You’ve undoubtedly seen a vehicle pull into a handicap parking space and watched the driver jump out and dash into the store. Or a motorcycle parks in the cross-hatch section, making the adjacent parking space unusable for vans with wheelchair side-lifts. Those divers probably don’t have even a hidden handicap, like a heart condition, yet they display a handicap parking placard or figure the cross-hatch is up for grabs anyway. Even if the passenger in the car is disabled, because he/she isn’t going into the store, the driver should NOT be using that space. It’s for people who need it, not healthy drivers of people who need it.
The situation is not only illegal but also unfair to many of us: those with real disabilities (visible or hidden) who can’t find a usable parking space, shop owners who lose revenue because disabled customers can’t park and shop, and taxpayers who lose out on parking meter money when the culprit parks on the street.
There’s an organization that is trying to do something about this problem, handicappedfraud.org, which is an independent reporting organization. You should report abusers to them; each month they send a report to your state. Also, leave a post-it note saying “Disabled Parking Violation. You have been reported” or something similar. (For $5 you can get at supply of printed post-its at http://www.handicappedfraud.org/index.php?mod=postit. See below.)
Don’t get into an argument by confronting the violator. And don’t worry about reporting someone with a valid placard, because people with disabilities appreciate others being concerned about this issue (I’m one of them).
