Parking in handicapped spaces... (1 Viewer)

[Seth Paxton]

My dad just died from emphysema a few months ago and I can tell you that those spots were critical to him in his last 2 years of life. He also had trouble with the heat though he also wouldn't be walking the whole grocery store quickly either. But getting inside was a boost and that usually allowed him to stop and catch his breath, lean on something, or sit for a second. It sucks having to do this in the middle of a parking lot.

To people with emphysema that handicap spot might already feel like a long run, so just imagine if you had to run 25m instead of 5m. It makes a big difference.

My wife's dad has MS and also benefits a great deal from not having to wobble an extra 500 feet because someone took the handi-spots.



I mean this is the irony, if handicap spots are no big deal to helping handicap people, then WTF do they benefit non-handicap people? The guy cheating to get it obviously sees the value of parking closer since he is doing it, so there is no denying that deep-down he must also recognize the potential benefit for someone who has a lot more trouble moving than he does.


I say walk the extra distance and you might be giving yourself just a little bit of a boost toward not needing handicap spots in the future yourself.

 

[Seth Paxton]

You could always double park behind him sideways...just to run in for a few seconds I mean.

Wow, that kinda sucks. Someone needs to follow Mike around and do the same to him when he parks at the store or something. I'll bet he goes ballistic himself when he comes out to find himself blocked in by a double parker who just needed to run in for 5 minutes to get something and couldn't be bothered with finding a better spot. Heck, he might even call the cops.

It's the exact same thing. The spot is illegal, other people are polite enough to not try to "get by with it", if the person comes out before he does then there is no harm done, but then on that 25th time when he does beat them back out and needs to get somewhere he feels the pain, far greater than the person running in felt a benefit.

 

[MarkHastings]

Awesome point Seth.

If a handicap spot is such a 'value' spot that people are willing to break the law in order to gain it's benefits, then just imagine how much that spot benefits someone who REALLY NEEDS it...and you're taking that away from them.

Why not kick the canes out from old people as well, or run by and take a crutch away from an injured person? At least neither of those instances is considered illegal, [sarcasm]so there should be no reason why they can be considered worse than something that IS illegal.[/sarcasm]

When I first posted in this thread, I was just a bit peeved with these types of people, but the more I've thought about this thread, the more it really bugs me that people do this sort of thing without any care or respect to those in need. No mercy! Tow the damn car.

 

[Chris]

Trust me, if nothing else, you give the boys in blue up to $250 in a fine they will appreciate toward their budget. It's easier to assess a handicapped parking fine then it is to gun & ticket a speeder. Plus, with a photo, it's pretty uncontestable.

 

[Grant B]

Sort of along the same line.....
There is a guy who begs for money on a median strip in his wheelchair near my house. I have also seen him get up, fold the chair up and walk across the street holding the chair and throw it in the trunk of his car.
I doubt there is a law about that but it really pisses me off

 

[MikeAlletto]

Nothing but typical PC talk.


Actually I doubt the cops would show up at all. They would get a call and say to themselves "you've got to be kidding me. Someone is calling us because of a parking space?" Then take their sweet time in getting there if they even show up at all. Because they too would realize how stupid it would be.

This is the big problem with neighborhoods these days. Someone who has too much time on their hands and feels it is their duty to report every little tiny thing that happens just because they think they would rather take the high moral ground. I bet some of you would report your neighbors if they let their lawn grow too high because they were on vacation. Or if they parked a trailer in their driveway overnight and it was in violation of neighborhood rules.

And yet we constantly see threads here about neighbors complaining about loud home theater noise but none of the posts really side with the complaining neighbor. Wonder why that is?

Its ticky-tac junk like this that pits neighbor against neighbor and causes more problems than just letting it go. If the original poster of this thread was handicapped then ok, he's got a beef, but he's not, so there is only a big deal if you make it a big deal. For the betterment of society in general, stop sticking your noses in business that doesn't concern you.

 

[Tom Meyer]

as other people have said, it's illegal to park in a handicapped spot if you're not, uh, HANDICAPPED. People illegally parking in handicapped spots DESERVE TO GET TICKETS.

What if you saw a woman get mugged and beaten. She didn't see you but you saw the whole thing happen and could positively identify the culprit. Would you just "let it go" because it "doens't affect you" ? yup, you'd just keep on walkin' cuz "nobody asked you" about it.

I sure hope you don't live in my neighborhood, Mike. Your ignorance and lack of concern for the "betterment of society" astounds me. go back to your shack in the wilds of Montana if you don't want to be part of a society that looks out for the welfare of others.


:rolleyes

 

[Ryan Tsang]

Parking in handy-spot is disrespectful to EVERYONE. What it is saying is this: "I'm an asshole. I'm taking this spot even though I'm not allowed because I don't give a shit about others." No, Mike.....it's not my spot that you parked in. But what you're doing is giving everyone the middle finger. And that is not nice.

BTW, what do you drive and what's your license plate? Maybe fellow HTF members in Austin can give you a nice door ding on our behalf.

 

[Chris]

Of course, we'll wait until you're elderly and break a hip, and see how much it matters to you

 

[Corbin Stirn]

"Nothing but typical PC talk."

WTF?Last time I looked at this thread, YOU are the only individual that mentioned PC. NO ONE, but NO ONE, even mentioned PC. Where does crap like that come from? I swear, it seems like you're deliberately thread-farting if not worse . I find it hard to believe you live in Texas....it seems more like you fit in beatifully in Montana, hanging out in the same backwoods as Mr. Kaczynski. If it doesn't affect me, F*** it. I don't care.


