Random sampling of handicap placards at the Los Angeles County Fair revealed 20 percent were fraudulent, reports dailybulletin.com. Parking enforcement officers checked 371 placards and found 71 were not legal. Officials were monitoring parking, not conducting a survey, but the data is real just the same.
“We want to make sure drivers who are parking in blue disabled parking spots are doing so legally,” according to DMV Investigations Chief Frank Alvarez. “We are constantly carrying out enforcement efforts throughout the state to deter people from breaking the law and improve access for those with limited mobility.”
It would be interesting to see this same enforcement approach carried out regularly – check placards at major events where there are high numbers of placards on display. There’s no way to police grocery store and dentist office handicap parking spaces – and people know that, so they abuse the system without fear. Carrying out large-scale enforcement at venues like sports arenas could be a good way to catch frauds and give them reason to respect the law.
While it will never cease to shock me how people justify using handicapped placards illegally, I save some of my outrage for a system that is so easy to abuse. I still get mail from Medicare for the man who previously owned my home – a man who has been dead for 25 years. He was dead for about 15 years before I bought the house, and he’s still on the mailing list for insurance and destination travel offers.
It wouldn’t surprise me if many who use handicapped placards illegally do so because those placards keep showing up in the mail. It’s a crime of opportunity. The placards are so easy to get, it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing to use them. Lots of people are going to be tempted by the chance to save money and have reserved parking everywhere they go.
Let’s say 10 percent of the frauds sought out handicapped parking access with the intent of abusing the system and 10 percent had a parking placard fall into their laps. They’re all scumbags, but that’s data that can be applied to reality.
Read the article here.
One Response
In Arlington, VA they talked to the disability commission back in 1998, also shocked by the level of placard abuse. Since then they adopted the All May Park, All Must Pay practice where handicapped parking is twice as long for the same money. What’s interesting is that the disabled community was the one behind the initiative from start because they are also seek of looking for designated spots when none are available because of abusers.