Parking Mobility

BY DANIEL SHOER ROTH

DSHOER@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM

You’ve probably seen them in parking lots around town. Their indolent behavior may have troubled you, but you’ve remained silent out of indifference or fear of a violent reaction. And you asked yourself: Where are the authorities? Where are people’s values?
It’s a problem that does not get enough public attention but frequently affects disabled people, the elderly and their caretakers: the difficulty of finding disabled parking because the spaces are occupied — and not necessarily by people who need them.
South Florida’s lack of social consciousness is atrocious. I’ve seen Hummers that look like army tanks, with a disabled-parking permit hanging from the rear-view mirror. Nobody on a wheelchair or suffering from severe arthritis could climb aboard such a four-wheeled elephant. Right?
And not long ago I saw a svelte young woman in Miami Beach emerge from a sports car parked in a space for the handicapped. Maybe all that silicone in her body made it hard to park far from the entrance!
I don’t understand how these people obtain the permits. Through a disabled relative, perhaps, who at the moment is not in the vehicle, as the law requires. Or by submitting false information, with the connivance of some doctor, to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which grants the permits.
Courtney Heidelberg, the department’s deputy communications director in Tallahassee, said the permits are issued only to those people who meet the application requirements. Certification must be provided by a physician, osteopathic physician, podiatrist, chiropractor, optometrist or an advanced registered nurse practitioner licensed by the state.
“Our responsibility is to verify that the people meet the criteria of the application form,” she said. “If anyone makes undue use of it, it’s up to the local law-enforcement agencies to deal with it.”
WHEN IT’S OBVIOUS
Heidelberg stressed that no one can judge if a driver or his passenger is disabled solely from his or her appearance. Someone might have heart or mental problems, for example. She is right. But let’s be honest, when someone walks out of Home Depot toting a sack of cement and his truck is parked in a handicapped space, I doubt that he’d fit the profile of a “disabled person.”
Jesús Lesende, an 82-year-old Hialeah resident, has seen that and other violations.
“It happens not randomly but frequently,” said Lesende, who has problems with his spinal column and walks with difficulty.
How does that affect his quality of life?
“I’m not free to tell my wife, `Let’s go someplace,’ because I don’t want to drive far and have to turn around because all the handicapped parking spaces are full,” he said.
The problem becomes more complicated when the passenger is in a wheelchair. Such is the case of Dino Rucell, 82, who travels in a station wagon with an electric ramp. A sign on the door warns other drivers not to park within eight feet.
However, many people do not honor the request, forcing Rucell’s caretakers to find somewhere else to bring him aboard. Usually, that’s in the middle of the parking lot, obstructing the flow of vehicles.
`RESPECT THEM’
“There are reasons why disabled parking spaces exist, and the general population should respect them, not abuse them,” his wife, Helen, said. “One realizes this only when there is a disabled person [in the family].”
That is why it is everyone’s duty to alert the transit authorities, the police and store security guards to pay more attention to the limited spaces for the disabled reserved in parking lots.
Unfortunately, those who abuse the system will not change because they are much too self-centered. And it is essential that those who obtain the permits for legitimate reasons do not lend them to others, because they themselves may later find no parking space.
Awake, South Florida, from the lethargy of indifference!

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/23/1939154/not-disabled-dont-abuse-parking.html#ixzz182KtgW1g

CARBONDALE — If you plan to shop this weekend, a warning from police before you try to snag the closest parking spot at the store. It could cost you. Officers will be patrolling parking lots for the holidays.

Secretary of State Jesse White announced Tuesday, his officers will be looking for drivers who are illegally parking in handicap spaces. People who depend on those accessibile spots welcome the increased enforcement.

Matthew Fred, 35, of Carbondale, has used a wheelchair the past 14 years, after a car accident took most of his mobility.

“It’s a switch,” Fred said. “It takes some adjustment.”

Fred is able to get around town in a van like this one. It requires extra space on the side for a ramp to get in and out. That space, only found in handicap parking spaces.

What frustrates him, people who take the spots that do not need them or have no license to use them.

“I question sometimes, ‘Why do you need this spot,’” Fred said. “It seems like a lot more people these days have disability placards. There are times I wonder if it almost hasn’t become too easy to get them.”

“There is no reason for any individual to take advantage of a place that has been set aside for someone who is truly disabled,” Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said.

White says his police force will be scouring parking lots across the state throughout the holiday season, looking for parking abusers. White says using a handicap spot without a placard or plate will cost you as much as $350. Using someone else’s placard or plate brings a $500 fine.

“I believe it’s a violation of all laws of human decency for you to be able-bodied, but you want to take advantage of a space that has been set aside for someone who is truly disabled,” White said.

Fred hopes the increased enforcement will have an impact.

“It’s encouraging to hear,” Fred said. “I don’t know how much of a difference it will actually make.”

Jesse White wants you to report handicap parking abusers. You can call the Secretary of State’s Office at (217) 785-0309. Make sure you write down the vehicle’s placard and license plate numbers, as well as the vehicle’s location. You can also report abuse online at www.cyberdriveillinois.com. Click on and complete the Parking Program for Persons with Disabilities Abuse Complaint Form.

