It may not have occurred to you that some people who are handicapped aren’t likely to fight for their right to the space. They don’t want to ask for any special treatment or privileges, even though society has afforded them this one, or make a big spectacle out of the fact that they have a handicap. Not many would sit there honking their horn and insisting that they are entitled to that spot. They are much more likely to just take another spot that is farther away and quietly struggle to get where they are going.
I can’t speak for all of course (some handicapped people are very likely just as self-important, thick-skinned, and ‘entitled’ as the OP must be) but many will not ever fight for the space they are entitled to, or even politely ask someone else to move.
I do call bullshit… unless of course the OP lives where there is one police cruiser per citizens car. The ‘cops see me do it all the time’ aspect of the story, like the OP, is full of bullshit intended to justify his dickish behavior.
Who are you to say I should not be able to break the law? I park in the middle of the street ALL THE TIME when I’m just running in to pick up a heavy package!
For everyone who thinks I’m being rude to do that, hey, I bet you tear off the tags from your matresses, so that makes us even.
Slightly (ever so slightly) off-topic, “Parking Wars” is one of my favourite TV programs! I so wish Edmonton “booted” cars! One comment I particularly love is something to the effect “blinking hazard lights are like a sign that says ‘Come ticket me!’”
Actually if I do not have my chair, or the area is fairly hilly if there are no parking spots in the immediate vicinity of my errand I have to leave and come back later or another day. I physically can not walk with my crutches more than a couple hundred feet total, and stand/walk around more than about 10 minutes. Think something along the lines of the average convenience store stop for gas and coffee/rest area pee break. Sucks if the person preventing me from doing my errand is ‘just going to be there for a minute’
I don’t think Eonwe is a bad person, or a terrible person, or the worst person in the world for taking up the handicapped parking spot for a few minutes while he unloads his gear. I get that everyone’s excuse is “I am only using it for a few minutes” and that usually ends up being something of a fib. But, taking the OP at face value that he was truly only going to be there for a couple of minutes, and there was no other convenient place to park his car aside from the handicapped spot. (If the handicapped spot saved him 5 feet. He’s pretty terrible. If there was an actual loading zone that was closer than the handicapped spot; he’s worse. And, if he was actually parked on top of a handicapped person. Well. Then he might be as bad as everyone says.)
And, I say this as someone who wants to flip the car over and pee on it when I see it is parked in a mall handicapped spot without the tags, or the placard.
I still don’t see anything wrong with what the woman said. She has no idea you are only going to be a couple of minutes. She sees a car parked in the handicapped spot. Her first thought is “Damn. I hope no cripples come here and have to drag themselves in because of this fucking hippie.” So, she tells you that you are parked somewhere you probably shouldn’t be. End of story. It’s not like she set your car on fire or insulted your mother.
I don’t get this logic. A car is parked as close to the entrance as possible. The hazards are on. The trunk is open. There are big heavy things in the trunk. And a guy is carrying those heavy things into the building.
Do you really think he might stay in that spot for 5 hours?
Do you really care about my answer to this, or is this just a question-asking game whose ultimate point is to tell me I’m wrong?
Fight? I’m sure the person who they ask would be embarassed for having been there, and would shuffle along without any to-do. I’ve heard of not wanting to be confrontational, but yeesh, a handicapped person asking someone who is not handicapped from using the designated spot is even milder than saying excuse me to the person blocking the aisle at the grocery store. In any event, in the seven years that my brother has been disable, it has never come up. He lives in LA, so there are cars and full parking lots everywhere, and he has never had an issue. I’ll ask him to text me when he has a problem, and report what he does.
Maybe. I’ve parked illegally a few times while unloading, allowing a friend to drop something off really quickly, etc, and have occasionally seen cops go by. I try not to do it in front of cops, and only once in years has a cop ever said anything to me. The cop told me I couldn’t park there, so I just circled the block. Meter maids, who I am certain masturbate furiously to the idea of issuing tickets, are a different ball of wax entirely and will write you up if you even look like you’re thinking about letting your parking meter run 20 seconds over.
