Parking Mobility

Interesting video clip from ABC Sacramento on disabled parking violations (see clip here).

Of note:

- 10% of drivers in California have a disability placard (roughly 2.5 million issued)

- Only a couple of hundred enforcement officers for the whole state

The California Department of Motor Vehicle acknowledges that they can’t keep up with enforcement.  I wonder if they see Parking Mobility and the community reporting as a way of addressing this disconnect.  Who knows, they may even be able to make a little more money to help with their budget numbers.

Original story

By James Nelson

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (Reuters) – A proposed unmanned floating airship surveillance system is being hailed by city officials in Ogden, Utah as one way to fight crime in its neighborhoods.

“We believe it will be a deterrent to crime when it is out and about and will help us solve crimes more quickly when they do occur,” Ogden City Mayor Matthew Godfrey told Reuters.

The airship entails military technology now available to local law enforcement, he said.

Godfrey floated the idea of a dirigible in the skies above Ogden for his city council members last week. The council is expected to vote on the measure in coming weeks.

He says the cost of the blimp is being negotiated but said it is more “cost effective” to operate than helicopters or fixed winged aircraft.

“We anticipate using it mainly at night. The cameras have incredible night vision to see with tremendous clarity daytime and nighttime. It will be used like a patrol car. It will be used to go and check things out and keep things safe,” said Godfrey.

One person will be able to operate the system but Godfrey says it will also function on its own with programing directives.

The blimp is 52 feet long, will be outfitted with two cameras, and is capable of flying up to 40 miles per hour at 400 feet above the city.

Officials say the cigar-shaped blimp, powered by electric batteries, can fly for four to six hours before needing to be recharged.
“Once you understand the capability of the technology as well, not only the cameras but the ability to relay that data from the camera down to ground it’s amazing,” said Godfrey.

The blimp is long but narrow and moves quickly and quietly, meaning it should be fairly undetectable, he said.

The blimp is being developed by the Utah Center for Aeronautical Innovation and Design at Weber State University. Researchers say the blimp is a helium filled balloon with a special coating of fabric developed at their center.

“The very lightweight fabric was developed in partnership with the Utah State Legislature who gave us a grant… The air envelope would leak the helium it would penetrate through so it had to be coated,” said Bradley Stringer, research team executive director.

Ogden will be the first metropolitan police force to employ this technology, Stringer said.
The blimp has almost no operational costs and minimal maintenance expenses, he said. Ogden city officials say it will cost about $100 a month to operate but would not comment specifically on the cost of the blimp.

“It’s in the high five-figures. Most of the cost is in the night vision cameras,” Stringer said.

“It’s extremely silent. It can hover or stay stationery or silently meander over pre-programed courses over the city at nighttime.”
Stringer said the Ogden City Police would receive the blimp in April. Testing is now underway and will continue right up to delivery.

(Editing by Jerry Norton)

By Alan Singer

From the Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/handicap-inaccessibility-_b_801805.html

Last year I started a tradition with a list of twelve “pet peeves” for the New Year. This year I only want to focus on one – handicap inaccessibility.

My wife has Parkinson’s Disease and is increasingly dependent on modifications for people with handicapping conditions. I am discovering that (1) the world is not set up for people who have difficulty walking or are in wheelchairs and (2) I was blind to most of these problems in the past.

Parking: We have a special New York City parking permit that allows us to park at meters without paying, not move the car for alternate side of the street cleaning, and park in front of churches and schools. She had to under go medical tests before we were issued the permit. My wife cannot drive so I take her places. The permit makes it possible for her to go to doctor appointments, physical therapy programs, and participate in simple things like food shopping. But even with the permit, parking is not easy. She cannot maneuver around things or move easily from the wheel chair to the car or vice versa. Two things make it especially hard. She cannot get past the nuisance advertising boxes that line many street corners in the city. They tend to be weighted, often they are empty or abandoned, and I have to physically drag them out of the way so she can get in and out of the car. If they suddenly disappeared, they would not be missed. The second problem is the metal fences posted around trees. They protect the trees, but make it hard to fully open the car door, and my wife cannot squeeze past.

Sidewalks: Blue flagstone sidewalks are beautiful, but also dangerous for people in a wheelchair or with other handicapping conditions. Simple cracks are like landmines threatening to through her out of the wheelchair or trip her if she is walking. I never realized how important the corner cuts were until I come to a corner that isn’t cut and I have to raise or lower her off of the curb. The problem may be that I am sixty-one years old and not as strong as I used to be, but I suspect many other caregivers are aging as well. Even when there is a corner cut, they are often cracked, flooded, or crumbling and impossible to use.