Your attitude speaks perfectly well for itself.....the only problem is, you DO live in a society. You do live with and deal with hundreds, if not thousands, of people directly and/or indirectly every day. Do you drive a car to work and/or to go shopping? Your attitude, horrid as it may be, works wonderfully if you lived out in the middle of nowhere..........oops. You DON'T live out in the middle of nowhere, with nobody and nothing within 10-15 miles of you. You live in Austin, a fairly decent-sized city. Your actions(or lack thereof) can and do affect people every day. Once again, your attitude if you lived in the middle of nowhere is fine..........but not in a decent-sized city and Metro area like Austin.


Getting back to handicapped spaces.......those spaces were established and put in front of businesses for a REASON. They were established by congressman who passed laws(which are the basis of our society) due to handicapped individuals , their friends, and their families asking for help due to their various conditions. It wasn't to screw other(healthy) people out of a closer parking spot. And the laws would NOT have been passed if the request was unreasonable and out-of-line. If handicapped parking spaces were unreasonable, then plenty of people(more than enough) would have complained by now and had the laws repealed. I would report the individual parking in the space to the police and let them deal with it. Once, MAYBE twice, but 6 months?!?!
The person who is parking there knows darn well what they are doing and frankly, doesn't give a damn. Fairly certain that one $150+ ticket will change their actions.

 

[MarkHastings]

Sorry to sound harsh Mike, but I can't agree more with that. I pray that if you are ever being attacked, mugged, or robbed that people don't do what you're suggesting and turn their heads and not help you out because it's none of their business.

 

[Tom Meyer]

http://www.rpi.edu/~markhn/sounds/society.wav

 

[larry mac]

[quote...they were established by congressman who passed laws(which are the basis of our society) ... And the laws would NOT have been passed if the request was unreasonable and out-of-line. If handicapped parking spaces were unreasonable, then plenty of people(more than enough) would have complained by now and had the laws repealed.[/quote]

Of course everyone knows that congressmen would never pass an unreasonable law (lol).

And of course we all know how easy it is to get a law repealed (Ha ha).

Just suggesting that there are too many handicapped spaces is so un-PC that it sounds like one is taking someones wheelchair away and making them crawl in the store.

 

[Chris]

I would agree, even as someone with a handicapped person in close family, that in some stores there are too many handicapped spaces.

That having been said, I've never found that a serious negative that walmart keeps 6 spaces out of a lot of a couple hundred, plenty of spaces for me to park as well.. (plus, I'll admit, I like to park away from the store so that I don't have some moron ding me)

 

[MarkHastings]

That's true. When you think about it, there really aren't a lot of handicapped parking spaces (i.e. 10 out of hundreds is hardly a lot), but the reason why people think it's a lot is because when a parking lot is full and there are only handicapped spaces available, it seems like there are too many. It's all a matter of perception. When you actually compare the number of handicapped space to non-handicapped spaces, there's really no comparison.

A bit off topic: Have you ever had a hard time finding a parking space (in a full lot) and see a car that's double parked (esepcailly if it's close to the building)? A lot of people think "Damn! If that guy wasn't double paked, I'd be able to get that spot.". This will only cause you stress, what I try to think is "Yeah, it sucks that this guy is taking up 2 spots, but if he wasn't, someone else would have taken the available spot and I'd STILL be circling the parking lot looking for an empty spot."

Back on topic: So if there are no available spots and there are a bunch of empty handicapped spots open, don't think "If they weren't handicapped spots, I'd be able to get a parking spot". I'm sure a lot of people use this justification for parking illegally in a handi-spot.

But the truth is, it's very unlikely that those spots would actually be available (if they weren't handi-spots) and you'd STILL be roaming the parking lot looking for a space.

 

[Brian Perry]

My pie-in-the-sky solution is to make parking in a handicapped spot a ticketable offense only if all other handicapped sports are full (i.e., by taking the last one, you are depriving someone of a spot). I think this is a great compromise for those who feel there are too many spots, those who feel that the spots shouldn't exist, and those who feel the spots are necessary.

The way it would work is as follows:

1. First of all, not only would policeman have the authority to issue tickets, but also building/store personnel with access to a camera.
2. If you park in a handicapped spot and there are no more remaining, it is a violation.
3. If you park in a handicapped spot and others are open, there is no violation. BUT, if all the spots become occupied while you are in the store it immediately becomes a violation and you are eligible for a ticket.

Philosophically speaking, I see no downside. But I also know there is absolutely no chance of something like this becoming reality.

 

[JamesCB]

Well, this is strange. Since I posted this thread, not one car has parked in the handicapped space in front of my building. Usually it is the same maroon Nissan. I haven't seen the car at all. Does he/she read this forum?

Thanx to all who replied and stated their opinions.

 

[MarkHastings]

LOL - I hope you were making a joke with that one....really, you were? right?

 

[Brian Perry]

My point was that, in theory, there is absolutely no harm done when one person uses a handicapped spot when ten others are free (at that specific moment in time).

However, upon further reflection I don't think it's a wise policy because you could apply the same logic to fire hydrants (hey, make it legal as long as there's no fire), etc.

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, it's not wise to let people use their judgment when it comes to an iffy law. That's why it has to be black and white (to avoid confussion).

It's kinda like a friend of mine who was at a stop light (at a 3 way intersection) at 2am. She was just sitting there with NOBODY around for miles. She clearly saw nobody was coming and went through the light. A cop caught her and gave her a ticket. Sure you can argue that no harm was done because there was no one else on the road, but it still didn't give her the right to break the law.