Do you Say anything - Handicap Parking Spots

[zstyles]

So I was going into a store yesterday and this guy in a black import zips around me and slides into a handicap spot at the front..I park a few rows out and walk in as he gets out and he almost runs into the store and I check out his car, front back and windshield...no handicap sticker or hanging tag. Now we have one as my daughter is handicapped but she wasn't with me so I park anywhere else..so I go in and walk upto the guy and let him know he parked in a handicapped spot..he ignores me..I say it again he says "my leg is broken" I let him know the cops are out front and going to write him a ticket..he bolts out the door I laugh walk away....

Anyway my question is do you ever say anything if you see someone who clearly is morally and ethically breaking the law? The store I knew wouldn't do anything about it, I was alot bigger than this guy and was carrying so I didn't have an issue with him..but would you or do you?

[Conan71]

So I was going into a store yesterday and this guy in a black import zips around me and slides into a handicap spot at the front..I park a few rows out and walk in as he gets out and he almost runs into the store and I check out his car, front back and windshield...no handicap sticker or hanging tag. Now we have one as my daughter is handicapped but she wasn't with me so I park anywhere else..so I go in and walk upto the guy and let him know he parked in a handicapped spot..he ignores me..I say it again he says "my leg is broken" I let him know the cops are out front and going to write him a ticket..he bolts out the door I laugh walk away....

Anyway my question is do you ever say anything if you see someone who clearly is morally and ethically breaking the law? The store I knew wouldn't do anything about it, I was alot bigger than this guy and was carrying so I didn't have an issue with him..but would you or do you?

I can't stand selfish jack-asses like the guy you described. I've berated people for smoking as they pump gas but can't think of the last time I saw someone pull into a handicap spot who wasn't properly placarded.

That said "carrying" shouldn't be a part of the equation before you decide to accost someone like that.  If that's even remotely a consideration, maybe you shouldn't be carrying in the first place if you are anticipating a confrontation like that might become physical.  Just sayin'.

[nathanm]

I can't stand selfish jack-asses like the guy you described. I've berated people for smoking as they pump gas but can't think of the last time I saw someone pull into a handicap spot who wasn't properly placarded.

Happens all the time at the QT nearest my house now that they have more than one. I don't say anything because they could have some kind of breathing problem that entitles them to a placard which they may have merely forgotten to hang. There are plenty of disabilities which are not outwardly visible.

[Teatownclown]

You are against smokers filling up on gasoline? Just as long as you're in close proximity.  

Would you jump an old lady who doesn't yet have her handicap tag because the government is inept?  

[AquaMan]

I would feel more passionately about it if my relations were handicapped I'm sure. I never say anything but I always make eye contact with them. Then there are those folks who are borrowing grandma's Crown Vic and parking up close while they run in to get ciggs or those folks who buy/steal them from others. They live at our pleasure.

On the other hand, it is more than a bit irritating to see many unused parking spaces in front of a store that has very little hope of ever serving so many handicapped customers. The law is applied with a pretty broad brush there.

[Gaspar]

I saw a guy park in a regular spot the other day and get out of the car with a wheelchair, but I didn't say anything to him.

[DolfanBob]

My liquor store just had their lot restriped, and the handicapped spots are huge. They each take up about one and a half spot. I asked the owner if they was supposed to be that wide. He said that he really didnt notice that they were that much wider.
But they are and me being a practising alchoholic and having to walk further to get my drunk on really puts me at a disadvantage.
Now I'm sure that my problem could be a handicap, so I probably need to get me one of the cards so I can park legally at the front of the store.

If not I can always ask for assistance from this man.

[carltonplace]

When someone has become debilitated by fat and they have the placard I always wonder if maybe a longer walk wouldn't be more helpful.

[Hoss]

My liquor store just had their lot restriped, and the handicapped spots are huge. They each take up about one and a half spot. I asked the owner if they was supposed to be that wide. He said that he really didnt notice that they were that much wider.
But they are and me being a practising alchoholic and having to walk further to get my drunk on really puts me at a disadvantage.
Now I'm sure that my problem could be a handicap, so I probably need to get me one of the cards so I can park legally at the front of the store.

If not I can always ask for assistance from this man.

While this may be funny and maybe I'm being a bit sensitive about this, I care for my mother who is now 65 and she is handicapped.

I carry a placard in my glove box, but only use it when she is in the vehicle and I know I have to get her out of it to somewhere.

