Yet again, another story on handicapped parking and entitlement

[greensinestro]

Ate out at the Red Lobster last night, first time in quite a while. When it came time to leave, I had to wait on my wife to take care of business. While I waited, I witnessed not an altercation, but another episode of how inconsiderate and "entitled" some people are with handicapped parking.

Before this gets out of hand, I will say that I understand that I may not completely know a person's problems, or limits. It is quite possible that even though that person looks fine, they may have a limit to how much walking they can do, and so on. But, this incident bears mentioning due to the fact that one other person needed that spot.

While waiting, an old woman was sitting in the space, waiting for the traffic to clear so she could back up. Another lady was waving at her husband, showing this lady was about to back up, and he could grab that space. Her husband was in a truck with a wheelchair lift ramp on it, meaning they were transporting someone who definitely could not walk or get around, making it valid for them to have this spot. However, when this old woman in her car finally backed out and left, this much younger woman, all by herself in her expensive Nissan Altima with the handicapped placard clipped to her rearview mirror, whipped in out of nowhere and grabbed this spot, all for herself. This caused the other lady's husband to have to pull up alongside the building, get out, get the wheelchair off the lift, and then help this poor helpless woman out of the truck, and into the wheelchair, with the wife assisting, and the meanwhile causing other cars to have to go around them. You could definitely tell this woman was handicapped and needed assistance.

Nissan Altima Lady, all dressed up in her finest, right down to her super duper high heeled shoes, got out, walked around her car at a fast pace as most women do in high heels, then walked at a fast pace into the restaurant to meet her waiting party. None of her actions seemed to indicate she needed this spot at all. The woman and her husband sure as Hell did.

I should mention that other spots not too far away were available for NAL to have taken. Yes, the other couple could have done this, but it would have meant this poor lady having to ride in her wheelchair across a busy parking lot.

It's times like these when you wish a cop was around to see this.

[Seshat]

With the obvious wheelchair-lift vehicle waiting for the spot, we would have taken one of the other, non-handicap spots. And pretty much everyone here has heard me mention being handicapped myself.


And hell no, I would NEVER be able to walk briskly in heels!

[greensinestro]

With the obvious wheelchair-lift vehicle waiting for the spot, we would have taken one of the other, non-handicap spots. And pretty much everyone here has heard me mention being handicapped myself.


And hell no, I would NEVER be able to walk briskly in heels!

Neither would I. It really makes you wonder how people like this obtain the placards. Maybe something once happened that warranted them getting one. But, do these ever expire? Or are they good for life?

[Teskeria]

or probably it was for someone they give rides to. They are usually good for a couple years and have to be renewed in the states I've lived in.

[drunkenwildmage]

Typically it's a family member's that they use. Depending on the state, they do expire after a few years and have to be renewed. Legally the person who's name on the permit has to be present for them to use it, but that is seldomly enforced. The only thing that authorities are looking for is to see if they have one.

[Aethian]

In Michigan if I was caught using my Mom's placard. I would get a several hundred dollar fine, mom would lose the placard and ability to get a new one, and because she has a handicap plate would also lose the plate the placard is attached to. I really wish they made that more clear to those who get the placards. I also really wish they enforced the rule as well.

[mathnerd]

The fine in Florida for using somebody else's placard just went up to something like two or three times the amount of the fine for parking without one at all.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I have put my son's placard up in the window if I'm using street parking, but that's for "insurance" if you will, just in case I don't get back in time to feed the meter, as most places in Florida allow you to not pay for parking if you're hanging a valid permit. I still feed the meter (and don't park in designated spots), but do hang it just in case.

[bainsidhe]

Regardless of whatever disability Nissan woman may or may not have had (and she DID have a placard, after all), it sounds like she budged ahead of the other vehicle to nab the space. That alone is incredibly rude and deserves a

[LillFilly]

Different states have different placecard layouts. some states write in the name, DOB and expiration date of the card holder I believe, so nobody else can use it. Most have an expiration date clearly printed. The cards are like licenses; good for several years, then you have to submit paperwork with your doctor to renew them; this is due to possible changes in disability status or the person passing away, so family members can't keep using the cards. I know you certainly can't judge whether someone 'looks' disabled, but this sure sounds fishy! If the person is the true card holder, they should have a matching wallet-sized card they carry with them.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

It really chaps me when someone is using a family member's card when they themselves are able bodied and their family member is not in the car.

I have to think that if you are the family member of a person with mobility issues, then you should know firsthand how wrong it is to misuse something like that.

[TopEndDave]

It really chaps me when someone is using a family member's card when they themselves are able bodied and their family member is not in the car.

There is only one situation where it is ok to use the family member's card, when picking up the family member. My nephew went go pick up his great grandmother from her weekly shopping trip. Parked in the disabled spot by the doors and hopped out of the cars. Other people waiting to pick him up gave him dirty looks until he took the shopping from great grandmother. He put the shopping in the car, loaded up her walking frame and then left the spot.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Yes, of course. That's not a misuse of the card. No, I mean people who are simply using it for no other reason than to get a sweet park.

I park in the zone when I have my mother in law with me. I guess I'm taking a risk, as I do not have a card or a plate. But I have to park close, where there's a ramp.

I'm always a little embarrassed. Fortunately, it's usually places where they know us (like her favorite restaurant and the like).

[otakuneko]

My mom has a placard that I keep in my car. It goes up when I show up at her apartment to pick her up, but that's the only time it goes up without her.

[taxguykarl]

Once when I was called on that, I simply stated (honestly) that I just dropped off my wife, whose placard it was. Never heard anything since.

[Sapphire Silk]

Neither would I. It really makes you wonder how people like this obtain the placards. Maybe something once happened that warranted them getting one. But, do these ever expire? Or are they good for life?

They expire. If they're regular tags, they have to renew like any other tag. Hang tags expire and have to be replaced.

A cop can ask to see your driver's license and run the serial number on the tag. If your name does not go with the tag, and the person whose does is not with you, then that person can permanently lose their tag. Campus police regularly checks for this because we have a lot of problems with students using Grandma's hang tag to use HC parking.

A call to a cop to run the hang tag probably would have resulted in a similar fate for the EW in our story.