets for parking too long, she sends her husband to fight them. My other co-worker has different licence plates on each end of his car. The front ones are his and the back ones are those of his deceased father-in-law. That way he only gets half of his tickets, depending on which end the ticket officer sees the car. Both of these folks are attorneys and have figured it all out. Is there a way to report this anonymously?

OutaSync wrote:Madalot,

Who do you call to report illegal parking? I have one co-worker who uses her husband's handicapped tag to park in the handicapped spaces both at work and everywhere she goes. She even uses the spaces nearest to the courthouse steps because she is always runing late and they are the best spaces. When she gets tickets for parking too long, she sends her husband to fight them. My other co-worker has different licence plates on each end of his car. The front ones are his and the back ones are those of his deceased father-in-law. That way he only gets half of his tickets, depending on which end the ticket officer sees the car. Both of these folks are attorneys and have figured it all out. Is there a way to report this anonymously?

Honestly, I don't know. I think you'd have to call the local police/sheriff where the violation occurs. And if they aren't too busy and bother to come, you'd be lucky if the perpetrator was still there. If it were me, though, and I knew of someone doing that, I would report it to the local police. Take a picture of the violation, then mail it anonymously to the authorities with a note saying this person does this all the time. And take pictures of the dual license plates, making sure the camera is date & time stamped so they can see it was taken the same time.

Happened to me again yesterday. Handicap vehicle not in a space, but over top of the wheelchair lines. I took a picture of the vehicle this time, but as has been pointed out, probably won't matter if the police didn't see it for themselves. And while I wanted to call the police about it, my husband didn't want to bother with it. Doesn't appear to annoy him as much as it annoys me.

Honestly, I'm getting tired of dealing with people (general). I know there are some very good people in the world, but these idiots, including the ones OutaSync knows, are so horrible that I just don't want to deal with them on any level.

Why do people have to be such jerks? What has happened to the human race that people think it's perfectly acceptable to do stuff like this? And I'm also talking about the idiots on these forums that just want to irritate the good people. What do they possibly get out of it? What makes a human being feel the need to abuse or cause problems for others to make themselves feel better? The selfishness of some people goes beyond anything I can understand or accept.

It's sick. Just sick.

I'm just tired of dealing with stupid people. And these A-holes that abuse handicap parking spots -- they make me so angry I could spit.

Sorry, I'm in a FOUL mood today, being extremely tired and weary.

handicap parking should be used by handicap people only

I have the local police department's non-emergency number on my phone.
In a larger city, I would call that number and ask if there is another number for parking enforcement, and use that.
Maybe they ought to put the number on the sign at the front of each H/C stall.
How on Earth would that NOT be a deterrent?

chunkyfrog wrote:... Maybe they ought to put the number on the sign at the front of each H/C stall.
How on Earth would that NOT be a deterrent?

Chunky ... Unfortunately people that just put a cape on their pet and then claim their PET / UNTRAINED dogs are service dogs .. those very same people would have no compunction about using a handicap spot or stall - police phone number or not. They don't realize it is wrong. After all, they are "entitled". Rules don't apply to them. They are for everyone else. I've run across a few of those folks. It's enough to make blood boil. But there's NO educating them.

I watched a man at Sams Club come out of the store in one of their scooter chairs. He loaded his pickup and walked around his pickup a few times and left the scooter sitting in the middle of the parking lot. He had a woman with him that could have ridden it back inside or at least left it in a parking spot. People amaze me.

What makes me even more angry are the mommies who think they are entitled to use these spaces. I understand they can get some kind of a, "mommy parking permit" which allows them to park in handicap spaces. Unfortunately, my niece is one of those mommies. I've said something to her numerous times... waste of my time.

In addition to the phone number, maybe a bounty . . .

My mother's vision is such that if we are going to the bank or somewhere where there are steps, I use her handicapped placard so that she doesn't trip going up the stairs which she's done once, landing on her knees and hands, just missing hitting her face. However, her doctor told me if it's a level surface, he wants her to walk (she is 91 BTW). So, that's what we do. If it's raining, and I'm worried that she will slip and fall, I use the handicapped parking spot. Otherwise, we park farther away in a normal parking spot. Sometimes we park closer and other times farther, but we would never think of using the spot just because we have the placard, especially because the doctor wants my mother to walk on level surfaces.

I get so annoyed when I see people parking in a handicapped spot if they appear to be quite healthy and able, but I do give them the benefit of the doubt despite the fact that I think people abuse the placard.

When I'm alone, I never ever use the placard, not even if the parking lot is crowded, not if it's raining, because I know that someone with a disability NEEDS to use that spot. Besides, I want the exercise. I don't think people who use it when they are not supposed to are lazy, I believe them to be arrogant and rude. Just the other day, I saw a man park in spot allotted for a pregnant woman to park. I commented to my mother that it was so wrong of him to use that spot, and my mother said, "Well, if you look at him, he looks pregnant." Of course, his unwillingness to walk probably contributed to his beer belly. I find it disgusting.

49er wrote:Keep in mind that someone parking in a space with a handicap sticker who doesn't have a disability may be going inside a facility to get someone who is handicapped. That was a frequent scenario for me when I drove my mother to get her hair cut.

Many times, she would have me go get groceries so of course, I moved the car to a regular spot. But when I picked her up, I used the handicap parking space because I wanted to be as close as possible. So someone who might have seen me go into the beauty shop might have mistakenly come to the conclusion that I was abusing the privilege particularly if my mother wasn't ready when I anticipated she would be.

Otherwise, points are definitely well taken and I definitely agree it is not good to abuse the privilege.

49er

I have a similar situation. My mom has feet and knee problems. She gets very tired quickly and her feet hurt all day and night even when sitting. She has prescription shoes and has had surgery with no improvement.

If she is not going, I use a regular parking spot. But there are times like at hotels or cat shows when I make several trips back and forth to haul everything in or out. Mom goes in once and comes out once. It could easily look like I am the only one there.

I also request handicap rooms at hotels that do not have stairs. If they ask if I really need it, I tell them I just need first floor. My mom can't carry anything up stairs. And with my cats, supplies, cooler, and our luggage, It ends up being 7 or 8 trips up the stairs. I have asthma and a knee that objects to multiple trips up stairs. It really wipes me out to get stuck on the second floor without an elevator. And making the request doesn't guarantee it. Requesting a handicap room does.