Bathrooms: Bathrooms are increasingly set up for use by people with handicapping conditions, but not if you need a helper and especially if the helper is from the other gender. Single person bathrooms are usually big enough for us both to maneuver inside. The problem arises when there are only multi-stall facilities and other people have to use them as well.

Public Transit: The bus system is pretty good except during rush hour when it is way overcrowded. Access-A-Ride, which provides special vans for the elderly and disabled, is usually okay if you have a regularly scheduled ride. But if you are scheduling a one-time trip, especially in the winter, you cannot count on the van arriving punctually or finding you when it does arrive. I am not complaining about the drivers or phone operators. It is the underfunded system that is the problem. The subway system is another kettle of fish altogether. Very few stations, especially in the outerboroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens) have elevators. If all handicapped people lived in Manhattan there would be fewer problems, but they don’t.

Theaters: I don’t know what the law is, but theaters, both movie and live, never seem to be handicap accessible, even when they claim they are.

Health Insurance: I have relatively good health insurance through my employer, but relatively good is not enough in the United States today. It is impossible to pay for health care on your own unless you are mega-wealthy. That means no matter what the medical problem is or what our doctors say, health care decisions are made for us by bureaucrats working for profit-making companies. It is difficult enough when you are worried about a loved one’s condition. It does not have to be made more difficult by worries about what the insurance company will do. I would really like to see a single-payer government health insurance plan in the United States.

From Dayton Daily News

By Cornelius Frolik
Updated 7:40 PM Thursday, November 25, 2010

One department says it will step up enforcement during holidays.

Although her mother was not with her, Chastinia French, 37, of West Carrollton on Tuesday used her mother’s handicapped parking placard so her friend could park her Mustang in a space at the Dayton Mall reserved for people with disabilities.
French, who does not own a placard, said she broke her ankle a few years ago in several places, and she has difficulty walking long distances. She said she only used her disabled mother’s placard because she does not have the money to get one herself. “I use it from time to time because I need to get a placard,” she said, relieved that she was not cited by police. “It costs money to get one.”
Widespread misuse of handicapped placards and the growing prevalence of phony ones continue to frustrate police and disabled people alike, authorities and advocates said.
Within a five-minute time frame, Miami Twp. police on Tuesday afternoon cited Dayton residents James Zappe and Priscilla Belton for illegally parking in handicap spaces outside of Walmart.
Zappe, 71, told police he parked in a handicapped spot because he was running into the store for just a minute. Belton, 28, admitted the handicapped placard she produced belonged to her mother.
The parking lot contained plenty of open spots less than 15 yards from the handicapped section.
Some people, who do not have a disability or physically limiting condition, will brashly park in handicapped spaces without displaying a handicapped placard or license plate. But more often, the people who inappropriately park in those spaces use fake placards or cards they borrowed, bought or stole from friends or relatives, police said.
Miami Twp. police Maj. John DiPietro has bulletin boards full of fake, photocopied, expired and homemade handicapped placards he has confiscated in the last three years from people who were willing to break the law for better parking.
“This is a crime,” he said. “This is probably the most prevalent crime against the disabled.”
In one case, police confiscated a card that was actually the handicap sign from a handicapped restroom stall.
Authorities said most placards and handicapped license plates are used by the people who need them. However, they said fraudulent misuse is rampant and many people do not view their actions as wrong or harmful.
The victims
Kimberly Lovings, 42, of Washington Twp., said she is disappointed when she sees people illegally parked in spots she needs for her van. Lovings’ 12-year-old daughter, Kyra, has cerebral palsy, and she uses a van with a special lift to transport Kyra’s power wheelchair. Lovings said she keeps a pad of paper in the vehicle to write notes to place on people’s windshields whose cars do not belong in spots she needs.
“Generally, when you see a 19-year-old hop out of a car and run into a store, chances are it’s probably not their handicap placard,” Lovings said. “Plenty of times we’ve gone to a store and there is no place to park. … At Kohl’s at Christmas, I thought I was going to have to leave without getting our Christmas shopping done because there was no place to park.”
Lovings said she believes that when people misuse placards, they are selfishly thinking only of themselves and what is convenient to them. She said they do not consider or care that their actions creates problems for disabled people.
Who gets placards?
According to Ohio Revised Code, placards can be issued to people who are unable to walk 200 feet without a rest; people who have respiratory conditions or require portable oxygen; people who cannot walk without the assistance of a cane, crutch, wheelchair or other assistance device; and people who have cardiac, arthritic, neurological or orthopedic conditions.
Nurses, physicians and even chiropractors can certify that a person has a condition that necessitates the use of a placard.
As of July 2010, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles confirmed there are 1.2 million active handicapped placards statewide. The BMV said there are 138,010 active placards in the Miami Valley region, a 50 percent increase from 2002.
Only 783 Ohioans were issued two or more placards this year, including 41 in Montgomery County, 10 in Warren County, eight in Greene County and four in Miami County, according to BMV records.
The time usage varies for the placards, depending on the disability and the doctor’s recommendations.
Not a free pass
Relatives and friends of people who rightfully own placards sometimes borrow those cards for their own benefit.
DiPietro said he has explained to many motorists that the placard is not valid in the absence of the person to whom it belongs.
“The placard goes with the person who has the disability — not with the car,” DiPietro said. “This is not a free parking pass.”
DiPietro said his department steps up parking and other “quality of life” enforcement during the holidays.
Miami Twp. police on Black Friday will run the numbers on the placards in vehicles in handicapped sections to make sure they are legitimate. It is fairly easy to weed out the fake ones. The fine is $261.
But police have a tougher time enforcing parking laws when the placards are legitimate because officers have to catch offenders in the act, said Michael Manville, a researcher at the Institute of Transportation Studies at University of California, Los Angeles who studied handicapped parking trends in Los Angeles.
“The placard is not assigned to a vehicle, it is assigned to a person,” Manville said. “It is a hard law to crack down on, and as people become aware of that, they take advantage of it.”
Manville said parking lots at malls and stores are usually built for the businesses’ busiest days, which means there is almost always sufficient parking.
“They sort of design the parking lot specifically for the store’s busiest time of the year,” he said. “Walmart has enough parking everyday for the day before Christmas.”
The Dayton Mall has 6,400 parking spaces, enough to accommodate even the swarms of Black Friday shoppers.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-0749 or cfrolik@DaytonDailyNews.com.

