Parking: Don’t abuse disabled privileges
As I recover from foot surgery, I am grateful to have temporary disabled-parking privileges, but it’s frustrating when non-authorized people are using the designated spaces.
I’d like your readers to be aware that just having a properly marked vehicle (disabled parking plate or placard) is not all that’s legally required: the the person who has the written authorization to use the special parking privileges must be in the car. In practice, it seems to me that the authorized individual should also be the one getting in and out of the car — not just sitting in the car while an able-bodied companion runs in and out of the building.
If the authorized person is not present, or just remains in the car while someone else goes in and out, then in fairness to those of us who truly need closer parking, the car should be parked elsewhere, since no disabled person in this case is making use of the close parking.
All this really matters to those of us with mobility issues, especially if no space is available and we see fully healthy people going in and out of cars parked in disabled-parking spaces. Please don’t abuse disability parking.
This story was originally published November 25, 2016 at 10:39 AM with the headline "Parking: Don’t abuse disabled privileges."