# The handicapped need a space for their Dodge Vipers too, you know? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 3, 2002, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853 "2002-09-03T19:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/21 "2002-09-03T20:58:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by alice\_in\_wonderland \* > > **Scylla** is usually kind of amusing, but this post totally missed the mark. It’s almost as if he’s implying that someone with a handicap doesn’t deserve a Viper. Absurd. \*\* _Dingdingdingding_ I believe we have a winner. I suspect he was also tossing in a bit of irony of the ‘critizing some one else’s choice of vehicle’ as well. but over all, this one really was ill conceived. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/22 "2002-09-03T21:10:05Z")
I confess this makes me think of [this image](http://www.winternet.com/~grzesiak/lexus.jpg) from a friend’s online comic. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/23 "2002-09-03T21:15:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dr. Lao \* > \*\*I think most people are taking the OP _way_ too seriously. \*\* Yeah, it’s not like it was an SUV. your humble TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/24 "2002-09-03T21:16:38Z")
Some rather vicious replies here. Allrighty then. I’m not going to bother defending myself to knee-jerk reactions to what I wrote. I’m not going to say that I don’t have any problem with handicapped parking, and that I don’t begrudge those spaces in the least. I’m not going to say that this thread has nothing to do with being handicapped. Because you can think what you like. To me, the Viper is the ultimate “fuck you” car. By driving the Viper you are saying that “life is good, and I don’t give a fuck because I am the king.” And I can respect that. I considered the possibilty that maybe this Viper is the guy’s one happiness in a life otherwise confounded by pain, and disability, but I dismissed it. The Viper is not the car that you get for your only happiness. The Viper is the car you buy because you already have everything else that makes you happy and you still have lots of money left over. Which is all great. It’s all good. I want to be the king. I want my Viper! But the one thing I do know, is that if you are the King, and you’ve got the world by the balls and you don’t mind advertising that fact, and you want to drive the Viper, well then that’s great! But, if you are the fucking King, then you don’t park in the handicapped spot. Here’s why: 1. Because if you stole the sticker, and you’re not really handicapped, than you’re not the King. You’re just a vicious shit who’s taken advantage. 2. If you are handicapped, and you do have the Viper and you have the world by the balls and you are the King… Then you walk anyway Just to show 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/25 "2002-09-03T21:17:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Dingdingdingding > > I believe we have a winner Come on, **wring** , I was the first. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/26 "2002-09-03T21:21:04Z")
Twice as mad even as one post. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/27 "2002-09-03T21:24:21Z")
For the record: I am not intentionally being obtuse or clever or a shit, or whatever you want to call it, by drawing some unstated parrelel (or however you spell it) to an earlier SUV thread. I just saw the Viper, and it irked me. No intentional irony. Truly. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/28 "2002-09-03T21:34:11Z")
If -God forbid- I ever become disabled and happen to be filthily rich at the same time, you won’t catch me _dead_ in a Viper. But don’t be surprised to find a Ferrari 360 Modena in that handicapped spot, Scylla. And just why the hell not? ---
**Author:** ![Trucido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trucido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trucido)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/29 "2002-09-03T21:38:19Z")
I think that this is not an issue of a handicapped person’s right to drive whatever they want. This is issue about the Dodge Viper. It’s not exactly an everyday sort of car, in case you didn’t know. It is cramped, and only comes with a six-speed manual. A perfectly healthy person of average build would have a challenge on their hands driving a Viper. It takes a skilled driver’s full attention just to maneuver the thing. No handicap springs to mind that would leave someone with the ability to drive a Viper safely. It’s like pulling into a handicapped spot with a Suzuki Hayabusa superbike. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/30 "2002-09-03T21:38:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scylla \* > \*\*The Viper is the car you buy because you already have everything else that makes you happy and you still have lots of money left over. > > Which is all great. It’s all good. I want to be the king. I want my Viper!\*\* Yup… Viper-envy! Jeez, **Scylla** , just go and get one of your own or siddown. If you’re offended that someone else gets a handicapped parking spot you can’t use, go and break your neck… then tell us all how much better off you have it now that you can park in the close spot. What _is_ it with all the damn parking lot threads, anyway? Do people really care that much where they put their stinkmobiles? I don’t. The further away, the better! ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/31 "2002-09-03T21:39:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maeglin \* > \*\* > > Come on, **wring** , I was the first. 😉 \*\* yea, ok, but I was still smarting after **Sam Stone** ignored **moi’s** posting in his ‘worst Atty General evah’ thread, mentioning how gutsy it is to admit a mistake, only to publically thank some one else, _much later on_ who’d done the same thing. OTOH. **Scylla** : worst appology **ever**. (I didn’t think you were ranting about folks who have handicapps etc, but well, this really does just come off as childishly resenting some one else who has something you covet. It’s worse, 'cause you keep focusing back attention on the handicapper issue, which does read as if you’re suggesting that 'ok, so they’ve got some seriousl physical problem, dammit, **they’ve got this cool car** ’ as if one could possible compensate for the other . I’m sure that you can look around your life and see that there are things/people who, if you lost them, no car in the universe could make you feel like ‘king of the world’. Now, flip that feeling around and see it from the other end. like I said - ill conceived thread.)\*\* \*\* longest parenthetical comment ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/32 "2002-09-03T21:43:18Z")
