As a person who has had to give up and go home instead of shopping for groceries or meeting friends for lunch because someone has decided that it was fine to park in a handicap space “for just a minute,” this video really appeals to me. I’d go one step farther, though, and hope that the driver got cited to littering. (Thanks to Linda Younts for this one.)
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).
Today I saw the best candidate for Stupid Woman of the Season, if such an award exists. She pulled her car into a handicap spot (no handicap licence or placard, of course), jumped out, and ran into Walgreens to shop. Soon there was an announcement over the Walgreens speaker: The person parked in the handicap space should return to their car. You left the motor running and your child inside the car. A group of us stared as a woman ran from the store to the car and drove away. Before she pulled away, though, a man confronted her outside the store. Her response was what I hear all the time from less dangerous people, those who just park illegally in a handicap spot without putting a child’s life in peril–“I was just going to be a minute.”
I actually ventured out today. Normally Black Friday finds me cowering in bed, head covered against the cruel world. But we’re doing some work on our house and have workmen coming soon, meaning that we needed to purchase a few items sooner rather than later. We’ve run out of time to order and wait for delivery.
Out we went late this morning, fortified by an extra cup of coffee. We drove into the parking lot and had our choice of parking spaces. We walked into the store and there was hardly anyone there. When we had a question, there were lots of friendly, helpful sales people nearby but not in our faces. There was no blood on the floor from the mad rush of shoppers, or people being carted away in straight jackets or police cars after they dropped over the mental/emotional edge while shopping in an overheated crowd. In fact, shopping was easier than on a typical NON-Black Friday, and with Black Friday deals.
Where is this marvelous store, you may ask? Next year, try your local home improvement center (we did Lowes and Home Depot). You’ll find it a satisfying oasis in a tumultuous sales sea.