City cracks down on illegal placard use
San Francisco California is cracking down on illegal disability placard use by increasing the fine from $100 to $1000 and increased enforcement. The city is doing this because thousands of the placards are either used by people that are not disabled or are fake. Last year alone over 1000 placards were grabbed from people that were not disabled. Money is another big issue for the crack down as people with placards can park anywhere and not pay parking fees. Officials are hoping that increased enforcement will make more disabled parking spots available to those that truly need them and to bring in money to cash starved San Francisco. Some people are worried that they will be targeted because it is not always easy to spot if someone is disabled. In those cases doctors letters brought in will allow judges to make decisions on those tickets that should be dropped. (Source: ABC News)
This is fantastic news for the disabled of this country. Finally someone will start to make it too expensive and difficult to use handicapped parking spots. We have all witnessed someone getting out of a giant Hummer and grab a giant box to walk into the mall. Those of us in wheelchairs know that we could never get into that vehicle let alone grab a box and carry it in across the parking lot. This doesn’t even cover those that park in the handicapped spots to run in and buy something like a sandwich and then peel out of the parking lot before the police show up. Or those that loiter in a parking spot while someone else goes in to do some shopping. These idiots do not realize that getting to or from our car to the store is very difficult and dangerous for us. The close spots let us get into the store safely and out of the elements, something that the able bodied can do by carrying an umbrella. That close spots also makes it easy to load our vehicle as we are not in the scorching heat or driving rain while groceries are being packed in the van.
It is sad that people think of no one but themselves and do not realize what these parking spots are there for. What training courses could be generated that these people would be forced to take could let them know the added stress to our lives when they take our parking spots? If they do not care about anyone but themselves then perhaps giant fines will wake them up. At SCRN we always thought that a $100 or $200 fine for parking in the handicapped zone was not much of a deterrent. Most police do not look at who is parking in those spots and the fine is so small that most cities don’t bother with enforcement. But a $1000 fine is something that a meter maid could easily be tasked to look for and would be able to make money for the city. There are many programs that could be funded by the fines paid by drivers that think handicapped spots are for them and not those that have great difficulty getting around.
Another way of enforcing these spots is to add driving points to the ticket. In cities that are always chronically short of parking spots paying $200 a month in fines is nothing compared to getting close spots that do not charge you for daily payments. For cities like New York a $1000 may be nothing compared to a close parking spot that could cost much more. Many in New York pay big bucks to be allowed to park in specific places that are close to work and malls. Since the disabled have nice close spots and don’t have to pay then it is definitely worthwhile to either park in a handicapped spot or pay for a fake placard. This may seem draconian until you are forced to go home and not go to the grocery store or doctor office because all the handicapped spots are taken and some of those spots are taken by the able bodied.
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