# "You know, that's handicapped parking spot!" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 13, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328 "2011-06-13T17:13:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/61 "2011-06-13T19:35:35Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I’m pretty sure you’re being sarcastic, but driving on the sidewalk in this case is exactly how some things get loaded into and out of this building. I visited a friend at his university once. The sidewalks WERE the roads. There was the campus core. On the outskirts were the big parking lots. The core consisted of various department buildings, admin buildings, the cafeteria, the library, misc stuff, and small dorms all scattered about. There were even a smattering of handicapped parking spaces here and there in the middle in addition to all the ones in the major parking areas (for the more seriously handicapped folks I guess). Driving and parking on those was expected and allowed. I just cranked up google earth and there are cars on the walks and parked in places that are not the obvious parking areas. We caught hell for driving (carefully) on them by some random know it all student once. He realized he was an ass when we pointed to the PARKING sign in from of my friends dorm and we asked him how he thought we were supposed to get there. Of course he just left in a huff rather than apologize. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/62 "2011-06-13T19:37:44Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Tough shit. Take it up with the building owners. I don’t know how many times I see people parking “just for a few minutes” in handicapped spots. I don’t really care. I don’t know how long you’re going to be loading or unloading shit. I DO know that in most places, there are not as many handicapped spots as there are people with legitimate handicapped plates/hangers. Wow, that has not been my experience at all. There seem to always be empty handicapped spots where I live. In fact sometimes they are the only available spots in the parking lot. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/63 "2011-06-13T19:40:17Z")
It’s probably some variant of Murphy’s law. If you need a handicapped spot, they’re all taken. If you don’t need one, they’re the only spots available. The perversity of the universe is thus preserved. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/64 "2011-06-13T19:40:32Z")
What gets me about the “I’m only staying a few minutes” argument is that, even if someone _does_ only stay a few minutes, a handicapped person driving by the spot during those few minutes sees only an occupied parking space. They don’t know that you’ll only be there for a few minutes; they only know that the spot is taken, and they need to find a different spot. Their next step will be to keep driving until they find a vacant space, which might be blocks away. From the point of view of the person looking for a spot, you might as well be there for the rest of the day. The “few minutes” argument is bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/65 "2011-06-13T19:40:36Z")
Personally, I think handicap spots and a lot of the laws around them are unethical. I even think it’s generally moral to violate laws that one has ethical or moral issues with following them. But even so, I don’t park in those spots because, even though I disagree with forcing private business to have handicap spots, the people that get hurt are the businesses and the handicapped, not the people who made the laws with which I disagree. But that’s not really here nor there with regard to the OP. What bothers me with the OP is the idea that he is knowingly breaking the law, not for moral or ethical reasons, but for convience, and then getting upset that someone points out that he’s doing something illegal. Just because a cop doesn’t cite you for it doesn’t mean what you’re doing is not illegal. In my experience, it’s either because they don’t think it’s so bad, and thus you don’t really deserve the severity of the citation it would draw, like you’re obviously loading and there’s other spots available, or because it’s just not worth their time for such a minor infraction, like going 58 in a 55. But the thing is, if you choose to violate a law, you should also realize the consequences that come with it. You will likely draw scorn from people for parking in a handicapped spot, they just usually won’t say anything. And you may not have gotten tickets in the past, but that doesn’t mean the next cop won’t give you one. And, sure, you’re carrying heavy equipment, but, like you said, you could have blocked the cars in and probably not gotten scorned. And if carrying the equipment that extra 10 feet is that impossible, then you probably should have specialized equipment to help you move the stuff anyway. So, sure, the person you pointing it out is a little bit obnoxious, but you were knowingly in the wrong for a tiny convenience. You simply can’t defend that. If I get pulled over for doing 58 in a 55, saying that I never got pulled over for it before, or that it’s not so bad since everyone else is doing it, or that I was going to be a little late if I wasn’t speeding… none of those deny the fact that I was intentionally breaking the law. Either way, I don’t understand why you were so pissed and felt the need to write a pit thread. You got called out for doing something you admit you did. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/66 "2011-06-13T19:43:07Z")
