19 Comments

“That’s the one violation that we want voluntary compliance 100 percent of the time, and a way to get that is to make sure that the fine is substantial enough to get voluntary compliance,” said Danvers Police Chief Neil Ouellette.

Pardon me if I think that fining people if they violate the law means that when they obey the law it’s not voluntary compliance.

Bob

The police chief wanted to sound intelligent and drifted into the douchebag sandbars.

But the woman who got the ticket? No sympathy.

Won’t any legal action she takes cost her much, much more than the $300 fine?

Her appearance in that video sure didn’t help her dispell the impression she is a self-entitled knucklehead.

And to make it more interesting, her husband is an attorney. Apparently he just got his law license back. It was suspended for four months due to a couple of shoplifting charges.

http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1996913267/Woman-sues-over-300-ticket-for-parking-in-handicapped-spot

Like wheelchair ramps, parking spaces for the handicapped are so underutilized as to be ridiculous. I actually used a parking space for a lady my wife took care of as a home aide. But in that case, I could have dropped the lady and my wife at the door and gotten a regular space. The cost per valid use of these parking spaces and ramps must be astronomical. I wonder if anyone did a calculation.

I think $300 would have been a reasonable fine had a deserving person been inconvenienced. $300 as a deterrent seems too much to me.

She’s lucky they didn’t tack on a DUI based on her self-incriminating claim about her mental state. When I was leaving the hospital after a recent procedure that required a general anesthetic, hospital staff reminded me that were I to drive myself and be stopped, a DUI would result.

As a parent with a small child in a wheelchair(and a handicap permit), I often use handicap spaces. Since it is a matter of me pushing his chair and I am not handicaped. I am very conscience of how many available spaces there are, the locations of empty ones before I use one and often do park in a regular spot out of respect for others. For people that don’t have to depend on these spaces I am sure they seem underutilized. For people who have to transfer a person to a wheelchair along with countless medical equipment/supplies just to go into a store, these spaces are much needed.
I show no sympathy to those that abuse them and those like an earlier post that have the attitude that these spaces are underutilized and ridiculus to have.
For those in the above category: May God bless you that you personally never have the need for one. As your attitude will be much different with those added hardships.

It is easier to get a wheel chair out of the car in a handicapped space. I surprisingly see many able-bodied people using handicapped spots because they have the pass in their window or license plate. Do you drop him off at the store before moving to the regular place, or do you try to get the wheelchair through the space between the parked cars?

Is the issuance of a fine based on the absence of a pass or the absence of a need to park there? Would someone in a wheelchair get the same fine for parking in the spot if they had no pass or does the existence of the wheel chair give them the right to park there?

I’m with Burgess on this one.

The lady states “At the time I was still in a full sling, I was still on medication…”

So, she’s got one arm and high on goofballs, driving in a torrential downpour.

Moron.

As a person who has trouble walking, I will use a handicapped spot if there’s no place reasonably close to park AND I’m the one driving. If I’m being driven, my friends drop me at the door and park.

Just like Benjamin observed, I’ve seen a LOT of people using placards who shouldn’t have them. One day I sat in front of Olive Garden and counted no less than 18 cars parking in the 6 handicapped slots and only three of them were people who were elderly or had an obvious disability. All the others walked/moved as if they were perfectly healthy. Too bad the OPPD won’t do anything about people who pull that crap.

If one were, say, an alcoholic or suffer from ADD, would that entitle them to use the space? Just wondering.

I wonder how much handicapped parking actually helps Mr. Brown. For small businesses, like my local bank, the furthest parking space is close to the door so the special space saves very little distance. And why would a wheelchair be that much different from a baby stroller?

I did not claim that ramps and special parking spaces were never used. There are not enough people in Mr. Brown’s position to justify the billions of dollars in cost. I do wish Mr. Brown and his child the very best.

My brother-in-law’s daughter was mowed down by a crazy guy and is incapacitated with spinal injury. She can’t leave her nursing home at all. I would rather see the money that is spent of ramps and parking spaces diverted to medical research on spinal cord injuries.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/one_year_later_hit-and-run_victim_holds_out_hope2007-09-04T10_00_00.html

My brother has a serious disability that severely limits the distance he can walk. Other people see him parking in handicapped spaces with no obvious physical disability and he has even had a few very unpleasant confrontations. He looks young and healthy. But you can’t tell if someone has multiple sclerosis, a heart condition, or any number of other problems. Not everyone who has physical limitations is elderly or has an obvious disability.

I don’t mind if a business dedicates certain spaces on its own property to certain classes of people, but handicapped parking dictated by ADA is unconstitutional because ADA is unconstitutional.

Just like Benjamin observed, I’ve seen a LOT of people using placards who shouldn’t have them.

What you observe may have nothing to do with having a handicapped licensed or placard. Not only are there a lot of injuries and obstacles that you cannot see, but at least here in Florida, the law allows me, a (relatively) healthy person to park in a handicapped spot if I am on an errand for a person who does have a disability.

So if I am on my way to Olive Garden to pick up some food for my handicapped, elderly neighbor has ordered, I can park in the handicapped spot.

I don’t.

But I can.

Just so we are clear, saying something is unconstitutional does not make it so. No one is meaningful suggesting this.

Yes, handicapped spaces are often vacant. That’s the point, so there is a space to park.

The cost of this is small, we are talking about paving a few spaces. An expense to be sure but relative to the obligation required by other regulatory obligations, small. The cost to the outraged commenters? They walk about 20 feet.

People park where they should not park. It is very annoying. But people are taking advantage of the system in so many different ways. It has been happening virtually since the beginning of systems themselves. It is what it is. There is no sense it getting too worked up about it and, as some pointed out, you might not understand the full context of why that person is parking where they are.

I agree with everything Paul Brown says.

Sorry Mr Nuesslein but if you get out some, not all businesses are like your local bank. and yes there is a big difference between a baby stroller and a wheelchair. I have never seen a baby stroller with an attached ventilator, oxygen tank, back up 12v battery just like you have in your car, a suction machine, and roughly 3 duffle bags full of emergency medical equipment. Roughly 150lbs of equipment to move my 30 lb boy. Sorry that you think these parking spaces are a waste. PS: I’m glad your bank has such convienent parking.

Some of the other comments about people not looking handicap’s using the spaces. You have to have a doc slip to get a permit. please give these people the benefit of doubt. Sure there are abusers but most are not.

On this blog, dedicated to legal issues, I would expect the discussion to center around the constitutionality of federal decrees as opposed to tales of woe involving parking.

I wasn’t aware that constitutionality is based on the ability to produce a tale of woe.