If pregnant women got permits – unless they’re having a really bad pregnancy and genuinely need it – then none of the rest of us would be able to park in them. There are a lot of pregnant women out there. I am not trying to be hard-hearted, but I don’t think simple pregnancy should be enough to qualify. Neither should being elderly; the people who obviously shouldn’t be driving with plates disturb me. My grandma has never driven, but she has a hanging thingy that she takes with her wherever she goes.
I only get mad when I see people parking in them without permits. Somebody could have borrowed somebody else’s thingy, or else they might have one of those invisible problems. So I don’t have a heart attack as long as a permit is visible. If it’s not theirs, then eventually karma will catch up with them, I assume.
Louisiana has a system where they give you an ID that matches your hanging thingy (I’ve got a plate and one of those things so if, say, I’m in my boyfriend’s car we can use the blue spots) but I’m told they never, ever check. I think it’s a good idea, but if it’s not enforced, what’s the point?
Well, let me see if I can dig up some analogies. I’m white, but I get upset if I see or hear about discrimination against people of other colors. I’m a heterosexual woman, happily married to a hetero man, but I’m upset that some people think homosexuals shouldn’t be allowed to marry. Why should these things upset me? It’s not my problem. Well, it upsets me because in all cases I can see how easily the problem could be mine; I get upset because social injustices degrade the whole society, not just the people who are actually suffering the injustices.
In some places here in Maryland, especially places like Babies R Us where pregnant women are likely to “congregate” we have what’s called “Stork Parking”. It’s like handicapped parking for pregnant women. Also, if you have some complications along with your pregnancy, I’d imagine you could get a temporary handicapped tag pretty easily; your OB/GYN would have to sign for it. Come to think of it, I probably could have gotten one with my last pregnancy; I was on partial bedrest, and couldn’t be on my feet for any great lengths of time. Near the end of the pregnancy, I even used one of those motorized scooters in Sam’s Club once. But I didn’t bother checing into it, because I had plenty of help. Wow. I see I’ve given you way more info than you asked for. Sorry.
I’ll tell you what upsets me. At my grocery store, I see lots of handicapped people who refuse to even park in the spots which are ridiculously close to the door, and pull into the fire lane instead. This not only inconveniences the cart-pushers, other shoppers, and staff, but it seriously inconveniences the other handicapped people who took the trouble to park in the right spots! Now they have to weave around these cars.
Please, use the spots they gave you. There’s lots of them. I see them empty all the time.
Well, let me see if I can dig up some analogies. I’m white, but I get upset if I see or hear about discrimination against people of other colors. I’m a heterosexual woman, happily married to a hetero man, but I’m upset that some people think homosexuals shouldn’t be allowed to marry. Why should these things upset me? It’s not my problem. Well, it upsets me because in all cases I can see how easily the problem could be mine; I get upset because social injustices degrade the whole society, not just the people who are actually suffering the injustices.
Fair enough. This deserves an answer.
It’s called paternalism. Or, when it’s done by a woman, is it called maternalism? I dunno.
But Mommie, it’s like this: You cannot come to the school playground and find the bully who called me a bad name and beat him up with your purse. It just won’t do. If it’s gonna be done, I’ll have to do it myself, unnerstand?
By doing it for me, you are showing the whole world that you think that I can’t take care of it myself. This undermines my confidence.
If I want your help I will lock eyeballs with you and say, “Hey, you—how about a little help?” Otherwise leave me alone.
This is all a wonderful and great theory and I agree with you if we are merely talking about parking spaces. . .
but it is more than that. . .
If some doctor enables a person, who should not be driving because they can’t drive safely due to a condition by giving them a handicap parking prescription and thus becomes a hazzard on the road – well then that IS my problem, and your problem and the entire community.
Please don’t misinterpret – there are countless handicapped drivers who drive safely --and a minority that should not. But when Dr’s give those suckers out like candy – which they do in my state – that minority rises considerably. . .
So talking about reforming the way the ssytem works is a problem for all of us.
But I’m not beating them up for you. I tend not to even say anything. But does that mean I don’t have the right to be upset about it? Call it empathy, if you will. It’s easy to imagine that I might be in the position to need a handicap sticker some day, and I can imagine I’d be upset about able-bodies people taking my parking spot. So, when I see it now, I empathize with people who are currently handicapped. How does this undermine your confidence?
IMHO, any society where people only concern themselves with what affects them directly is not much of a society.
If the guy is picking up Grandma, then the whole situation is easily resolved by the presentation of Grandma and her photo ID. If Grandma is not around, the guy has no right to use her handicapped tag.
Years ago, I had a co-worker with a paraplegic husband. As much as I felt sorry for her and her husband, and their predicament, she was not driving him anywhere – he was at home with full-time nursing care while she went to work every day. And parked smack in the middle of the Loop with her husband’s decal. Drove me frickin’ bonkers. She had no right to do that, and considering that we worked in a Federal government building which also housed the Veterans Administration, she was quite possibly depriving a disabled veteran of a legitimate handicapped space on a daily basis.