By: Jeff Stensland
jstensland@wsiltv.com

By 10:00 Friday morning, the Woodfield Mall parking lot was at capacity. It was difficult for anyone to find a space, but for disabled drivers like Francisco Ortado, it was almost impossible.
“That’s why I didn’t come early,” he said. “That’s why I came now.”
But this holiday season, Francisco has someone watching his back. Investigator Glenn Florkow and his colleagues at the Secretary of State’s Police Department are here at Woodfield cracking down on people who abuse the accessible spaces available to disabled drivers. “These are flagrant violations,” Florkow said, “there is quite a bit of abuse.”
Shortly after arriving at the mall, Florkow blocked the exit of a light colored sedan with a suspicious disabled driver placard hanging from its rear view mirror. The placard turned out to be one reported missing by its legitimate owner. Now the man in the car is facing a court appearance and up to a $500 fine for allegedly displaying a placard that didn’t belong to him.
Bill Bogdan, the Secretary of State’s liaison to the disabled community helped write the Parking Program for Persons with Disabilities. On Black Friday, he watched from his wheelchair as ticket after ticket was written. “When you have people who blatantly abuse the program,” he said, “it makes it harder on those people who really need the spaces.”
According to Bogdan, there are approximately 84,000 disability plates issued in Illinois and more than 443,000 placards. That number, he said, is down from more than 700,000 as the Secretary of States Office switched from permanent placards to ones that are renewable every four years.
The fine for parking in an accessible space without a plate or a placard can be as much as $350. Using plates or placards fraudulently can draw fines of up to $1000 and a possible felony conviction.
On Black Friday, Secretary of State Police will be working not only the Woodfield Mal, but also Oak Brook and Orland Park Malls in the Chicago area. They will also be working downstate in Bloomington, Carbondale, Fairview Heights, Rockford and Springfield. Other enforcement actions are planned later for malls in Champaign, Effingham and Peoria.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/Parking-Crackdown-110867089.html#ixzz188BQYIZM

FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, IL (KTVI-FOX2now.com) — There is a warning to holiday shoppers looking for that up-close and open parking space. Don’t even think about snatching the spot reserved for people with disabilities. That decision could cost you hundreds of dollars.

Members of the Illinois Secretary of State’s Police Department spent the busiest shopping day of the year surveying large mall parking lots across Illinois.

In the Fairview Heights area, a dozen or more tickets were issued to drivers who parked in the spots without the proper placards or who showed up without the handicapped person the placard belonged to. They’ll face fines of $250 and up.

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“If you’ve ever had an injury yourself, maybe temporary, broke a leg or injured your ankle and you really need that spot, you appreciate it being a little bit closer,” said Illinois Secretary of State Investigator Terry Trueblood Friday as he surveyed a shopping center parking lot in Fairview Heights.

Even parking in the disability spot and staying with your vehicle violates the law if you do not have a disabled passenger. If someone has a forged placard or a stolen one the penalty could be more severe.

Parking violations should be reported to local police departments as soon as possible. But if you are aware of someone who might be forging the placards or filing a false medical claim with the Secretary of State in order to receive the parking pass, Trueblood said to contact the Secretary of State’s police department. “We’ll specifically investigate those,” he promised.

For more information visit Secretary of State Jesse White’s website at www.cyberdriveillinois.com.

Wheelchair user Trish Gallalee bristles when asked her feelings about able-bodied people abusing handicapped parking placards and taking spaces meant for the disabled.
“I really cannot stand the misuse by people who clearly are not disabled — people running and jumping from cars,” said Gallalee, of the Montgomery County Commission on People with Disabilities.
Chuck Benagh, an Alexandria advocate for the disabled, was equally blunt: “People are lazy and people are selfish.”
The abuse appears to be rampant.
On Wednesday, Howard County police and state motor vehicle officials stopped motorists who pulled into handicapped spots and asked them to show disabled driver’s ID cards. Of the 42 drivers they approached, 12 were using tags that belonged to someone else, police said.
In June, Alexandria police found that 90 percent of the drivers approached during a sting were illegally displaying someone else’s tags, Capt. David Ray told WTOP. Drivers caught with illegal tags in Virginia, Maryland or the District can be fined $250 to $500 and have the tags revoked.
According to a University of Wisconsin study from 2002, the majority of cars parked in handicapped reserved spaces are parked there illegally, with a 70 percent violation rate in cities and 44 percent in towns.
One in 10 drivers in the capital region has a permanent handicapped placard or plate, according to state records. Authorities say the tags are being abused, with doctors handing them out like candy, people using someone else’s tags, and counterfeit tags available on the Internet.
The issue became a hot topic after police towed a woman’s Lexus from a handicapped spot as a security measure during a downtown D.C. speech by President Obama on Saturday night. A Washington Post article about the towing angered many readers — not because of the towing but because the Randallsville, Md., resident wasn’t handicapped and she was using a tag belonging to someone who was not with her.
“It’s just arrogant to think that you have a right to park there with someone’s else placard,” said Bob Herman, an attorney with the Paralyzed Veterans of America. “She’s got to know that’s against the law.”
In Martena Clinton’s case, District police and Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration officials said they do not plan to investigate the incident. Police said an officer generally has to observe the violation to make the charge stick, and Maryland officials said they only investigate when the person who was issued the tag appears to be breaking the law.
“Then why have a law? That just perpetuates the problem,” said Bob Faro, the father of a son with muscular dystrophy who used a wheelchair the last 10 years of his life. Faro now has a son who is a Marine and was severely wounded in Afghanistan on May 19. He has spent four months traveling between Bethesda’s National Naval Medical Center and the Veterans Administration in Richmond. During that time, he said he has seen repeated misuse of handicapped parking spaces.
The situation is the same in Montgomery County, where wheelchair user Aaron Kaufman, who serves on the Montgomery County Commission on People with Disabilities, says police don’t make enforcement enough of a priority.
“People know that if they park there, chances are they’re going to park without any sort of consequence,” Kaufman said.
Examiner intern Kristen Byrne contributed to this report.
smccabe@washingtonexaminer.com