My father had a band when I was growing up. As the band leader, he owned all the big equipment. It was heavy, bulky, and delicate. I was pressed into service as his roadie at a relatively early age: bringing the stuff up from the basement, loading it into the station wagon, unloading it and wheeling it into the gig venue, then doing the same in reverse. You better believe we used a hand truck. I liked the time spent with my Dad. We never had a problem with moving stuff. I never complained and it never seemed onerous. I do not even get the OP. Who was it, Pere Ubu, I think, who said “Rock music is all about moving big black boxes from one side of town to the other and back in your car” ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/67 "2011-06-13T19:44:53Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > Yesterday at the mall. We park and get out and are headed towards the entrance. Across from us, bald guy in a Porsche double-parks across two handicapped parking spots and jumps out of the car. > > I swear to god, I was _this_ close to giving a quarter to my kid and telling him to go to town on that middle-age-crisis car while I acted as look-out. > > **Eonwe** , you’re completely wrong. And apparently a classless dick to boot. I saw this with diplomatic plates on a jaguar convertible and the security guard even told the guy not to park there. A tow truck was there in about 10 minutes and the car was gone in 11 minutes as the guy came running out of the store. I’ve never really liked tow truck guys when they play gotcha but in this case, the jaguar driver was screaming “my father is the ambassador of X country and blah blah blah” The tow truck driver’s response was “I drive a tow truck, I got nothing to lose, if you don’t have a gun, I am taking your car” ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/68 "2011-06-13T19:45:15Z")
Here I was all ready to take the OP’s side and bash the inconsiderate pantload who illegally parked in the handicapped spot. Buy a f’ing cart or wagon to use when unloading and quit being an ass. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/69 "2011-06-13T19:46:45Z")
**Eonwe** , let me make something unequivocally clear: you are indeed the worst person in the world for unloading heavy equipment from handicapped parking spot for two minutes. > [@davidm](#): > > I think **Crazyhorse** wins the thread. Not really. My brother has been disabled since 2004, and not once has he had to wheel himself through potholes in the rain, while strapping, able-bodied youngsters gleefully idled about and he grimaced his way into the building entrance. Even if he’d ever come across a lot whose handicapped spaces were being utilized for loading purposes, as much cynicism that I have about humankind, I have a hard time believing he would have to do anything other than politely ask them to vacate the spot, and they would have happily accomodated this request. “Screw you, cripple. Can’t you see I’m unloading my drum kit?” No. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/70 "2011-06-13T19:48:44Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Sorry, you all are wrong, wrong, wrong. > > Look, my point is that there is a tacit level of approval for bending these sorts of rules. > > Case #1: I’ve never gotten in trouble for any manner of illegal parking when I’m loading or unloading for a gig. Often this happens in plain sight of police officers. > > Case #2: Almost every morning around 6:30 when I head out to work, there are delivery vehicles parked in handicapped spots on the street near convenience stores. They _ **never** _ get ticketed. They could park a block up and not be in the handicapped spots, and just wheel their pallets of soda and beer down to the store. But they don’t. And the police don’t enforce the handicapped parking rule in those circumstances because it would be just stupid to do so. It depends. I’d be careful about taking the last available handicap spot and I would skedaddle if the last one was taken but I don’t see parking in handicap spots as being much worse than double parking or parking in front of a hydrant. I’ve sat in handicap spots waiting for my wife, as long as I am in the car ready to leave when the alst handicap spot gets taken, I don’t see the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/71 "2011-06-13T19:49:47Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > And suppose that during those 10 quick inconsequential minutes a _physically_ handicapped person needs that spot and can’t get it? Does your answer change if there are 10 other empty handicap spots? ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/72 "2011-06-13T19:50:50Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I think **Crazyhorse** wins the thread. I thank you, but I nominate \*\*Czarcasm \*\*for this one. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Just to be fair, I did a lookup on whether you are authorized to use those spaces and, well…apparently being _morally_ handicapped isn’t on their list of qualifications. > So sorry. I didn’t mention in my earlier post - the woman I dated would finally yell “They don’t mean people with mental handicaps” when they would predictably brush past her and treat her like a self-righteous bitch. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/73 "2011-06-13T20:03:13Z")
You kinda come across as an entitled ass, in this. And I agree that being able bodied and taking use of the handicap space is courting Karma in a way that would make me most uncomfortable. As an entitled ass you’re revealing a somewhat thin skin over a comment as pale as, ‘You know that’s a handicapped spot!’