I think you completely don’t understand how licensing works, or have zero faith in doctors. When getting a license, a person must report any conditions that may affect their driving. Also, their doctor is legally obligated to report any diseases / conditions that may affect their driving. If the person applies for a handicap placard or license plate, he is required (in california) to get a written letter from a doctor. These are two completely seperate processes. In the first, a person is required to show that they have no illnesses which can affect their driving, and in the second, they are required to show they have an illness which qualifies them for a disabled parking placard / license.
If a doctor does this, that doctor is breaking the law. This is different from a doctor signing handicap tag eligibility forms to people who merit them.
Just because a person has a handicap does not mean they are automatically unsafe on the road.
Do you understand this?
QtM, MD
(who has signed lots of handicap applications and gotten patients licenses pulled in the past)
Umm. . . did you read the part where I said “please don’t misinterpret, there are countless capable handicap drivers, but there are a minority of bad ones who are enabled to continue driving when issued such a prescription. . .” It kind of makes a world of difference to acknowledge that part of my post if you are going to wax poetic about how “just because a person is handicapped. . .”
Now I have no question whatsoever that doctors are ethical when the write a prescription for handicap permits however;
They issue quite a bit of them.
Doctors are medical specialists, not driving specialists. I think the good folks at the DMV should make that call (and by the way, I think all people should be tested every five years, but that is a different thread)
This is purely anecdotal, but I have noticed something else recently - the quality of the average car parked in a handicapped spot has gone way up. In the past they were largely the big cars favored by the elderly (Buick, old Caddilacs, etc)but recently I am seeing far more luxury cars. At Denver Int’l airport, I saw on Monday two Lexus’, a Mercedes M class, and several other assorted luxury wheels. No vans with wheelchair ramps, no old boats. From the economy lot, even from the close in handicapped spots, it is still a quarter mile walk to the terminal.
Actually, my doctor told me to ONLY do water exercises. She doesn’t want me walking for exercise, or using a stationary bike. I asked her about this specifically. I’m allowed to use light weights on my arms as I sit, though.
And I can drive just fine, as long as I don’t get too hot, and don’t go very far. I can drive for about an hour or so at a time.
The distinguishing feature for handicapped parking spaces is neither their proximity to the building that parking is for, nor their proximity to sidewalk cuts or other accessibility-related street features.
No, the real distinguishing feature of a handicapped parking space is the presence of a cross-hatched area at least 3 or 4 feet wide next to the parking space, where no other vehicles (not even motorcycles) are allowed to park. This cross-hatched no-car’s-land is there to give people with wheelchairs adequate elbow room to get out of their car and into their chair. Or to give adequate space to those special vans that have a wheelchair elevator on one side – you can’t operate that elevator without a nice 3-4 foot space cushion to the side of the van.
So, remember, folks: If you park in the handicapped spaces when you don’t need to, you’re not merely making it more inconvenient for wheelchair-bound folk to make their way around. You may be preventing wheelchair-bound people from being able to get out of their car at all.
Now Tracer, your post is the most reasonable and practical quote of all. . . And I learned something! I think the ADA is one of the most cutting edge and monumental laws in the United States.
So why not change the fine for any legal infraction to $1,000,000? This will keep everyone from breaking the law because they won’t want to pay that fine right? Jay walking? You wouldn’t do it if the fine was a million bucks. Double parking? You wouldn’t do it if the fine was a million bucks. Fishing without a license? Million bucks.
I think alot of fines are horseshit ways for the government to suck up even more tax payer dollars.
The worst fines are the ones for speeding in a construction zone on the highways. I have no problem with higer fines if you are speeding within a certain distance of highway workers, but I think it’s bullshit when there is a sign that says “Fines doubled in construction zones” And there is no “construction” happening within 10 miles of that sign. Sure there are alot of orange cones and what-not on the road, but there is not a single worker within 10 miles of the sign. BUT, if you get busted speeding here you will get hammered with fines. There is a stretch of highway that I drive to work everyday that has had cones and fines-doubled signs on it for 2 months now with no workers on the highway. This is an 8 mile stretch of road. The cones aren’t even on the road, they are on the shoulder, but that fines-doubled sign is still there and people get busted for speeding on that stretch of road all the time. DOUBLE FINES!! YEAH!!
Having seen DMV employees give licenses to people who couldn’t pass the vision test with or without glasses, I don’t have much confidence in their abilities to diagnose other medical conditions.
furnishesq, I don’t think you’re quite understanding what a handicap parking placard is. It has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not you can drive. IT IS NOT A DRIVER’S LICENSE. It simply says that you or the person transporting you is allowed to park in a handicap space. Parking != driving.
My grandmother’s drivers license expired almost 20 years ago, and she’s never gone to get it renewed. When she became unable to get around without a walker and had to have a hip replacement eight years ago, she was given a temporary handicap sticker. That sticker did not give her permission to drive. It in no way, shape or form said that she was fit to drive. It simply gave my grandfather or whoever else was driving her permission to park in a handicap space.
And in case you’re interested, in some states the medical conditions that are likely to get you deemed unsafe to drive aren’t the ones that will get you a handicap sticker. Epilepsy will get your license pulled, but it won’t get you handicap sticker. Congestive heart failure might get you a handicap sticker, but it won’t get your license pulled, at least not in Kentucky. That’s because walking and driving are two very different things, with very different physical requirements.
