Even handicapped people having a good day and therefore not needing the closest space are not legally allowed to use a handicapped tag (and yes, I have looked this up in our local laws). Your co-worker truly is a dogshit.
I’ll second this. My dad certainly looks disabled, but my friend, a 23 year old woman looks quite healthy, despite her inability to walk for either long distances on in the cold (given the parking and weather in SF, both are very much valid concerns).
Wow that is kind of mean. Why do you care?
Now I agree with this, you should not be expected to move faster or rush for them, but to intentionally stall is just being sort of rude. Sort of like people sitting in the fast lane just because “they can” and the person behind them really wants to go faster.
Our ambulance drivers park in the fire lane when they go in for lunch. My husband called the fire dept. to complain and THEY DEFENDED THEM.
When you see the offending person, try this trick, it works sometimes and makes them nervous.
“Excuse me, Sir/Mam, did you know it is a $100 fine to park their and they have stepped up enforcement this week?”
Jim
Come on now. Haven’t you noticed that there are wayyy to many handicapped parking spaces based on common use? People say “Well you never can tell when several handicapped people will want to park at once.” Yes, you can. Probability distributions say that all 145 handicapped spot being taken at say, a typical shopping mall is 183 trillion to 1 barring some kind of convention or recent terrorist activity. If those are the case, then alternate planning can be made in advance. Either handicapped people need to get out more, or the use it or lose it rule needs to be called.
Perhaps we should eliminate handicapped spaces in favor of limited time spaces where the time limit is waived with a properly displayed handicapped plate or placard.
… of course that means someone has to properly enforce the time limits …
I suppose “dead” can be interpreted as “extremely disabled.”
If I’m walking alone in a parking garage/lot and some yutz in a car is tailing me at walking speed, it’s fucking creepy!
I dunno that I’d take my time any more than usual, but I don’t see that as an acceptable practice.
And these cars would also have to be towed, as ticketing does nothing to help handicapped people who are already there.
In Irvine California a disabled friend of the chief of police mentioned that way too many healthy people were using the handicapped spaces. The chief did not believe him so they bet $5 on it. So the chief had a couple of cops stake out the handicapped spaces at a local mall. Turns out a large percentage of people parking in the handicapped spaces weren’t eldigible. Reasons included:
[ul]
[li]They did not have the disabled person in the car with them[/li][li]They had a permit from a dead relative / friend[/li][li]They got one using fraud[/li][li]The permit was stolen[/li][li]The permit was expired (issued for a temporary condition, like a broken leg)[/li][/ul]
The fines for this type of activity in California starts at several hundred dollars and they go up from there.
The chief paid up on the bet, and now has officers regulary go out and stake out mall / theater / office building parking lots.
Now that is cool. I’ve always been of the opinion it is quicker to parker legally away from the store/mall and walk that to take a handicap spot or be one of those creepy squatters that just hold up the flow of traffic in the lot.
Jim
Actually no, I haven’t. In fact I’ve occasionally seen all handicapped spaces taken at some malls (at least at some mal entrances) and big-box stores, which to me means there aren’t enough.
I’d like to see the math. How many non-handicapped spaces does this “typical” mall have, and how many building entrances? (And what percentage of customers are you assuming are disabled? Or are you just making this up, and using words like “probability distribution” to make it sound like it’s more than an unsubstantiated claim?
You folks who have posted in this thread are very likely to enjoy Tepper Isn’t Going Out by Calvin Trillin. Parking is a current that runs through the whole book. If you get a chapter or two into it, you’ll get the joke in my first line. 
But if we add more then needed then the need to crack down on people who illegally take these spots will go down, since the disabled will get a spot anyway. The real way to do this is limit the # of spots and enforce them.
The %age of blue spots should never excede the % of eligable disabled people IMHO.
True story: A co-worker’s father had a h/c tag, justifiably. Things took their course, as they will, and eventually the old gentleman passed away. On the way back from the hospital, my co-worker and her sister were arguing about who should get custody of the deceased’s h/c tag. As the dispute escalated, a gust of wind came through the car window and blew the contested tag away! (“No, you don’t, girls, it’s MY tag and I’m taking it with me!”)
who the hell are you to say who should and should not have a permit? A coworker has a severe medical condition that like PoorYorick’s friend can cause dire conditions if she exerts herself. To the unknowing, she looks normal. I have severe arthritis, artificial hips and a condition that causes an asthma like reaction if I exert myself. But I do not use a cane or walker, so I “look” normal. are you a medical professional who has examined these “super elites” and have determined they have no physical or medical reason to keep their levels of exertion to a minimum? I’d like to see your license, jerkface
I’m sure kanicbird can respond for him/herself, but I took those comments to be addressed to those who had the tags illicitly – using them when no longer needed, or when the handicapped person was not in the vehicle, for example.