. Hardly gritty, in your face confrontation. This reaction tells me that it only made it through your tough ‘entitled ass’ exterior, because, inside, like even a five year old, you know you’re in the wrong. If you truly believe it was ok, it wouldn’t have bothered you enough to compose this post. Also I’m tempted to call bullshit. If it’s a bar, there’s a load in dock at the back or side, no way are the beer kegs and empties coming and going through the front door. Of course, that doesn’t really fulfill the average bar performer’s desperate need for attention, like coming in through the front door does. I’m just saying, I ain’t new to bars, is all. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/74 "2011-06-13T20:04:56Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Look, it’s no skin off my back if you choose to call me names. You sound like a total idiot, though, declaring me a) lazy (if you want to carry 70lb+, awkwardly shaped and somewhat fragile boxes in and out of buildings, up and down stairs, and not take advantage of every foot of reprieve you can, be my guest, but watch your back or you’ll end up needing a handicapped space), and b) a bad person. Oooooh! That guy did something I don’t like, he must be a BAD PERSON!!! You’re right, there are some things you just shouldn’t do. It’s nice to know that now I can just be bad, because I am a BAD PERSON, so people should stop expecting me to be nice from now on. Fuckers. I speak as someone who has had to carry a 105-lb disabled person in and out of buildings, up and down stairs, and in many another awkward situation (escalators). 105 \> 70. It’s one thing to have to get a person in and out of a car in a disabled space. It’s another thing to have to carry a person while manoeuvering through narrow spaces and around obstacles. I’m sticking to lazy, but I can replace “bad person” with “inconsiderate entitled lazy ignoramus” if you prefer. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/75 "2011-06-13T20:07:14Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Very minor, but it put a knot in my knickers for the whole 15 minutes it took me to get home to post this. > > . . . I’m betting those knickers feel like they are tightening around your neck by now. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/76 "2011-06-13T20:07:45Z")
> **[June 13, 2011](https://www.theonion.com/june-13-2011-1819590346)** > > The Onion brings you all of the latest news, stories, photos, videos and more from America's finest news source. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/77 "2011-06-13T20:09:23Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > **Eonwe** , let me make something unequivocally clear: you are indeed the worst person in the world for unloading heavy equipment from handicapped parking spot for two minutes. > > Not really. My brother has been disabled since 2004, and not once has he had to wheel himself through potholes in the rain, while strapping, able-bodied youngsters gleefully idled about and he grimaced his way into the building entrance. Even if he’d ever come across a lot whose handicapped spaces were being utilized for loading purposes, as much cynicism that I have about humankind, I have a hard time believing he would have to do anything other than politely ask them to vacate the spot, and they would have happily accomodated this request. “Screw you, cripple. Can’t you see I’m unloading my drum kit?” No. …how could he ask them to vacate the spot if he was in the car driving, looking for a park and the guys delivering stuff were inside the building? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/78 "2011-06-13T20:09:40Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > It depends. I’d be careful about taking the last available handicap spot and I would skedaddle if the last one was taken but I don’t see parking in handicap spots as being much worse than double parking or parking in front of a hydrant.\ That’s all dickish, as far as I’m concerned (along with parking in the fire lane and parking where there are no spots in the parking lot because the real spots are full). It says, “The rules don’t apply to me because I’m more special than any of you bastards.” I do agree that the police play a role in our current environment of, “whatever you can get away with, goes” because they _don’t_ enforce nearly enough. If assholes knew they were going to get a ticket every time they acted like an asshole, they’d probably stop (eventually). ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/79 "2011-06-13T20:14:10Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …how could he ask them to vacate the spot if he was in the car driving, looking for a park and the guys delivering stuff were inside the building? The OP made quite a show of how he was clearly unloading, with his trunk full of stuff that was open, and the hazard lights, etc. Now he may have been exaggerating this to seem like less of a dick, but if this were the case, I’d say it should be clear to someone driving by that the car in the spot does not intend to park there long, in which case you’d wait for him to come back and tell him to move his car. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/80 "2011-06-13T20:17:10Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > The OP made quite a show of how he was clearly unloading, with his trunk full of stuff that was open, and the hazard lights, etc. Now he may have been exaggerating this to seem like less of a dick, but if this were the case, I’d say it should be clear to someone driving by that the car in the spot does not intend to park there long, in which case you’d wait for him to come back and tell him to move his car. …how long should they wait? And where do they park the car in order to tell them to move when they come out of the building? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328.md?page=5)