Handicapped Parking Tags

[Gem99ultra]

I too, have a 'hang-on' handicap tag, although I rarely use it. And like someone else said, use is restricted to the person named on the tag - not for general non-handicapped use. Probably those abusing the system have no conscience. Those are the kind of people that I want nothing to do with - OR FOR. If I see an abuse I'll report it to the store management.

If I'm in pain at the time I'm parking, I'll hang the tag. Otherwise, it stays in the glove compartment. One exception though. At Rite-Aid pharmacy the handicap parking is at the back of the building, requiring a very long walk to the front door. When I go there to pick up prescriptions I won't be using the handicap tag whether or not in pain.

What pains me worse are those that whip their car right up to the front door, and leave it there to go do their shopping. Obviously, their time and effort are worth a great deal more than mine... ?

 

[murph1]

They issue too many tags. If you seldom use it and walk from the middle or the back of a lot do you really need it?

 

[GGB]

My FIL was a quadriplegic, so I知 just a little tuned in to this issue. Sadly, I too see the abuses. It especially upsets me when I see vehicles with no handicapped tag/rear view mirror placards parked in handicapped spaces. Frequently it appears to me that most of the abuses come from people who could use the excercise.......

I知 grateful for my health to not need to park in handicapped spaces, and feel for those who truly need to do so.

 

[oosik]

The major, and usually only, reason I go into Spokane is Costco. I park on the FAR DISTANT side of the lot - just to stay away from all this crap and confusion. The handicapped parking spots - the entitled drivers - those who will never give way at an internal intersection. It the entire empowered, entitled generation.

 

[RSKY]

Just because someone doesn't look handicapped doesn't mean they aren't. Looking at my mother-in-law, you'd never know she had a liver transplant that just about killed her, she gets weak walking more than 100 feet, gets dizzy easily when she walks, etc... And her husband, who's 90, doesn't show that he has several replaced joints, can't hear, bad arthritis, and probably couldn't find his way back to the car if it wasn't parked right in front of the door (he's not driving).

So, if we drive their car, I'll park in the handicapped spot for them so they don't have to walk so far. I won't drop them off and move the car, because that means when its time to leave, they'll have to find a wall to lean against until I get the car and drive it around. Each situation is unique. Yes, there are some folks that abuse the tags. But you have no way of knowing just because they look fine to us.

Same thing with my neighbor that has COPD. He looks healthy, but can't walk from the handicap slots to the store without resting. That doesn't bother me. What bothers me is the ones who park, get out, and run into the store. Looks like there is nothing wrong with them. If I had found a place I would have parked and gone in to wait for the neighbor and help him with his packages. But I couldn't.

RSKY

 

[Wakey]

I see it all the time, all you can do is chuckle because they don't even call the police for shoplifters in my town.

For whatever reason, nobody parks in the fire lane though. Where I used to live I'd lay on the horn for those, the ATM out front of the grocery store was usually the reason. 2 cars can't safely navigate in front of the store when somebody does that.

I just hope for karma when I see this, and in some cases it already happened when you see the offenders :laughing:

 

[2LaneCruzer]

You'd love this one Brett.

Couple weeks ago, local guy with a concealed carry permit approaches some guys loading stuff into their vehicle in a Walmart parking lot here, demanding to see their receipt since the stuff wasn't bagged. The loaders apparently weren't cooperative, argument ensued and one loader pulls out a gun (according to the citizen....loaders still haven't been found). Citizen pulls out his, fires one shot (hit's nothing/anybody). Loaders leave what they were loading, speed off. Someone else follows them, at some point in the following, the loaders stop, point a gun at the follower, and tell him 'stop following us'.

Merchandise did later turn out to be stolen, loader's car also stolen turned up a few days later abandoned.

Johnson City Press:
'Concerned citizen' fires gun at suspected shoplifters in Johnson City Walmart parking lot

It should have read "Concerned, not-so-bright and lucky as he77 citizen..."

 

[Bird]

As has been mentioned above, using the handicapped parking space is restricted to the named person for whom the tag was issued. But . . . my wife has pretty advanced COPD so a doctor gave her the paperwork for handicapped license plates for one car. I've had triple bypass surgery, one knee, and one shoulder replaced so a doctor gave me the paperwork and I got handicapped license plates for the other car. I think I can guarantee that you won't see either of us "running" into a store. In fact, my wife walks very slowly, and while I used to be a fast walker, that ain't the case anymore. And since either of us may be driving either vehicle (although my wife seldom drives at all anymore), I have copies from both doctors in the glove compartments of both vehicles.

My 88 year old next door neighbor barely gets around with a rollator in his house, and a walker to get to my car when I take him to do his grocery shopping or to doctor appointments. Physically, he's in terrible shape, but he's OK mentally, and realized that he couldn't drive anymore and sold his little pickup a few years ago, so he has to depend on others if he goes anywhere.

But unlike some mentioned above, I can't recall ever seeing a vehicle without the handicapped tag or license plates parked in a handicapped parking space. And I've never seen the police, or anyone else, checking to see if the driver is the person for whom the plates were issued.

 

[aczlan]

My wife and I both have hang on the mirror parking tags. Mine from a knee replacement surgery. Hers from a broke foot. The only time we have used them in the past year has been when we had somebody with us who had mobility problems.

Technically you were violating the law if you were in WA State. With the Tag you also get a wallet ID card. The Tag is issued to a specific person and they have to in the vehicle to be legal.

How was RSKY breaking the law?
Per his post, tags were issued to him and his wife, but they generally felt good enough to not need them.
They chose to use them when they had someone else with them who couldn't walk from a regular spot, but the tags that they had were still valid and they could legally use them any time they wanted.

Aaron Z

 

[kenmac]

Have seen many loading ply wood, 6x6 post, etc in their pick up while parked in a handy capped parking place with their tag hung on the rear view mirror.
I would say they aren't handy capped if they are able to load lumber into their truck that has a lift kit and almost requires a ladder to get into.

I have had several surgeries, and my knee still swells at times, but haven't asked my doc for a handy capped parking tag. I figure those spaces are reserved for someone that needs it more than I, But I see more and more that those that use these spaces seem to be in better shape than I