First a disclaimer. I have not gotten one of these tickets.
That said…
The community that I live in has ‘deputized’ people to go around and give people legally binding tickets for parking in handicapped spots. That is their ONLY duty. My PROBLEM with this is that they go so far as to ticket employees at stores that are CLOSED who are working overnight stock duty, or have to get close to unload items from their vehicles (again, after hours). I can understand the tickets during business hours, but these tickets seem to be a bit much. The reason that these volunteers have given is that they need to ‘teach a lesson’ to these ‘insensitive people’, and to break them of the habit.
Mind you, the law backs them up. It states that a handicapped spot is a handicapped spot, 24 hours a day. It just seems that these ‘volunteers’, mostly retirees looking for something to do, are being a bit overealous. I’ve never heard of a police officer ticketing people for this sort of thing (going into a parking lot after hours and ticketing parked cars). When I was working at Domino’s in Denver in the early 90’s, I even had an officer advise me to move my car into the handicapped spot after hours so it was visible from the store. (But that’s a different state.)
So anyway, if a person tried to FIGHT this ticket in court, what sort of strategy would/should they use?
I know next to nothing about law, but if we’re talking about a ticket that was issued to an employee parking in a handicapped spot after the store (or whatever) was closed for business for the day, it seems to me that you could argue that the ticket was simply ridiculous!
But I have one question: if the people getting the tickets are working after hours, why not just park right in front of the door? Problem solved!
Of course, if they get legally ticketed for parking there, then I guess they’d be SOL in arguing the handicapped parking tickets…
At many stores here, those ARE the handicapped spots.
My point (or question) is, could a legal argument be made about the use of volunteers to give out the tickets? (I’m not sure if they are truly considered ‘deputies’ by the county).
Does the store have a policy of not hiring handicapped people ? If that’s not the case, how can the employee know for certain that the spot he parked in isn’t needed after hours ?
Squink - do you have any co-workers that are handicapped that you don’t know about about?
I’m talking about STORES here, not large corporate office buildings. And not only that, but late night/overnight shifts tend to be a smaller workforce than usual.
I think if you plead that the ticket was given after business hours you should have it dismissed. The forms for parking tickets have a place for the time of day; if you were ticketed at midnight in front of a business that closes at 9 PM, the ticket is bogus.
No, no… I mean RIGHT in front of the door. The handicapped spots are to the right and left of the door… there are NO parking places right in front of the door. (keep in mind that I’m going by memory… I live in Korea, and there is no such thing as a handicapped parking spot here, as far as I know… course I don’t drive here, so I wouldn’t know…)
I think the law is likely to be as nitpicky about this as I was. If it’s legal to throw people in jail for not wearing seat belts, and this was recently upheld, it’s likely to be the same with handicapped space enforcement. As you say, maybe there’s a loophole in the way these people are “deputized” ?
THAT’S the sort of thing I’m talking about… rules of deputization, things like that.
As I said in the OP, I have NOT gotten one of these tickets… I’m just pissed over the whole concept of roving bands of citizens, giving out tickets. Whose to say that this can’t be abused? Hell, I once talked to a college cop who stated that he could give me a ticket any time he wanted, for any reason. Even if I was off campus. He could just write on the ticket that I was in an illegal spot, and I would then have to prove in court that I WASN’T. As an ‘officer of the law’, he’d be given more weight in court than I would. (Don’t think so? I was in court once and heard the judge say “He’s a police officer. Why would he lie?” to a person who was there fighting a ticket.)
This is idiotic. Deputizing people to hand out tickets to people parking in handicapped spots? Obviously the people who are going to “apply” for this position are those who fantasize about being cops and busting the bad guys. Give them this little inch of power, and it looks like they’re taking a mile.
Most any police officer in this situation would think about the situation, and realize that the point of the handicapped spot is to guarantee that people who have physical disabilities can reach the business/building/whatever. They would realize that the purpose of the handicapped spot is not to serve as a booby-trap, where you stumble in in the middle of the night and suddenly are given a ticket by an overzealous, UNTRAINED, INEXPERIENCED, fake police officer.
Anyway, just a little rant. We had 6 or 7 handicapped spots at the place I used to work. We had 100 or so employees, and there was ONE person who had a handicapped sticker and was allowed to use the spots. The main lot was some 75 yards further out, up a hill. I worked the night shift, and myself and the others on at night (there were only about 5 employees stationed there at night) would park in the handicapped spots. It’s called being rational.
But still, IIRC, aren’t the handicapped spaces to the left and right of the door? If you park immediately in FRONT of the door, you shouldn’t be blocking handicapped spaces… right? (Or am I remembering incorrectly? I’ve been in Korea a LONG time!)
Anyways, we’re hijacking this thread for a small point… truce?
Yeah, but if the store were closed for the day… what is the sense in ticketing store employees who parked there (while the store was closed)? No one who is handicapped would be expected to park there, after all…
Fire lanes, on the other hand, I can see… after all, there might be a fire at ANY time of the day or night, and you’d need that space to be clear.
But handicapped spaces (or in front of the door!): you would ticket someone who parked there at 3AM to do some work inside the store? (let’s assume the store closed at 11 PM) Why??
I am all in favor of handicapped parking spaces, and in favor of punishing those who abuse them… but how is parking there AFTER hours abusing them? I don’t get it…
Re-reading this thread, I think some of my posts may have come off as being uncaring… that was not my intent at all!
I have been, several times!, temporarily handicapped… and I do remember how much it sucked trying to get to the store on crutches, or walking VERY slowly due to a back injury…
But I don’t get it: if the store is CLOSED, why bother with handicapped parking spaces?
(Don’t mean to offend anyone… just looking for an explanation…)
I’m having a hard time visualizing this. Are this parking places on a street? Or in a lot? Is it a lot shared by several small business (like a mini-mall), or a lot used by only one business?
Astroboy, I think the parking (or no parking) in front of the door depends on where you are. Here (NY State) there are many mini-malls where the row of parking goes straight across the storefronts … no gaps, not even for doors.