Having to stop your car next to a parking spot, maybe while blocking traffic, to ask someone to please move their car, is definitely confrontational and is also probably a major pain in the ass, and I’m going to guess the majority of people will just drive on and either not stop there that time, or find another spot further away, rather than having that confrontation.
In every city I’ve lived and visited, bars and restaurants are downtown alongside banks, post offices, and retail shops, with parallel and handicapped parking in front along the sidewalk. Check out this pic. There just isn’t any place to stop and request that an able-bodied person vacate the space without obstructing traffic, and it seems unfair to expect someone in need of that space to circle the block over and over while he or she waits for the space to open up.
Yesterday I exited the pharmacy and came face to face with the grill of the enormous Suburban parked right smack in the middle of the accessible ramp leading to the front door. A bent-double eldery lady with a wheeled walker was struggling to life the walker over the curb and step up on the sidewalk. Tried to help but she was already so frustrated by the automotive obstacle in her rightful path she made a hateful noise and waved me away. Turned to walk to my car and noticed the driver of the Suburban chuckling at my chilly reception. Next space over, man with a wheel-chair lift in the back of a small pick-up had the chair extended and almost on the ground when he realized the ramp was full of Chevy, so he sat, fuming.
Watched the Suburban owner get out and empty his ashtray into the parking lot by squatting, bending over and smacking it hard until the concreted ash broke free. Nuttin’ wrong with that guy, but his passenger came out next sporting a walking cast and cane. Why the long story? Wish I’d asked the Suburban driver to move his car to one of the available handicapped spots and clear the ramp for the people who clearly needed it. Next time you bet I will.
So… Eonwe: cut it out. If I see you parked in a handicapped space in order to unload your toys: Ima pee on your kit. Just sayin’.
Troppus, even if that Suburban had a valid placard, he was parked in the ramp. Illegal.
The cross-hatch areas are explicitly mentioned in the placard paperwork as NO parking.
I don’t think tacit approval means anything other than “I’ve been able to get away with this”. There’s no guarantee that police officers will act correctly on such an issue, so that the OP claims to have got away with their repeated usage like this doesn’t strike me as particularly helpful. It’s less “Ah, the cops were ok with it, so I drop my complaint” and more “Well, those cops are assholes too”.
I’m unimpressed at the reason. There probably are reasonable excuses for using a handicapped parking space, but “I’m carrying heavy things” is not one of them, unless perhaps one of those heavy things is an elephant. And only then because i’m not going to argue with a guy carrying an elephant.
Besides, it’s shortsighted. Handicapped parking space are, I would assume, assigned by need. If it’s so apparently in use by all the people like Eonwe who’ll happily use them while not handicapped, then won’t people be able to point to them being in use as a reason for not perhaps making one of them a regular or loading parking space? And, if nothing else, it would seem per this thread that it tends to make people think you’re an asshole.
Oh, he had a hanging placard alright and a passenger who clearly needed the access, but who also had to navigate the high sidewalk curb because the ramp was occupied. I just assumed the driver was either clueless or insensitive, but it never occurred to me he might have known he shouldn’t park in the middle of the access ramp and did it anyway. Man I wish I’d said something. Then he could fume all the way home and pit me here.
Have any of you people stopped to consider how heavy that equipment was? And how far it would have been to carry them in from a regular parking spot?
The OP could have injured his back carrying them that distance. And then what would he do?
You have any idea how hard it is for somebody with a back problem or some other disability to get around and do normal stuff the rest of us take for granted? Even something as simple as driving to a store can be difficult. It’s not like you can ever find a handicapped spot open fercrisakes.
What you should do next time is put your hood up and claim the car just broke down. When someone asks why you are unloading equipment from it, say “The engine is on fire and I’m afraid the car will explode.”