Re the difficulty of driving a Viper: I might add that the person to whom the handicapped plate/card/sticker has been assigned is not necessarily the driver. ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/33 "2002-09-03T21:55:31Z")
Where I used to work, directly in front of my window, was a handicapped parking space. Nearly every single day, a sleek, black Jaguar parked there. You have no idea how many people it irked just seeing that gorgeous car in that space day after day. All the harpies griped about it and frowned when they saw the guy pull in. A mid-fiftiesh guy, in a business suit would emerge and nope…no limp, no wheelchair, no walker, no nothing. At least nothing that would stop them from grousing. One day, after several months, one of my bosses (an attorney, not that that has jack to do with this tale) was coming in from a meeting next-door. He had run into an acquaintance of his that knew the man that drove the cool Jag. (Come to find out, he too, was a semi-retired attorney.) Being the nosy, but subtle, man that he was, he found out the man had severe cardiac and respiratory problems and was also on dialysis. He had just returned from being hospitalized, off and on, for over a year. When he was finally allowed to continue working, his doctor had wanted to limit his physical activities, including walking, or exercising too much and was therefore issued a handicapped sticker. Maybe the man that drove the Viper had similar circumstances. There are varying degrees of physical incapabilities. Not all of them visible. Oh yeah, when all the gripe-asses found out the story, that was the end of the daily bitch session about the Jaguar driver. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/34 "2002-09-03T21:56:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\*If -God forbid- I ever become disabled and happen to be filthily rich at the same time, you won’t catch me _dead_ in a Viper. But don’t be surprised to find a Ferrari 360 Modena in that handicapped spot, Scylla. And just why the hell not? \*\* The **Viper** doesn’t deserve the handicapped spot. It says I am the King and I am the barbarian conqueror! The Modena on the other hand just says you are a discriminating person of wealth and taste. Wring: I wasn’t apologizing. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/35 "2002-09-03T21:58:22Z")
**Scylla** you should have been. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/36 "2002-09-03T21:59:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Trucido \* > \*\*No handicap springs to mind that would leave someone with the ability to drive a Viper safely. It’s like pulling into a handicapped spot with a Suzuki Hayabusa superbike. \*\* Use your imagination for just a minute…how about, say, congestive heart failure, a pacemaker, end-stage cancer, emphysema, or any other systemic disorder that can leave someone with sufficient coordination, but next to no physical stamina and/or in need of an oxygen tank? Besides, never underestimate the stick-shift ability of a very, very determined person. I drove stick shift with a cast on my left leg. It wasn’t the brightest thing I’ve ever done, but I would have been house-bound otherwise, so I managed somehow. A friend of the family did something similar by wiring a broomstick to his clutch pedal and using his hand to depress the clutch. Necessity is the mother of invention. Oh, and Scarlett67, excellent point. Anyoen who takes a handicapped placard/space that they don’t need, however, deserves to burn in my own special Hell. Eva Luna, former post-surgical temporary handicapped decal owner ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/37 "2002-09-03T22:00:21Z")
Just a side note: handicapped does not always mean wheelchair or missing limbs. It could be some not-so-obvious ailment. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/38 "2002-09-03T22:06:56Z")
I hope I never have the misfortune of meeting you, Scylla. You are a small, ignorant man. Fuck you and the Viper you rode in on, you clueless asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/39 "2002-09-03T22:07:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wring \* > \*\ ***Scylla** you should have been. \*\* Well, I’m not. People have an active choice in what they choose to get offended at. So I see a Viper in a handicapped parking space, and I think “damn that’s ballsy. Looks like somebody’s got a sweet deal,” and I’m a little jealous. Of course I’m not jealous of the handicapped, and I don’t begrudge them the legitimate use of a parking space, and I don’t begrudge anybody doing as well as they can for themselves. All those things should go without saying. Nevertheless, when you cut down to it, it’s an anachronistic thing, and it makes you wonder. Well, it makes me wonder anyway. And anybody that wants to attack me for thinking such a thing or talking about it isn’t worth bothering with, or worth an apology. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853/40 "2002-09-03T22:10:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zette \* > \*\*I hope I never have the misfortune of meeting you, Scylla. You are a small, ignorant man. Fuck you and the Viper you rode in on, you clueless asshole. \*\* I don’t have a Viper, you idiot. That’s the whole point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handicapped-need-a-space-for-their-dodge-vipers-too-you-know/126853.md?page=3)