There’s this small dead-end road by my office building and it only has two parking spaces on it, both handicapped, both clearly labeled handicapped. More days than not, I see people parked there illegally. It’s not in view of a main road, so I guess they figure they’re less likely to be ticketed. Meantime, that doesn’t mean people need the spots any less!
So today I’m walking past, and there’s a van parked illegally in one of the spaces. A truck is parked such that it’s not in either space, but it’s blocking both. Right. So the driver knew the spaces were there and knew they weren’t supposed to park there and made sure to obey the actual letter of the law, just not the spirit of it. Real nice. So I did the only logical thing: I called the town police. I hope they ticketed both vehicles. I went back to work, of course, so I have no idea what, if anything, happened. I have to wonder what those drivers were thinking? What went through their heads that they figured they needed those spaces more than someone with a disability? If it was their mother, brother, friend, child who was disabled and needed that space, would they have acted the same way? I’ll never know, but I just can’t imagine what possible way someone could justify this.
Chances are, one day they’ll understand. Until then, I’ll just keep calling the police to have them ticketed. And tonight I’m emailing my state rep to find out about increasing fines for parking illegally in handicapped spaces. You might want to do the same.
Chronic Rants 