From NYS DMV:

Commissioner David J. Swarts of the Department of Motor Vehicles and Chair of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, along Chief Steven H. Heider of the Colonie Police Department and Acting Director Greg Olsen of the State Office for the Aging, today warned drivers not to park in spaces designated for people with disabilities during the holiday season or at any other time.

“As we enter the holiday shopping season and parking lots become jammed with cars, some drivers may be tempted to park in spaces designated for people who are disabled,” Commissioner Swarts said. “They should remember that handicapped spots are for people with designated plates or permits that indicate that they are disabled. Not parking in these spots isn’t just a courtesy, it’s the law.”

Acting Director of the New York State Office for the Aging Olsen said: “It is important this holiday season and throughout the year to be sensitive and aware of the risks associated with parking in designated spots reserved for persons of all ages with disabilities. Parking in these spots can result in serious injury or even death related to falls and can rob individuals who are walking, walking with assistive devices or using wheelchairs of their access to shops, denying them the joys of the holiday season. Take time to think about this before you park, it makes a difference in the lives of others and can save you money also by not incurring fines.”

Chief Heider said: “It has always been a priority of the Colonie Police Department to ensure the maximum accessibility for all who visit our public establishments in the Town of Colonie, especially for those who are physically disabled. We will continue to strictly enforce these laws in the hope of making this an enjoyable holiday season for all.”

New York State has an estimated 3.6 million residents with disabilities. The DMV has issued more than 45,000 distinctive license plates and municipalities have issued more than 600,000 parking permits for people with disabilities.

New York State law prohibits parking in a handicapped parking space without a permit. The fine for illegally parking in a space reserved for people with disabilities can range from $50 to $150. In addition to the minimum fine for illegally parking in spaces reserved for mobility-impaired individuals, there is a surcharge of $30 for local disability awareness and enforcement programs.

Additional violations could include the use of an altered parking permit, parking in a handicapped parking space without displaying the required parking permit or plate, illegal use of a special permit or plate, and blocking access aisles marked for vans and other life-equipped vehicles. Officers ticketing parking violators also can have illegally parked vehicles impounded at the owner’s expense.

For additional information on parking for people with disabilities, visit the DMV Web site at www.dmv.ny.gov.