It burns my hide to see someone parking in a blue zone who obviously a) doesn't have a handicap, b) doesn't have a placard (temporary or otherwise) or c) no permanent license tag.  I've very nearly gotten in to physical altercations with people over this, simply on the principle of the thing.  Some of it has to do with not only my mother's condition, but a lady up at my office complex who drove an older Chevy Cavalier and was for certain a parplegic (but functioning nonetheless).  One day myself and a guy I used to work with caught a guy with no placard parking in this lady's spot (it's larger so it can accomodate someone like her removing her wheelchair from the backseat without denting the next persons vehicle) and she wound up having to park way away from the building.  We let this guy have it until he finally moved and we got the lady to come claim her spot.

That may make me seem like an activist, and so be it.  But when it involves something like that which affects not only her, but my mother, you bet your donkey I'm gonna speak up.  Parking in a blue zone like that without authorization is a pretty hefty fine, and police CAN ticket you on private property for it.

[Ed W]

I photograph them when I see one.  This was taken back in January.  I removed the tag information.  Some websites collect these photos and ones of motor vehicles parked in bike lanes.

A co-worker asked why I didn't have a sticker since I was walking with a cane most days, and I park way out by the fence. "You could park right up front and not have to walk all that way," he said.  I have chronic problems with my legs, but it's not a constant thing, so I don't feel that it's a handicap.  Besides, there's a lot of self-image in it as well.  I don't feel handicapped, though I'm limited in what I can do, but if I don't think of myself as limited, I don't feel limited.  Does that make sense?

We have a row of disabled parking spaces near one of the buildings. One day, a security guard I know went over and ticketed all but one of the cars.  Every space was taken, but just that one had a sticker.  The reason is clear.  Us mere plebeians have to arrive before 7AM.  Management arrives between 7 and 8, and by then all the close in parking spaces are taken.  It's unseemly to expect the suit-and-tie brigade to walk any distance, so they take the disabled parking spaces. If there's a complaint, it goes to (you guessed!) those same management people whose cars occupy the disabled spaces!

[Ed W]

My liquor store just had their lot restriped, and the handicapped spots are huge.

When we were looking at vans for disabled people, we saw the necessity for extra wide spaces when we looked at one with a side lift for a powered wheelchair.  It needs every bit of that 'extra' space to operate the lift.  And when some bonehead parked illegally within the striped section, making it impossible for a wheelchair user to enter his vehicle, I fervently prayed for a special place in hell for the bozo...or a couple of months in a chair or on crutches as an attitude adjustment.

[DolfanBob]

When we were looking at vans for disabled people, we saw the necessity for extra wide spaces when we looked at one with a side lift for a powered wheelchair.  It needs every bit of that 'extra' space to operate the lift.  And when some bonehead parked illegally within the striped section, making it impossible for a wheelchair user to enter his vehicle, I fervently prayed for a special place in hell for the bozo...or a couple of months in a chair or on crutches as an attitude adjustment.

Thanks Ed and Hoss. I would have thought the man who paid to have his lot striped would know the answer to my question but he didnt.

My Mother also had the tag and card for her so my Brother could park up front for her. So I do know the need for people to respect those spots and I never use one for myself ever.

[swake]

I used to work with a woman who had a handicap placard because her Husband had a disability. The problem was that she used it every day to park right up front at work when he wasn't with her. She told anyone she could about it and thought it was just a great thing and would get very angry if anyone talked to her about it being wrong. She ended up getting fired, not over the parking space specifically but her parking was a symptom of her overall personality that led her to get fired.

She was, of course, a bible thumping holier than everybody good Christian Woman. She would even attempt to lay hands on people when they were ill, no matter if they wanted it or not. And she also, of course, ripped her husband constantly and was always looking for someone to cheat on him with. Totally brutal.

[TURobY]

When someone has become debilitated by fat and they have the placard I always wonder if maybe a longer walk wouldn't be more helpful.

Some people are fat because they handicapped. While my grandmother was never skinny, she eventually became scooter-bound due to age and degerneration of joints. With the loss of what little exercise she used to get from walking, she gained quite a lot of weight. She's managing her weight through diet, but she is still a larger woman.

Additionally, when my ankle sprained badly, I pretty much had to give up running for a year. During that time, I easily put on 10 pounds.

Given that, I have a little more sympathy for the overweight/disabled than you do.

[Conan71]

I used to go to Paddy's at 81st & Memorial when it was still open.  Lee's Bicycles and a paintball place were in the center.  

Seemed ironic the handicap spots were in front of the paintball store and the bike shop.

My mother has knee issues and has a handicap hang tag.  Days she's feeling better she takes a regular spot, days she's having excruciating pain, she will take a blue spot.

Personally, I park as far as possible from everyone else to keep my car from getting banged up, but that's just me.