Tag: disabled person parking

I tried to get out of my van in a disabled parking space today but I did not have enough room. The car in the adjacent disabled parking space (displaying a valid Disabled parking permit) had parked about a foot into the access aisle, leaving me about one foot shy of the space I needed.

So I parked on the opposite side of the lot. Coincidentally, an officer from Irvine Police Department parked in the standard space next to me about the same time. So I told him about the car I had encountered and that I had discovered the same car parking the same way in the same spot a few times in the past.

The driver of the car saw me and the officer discussing his car, so he came out (he had a visible disability) to see what was up. I politely explained to him the consequences to other people with disabilities when they encounter a car parked like his. Instead of learning from what I said, he started giving all of the excuses why he parks like that.

So I informed him that it’s a parking violation even if you have a placard. He claimed that a “meter maid” told him he could park like that. I told him that perhaps she was not aware of the law. By that time, the officer had looked it up and read it to the man:

It is unlawful for any person to park or leave standing any vehicle, including a vehicle displaying a special identification license plate … in any area of the pavement adjacent to a parking stall or space designated for disabled persons or disabled veterans that is marked by crosshatched lines and is thereby designated, pursuant to any local ordinance, for the loading and unloading of vehicles parked in the stall or space.

California vehicle code 22507.8(c)

Amazingly, the man kept on making excuses to both me and the officer! Being tired of his excuses, I simply told him that he needed to move his car because it was in violation of the vehicle code. He asked me if I was going to park there and I told him that I would not at that point (I had already parked my van and got out). So he said he did not need to move it if I didn’t need the space.

I explained to him that there are many other people with a van like mine that might need the space he was obstructing. His response was that his condition was deteriorating and that he would need a van like it himself soon. He failed to see the irony in that so I told him that I hoped no one would block him out of a parking space this way when he gets a ramped van in the future.

It’s not easy going through life with a disability. Fortunately, people with disabilities get an occasional privilege. One of them is the use of disabled person parking spaces. It helps make one small aspect of life a little easier.

Nonetheless, the privileges need to be respected. When taken for granted, the person doesn’t appreciate the privilege. When a person has a sense of entitlement to privileges, it leads those without them to begrudge the privileged. So even a person with challenges in life and few privileges should take care not to abuse them.

When Bob Shatney, a paraplegic man, was being cited for parking in a disabled person parking space, he was surprised. Even though he had neither a disabled person placard nor disabled person license plates, Shatney felt he should not be cited.

Shatney had just bought a new car, so he did not have his disabled person plates yet. But Shatney also qualifies for a disabled person placard. He could use the placard until the plates arrived. Instead, Shatney felt that having his wheelchair in the back seat and hand controls for driving entitled him to use the disabled person parking space, even though the law said otherwise.

The law says that the disabled person placard must be displayed when parking in a disabled person parking space. In fact, it says that the person must show the registration for the placard when a law officer makes the request. The law does so for a couple of reasons. One is that abuse of disabled person placards is rampant. Another is that many people have “invisible disabilities” where you cannot see that they have a disability by observing them walking from their car parked in a disabled person parking space.

There is no exception in the law for people with wheelchairs or for having hand controls in their car. If there were, some people without a disability would find yet more ways to take advantage of disabled person parking. The law protects the privilege of the driver or passenger with a disability. It should be respected by the beneficiaries of the privilege.

As for Shatney, his citation was canceled. Because he demonstrated that he had the legal right to use disabled person parking, the local police sergeant canceled the citation. That’s fair to Shatney, but it was also fair that he was cited in the first place.