The city of Burlington, NC, is getting tough on people who park in Handicapped Spaces. Read about it here.
They are forming a volunteer force to enforce this single parking law, and I think its a great idea. I would take it one step further.
I would invite those with handicaps to be on the force. they could monitor the spaces and over cell phone or radio direct other enforcement staff to actually come over and write the citations. I’m certain that the people who are being affected by the jerks that take handicapped spaces would aggressively pursue the problem and help ensure they have the access they need.
You might note that if you go to the local Committee of Persons with Local Disabilities or ADA, you will find that many of the people on the committee have disabilities. Makes sense. So why not have people that enforce the parking codes come from the same group.
Just saying…
JVH
2 Responses
JVH,
As we all know the abuse of the placards is not in the person using them. It is the law used to issue them. Penn & Teller(the Entertainers) have a wonderful program on Showtime named Bullsh**. They devoted one of the programs to this very issue. In addition, one of the reasons you can get one is get this….as a level 3 ADA you can state, “A problem keeping track of money”.
The laws need to be re-written to only affect people that have a locomotion problem. Finally, private parking companies need to be given the authority to be de-facto ADA parking enforcement. I.E. When a person pulls into a space on a pay to park lot the attendant needs to have the authority to request Identification, hang tag and ADA registration back-up. If the patron trying to use the ADA hang tag is not the person registered to the hang tag, law enforcement, if on site, needs to be notified immediately.
Good work . . . .keep it going. These inconsiderate drivers are breaking the law. Check out:
http://handicappedparking.blogspot.com/