Give mandatory 30 days community service + mandatory $2,000 fine. Let's see what happens then. Low punishments = people don't mind. Higher punishments = people will pay attention.
Arioch exactly, make the penalty 10,000$ and confiscate their vehicle and impound it for a month, loss of drivers license for a full year and community service specific to disabled persons (i.e. repainting handicapped parking spots by hand, etc.)
Not a bad idea. The more severe we can make the punishment, maybe people will think. In some states, even drunk driving punishment is not as severe as it should be.
Seems a bit extreme a lot of people have those legally and yet there’s nothing wrong with them.. like over weight people. They can use the extra walking 🚶♀️ just a thought.
I use a walker I have noticed when I call the police to report misuse of disabled placards they blow me off, like it's no big deal. There are times I can't find a place to park when shopping for dinner and I go home and eat breakfast cereal for dinner - I think it's a big deal. If I ate my cat's cat food, she would think it's a big deal too.
As an former LA Sheriff Deputy I can tell you that it is a misdemeanor to use a handicap placard or plate if the person it is registered to is not present in the car or the driver knowingly uses it for their own personal use. It is an arrestable offense, you will be fined and your car most likely will be towed away and the card/license plate will be confiscated then the person it is registered to has to go to a DMV hearing to get it back. I probably gave out 200 hundred of these violations citations and some were towed as well. Don't do it.
Ranger Up I believe it because I drive a tow truck in San Jose California. And let me say this that the people say you know that they are lying. And once the car is tow they want a break on the tow I always say when you go to the grocery store do you get a break on the grocery and they just don't say anything.
Ranger Up I am a handicap person in a wheelchair. Those people don’t know how hard it is to get my chair out of my car in regular parking spots misusing the plaques. A friend asked to use my plaque for a sports event and told them it was illegal unless I was in the vehicle. It does state in the paperwork we’re given only to be used if present. Thank you for your input.
Good man! in six years of having the unfortunate need to use a badge, ive only been challenged once! MY photo is on the badge and my wife and family all know that it is for me and not anyone else! The use of anothers badge is what makes life hard for genuine disabled folk, both here in the UK and the USA. PS, Thank you for your service.
I have been confined to a wheelchair for almost 55 years due to Vietnam. My car has Disabled Veteran plates, so I don't use a placard. I am 79 years old and when I drive to the home center or store and find the handicap parking filled with what I call Parking Pigs. I drive to an aera in the parking lot where there are no cars and park there. I get my wheelchair out and push myself to the store. The people who cheat and use the handicap parking have to think they are handicap. They don't know what the word means, and I refuse to give in. My elbows and shoulders are beginning to hurt at my age and may give out, but I'll be dammed if I'll let some Parking Pigs get me upset.
I don’t know where you live, but the fine for parking illegally in a handicap parking spot is $600 and according to the law, the judge cannot dismiss the ticket, but they can cut it in half. So it’s still $300.
@@Doc1855 I'm not sure where that number comes from, maybe that's the max they can fine, but the don't fine that much. I park in handicap spots all the time and only got fined $50 twice in the past 10 years or so and that's with literally no plaque. Probably would be caught a lot less if I printed out a fake one. Also, before you start moaning at me for not respecting handicapped markings. I don't care. Literally that's why I park in them. Don't care, won't care, can't care. They can fine me $600 and I still won't care. Sorry that I'm not sorry.
That makes me mad. I’m handicapped and need those spaces. Hard to get in and out of my car along with my wheelchair in a regular space. When people like these misuse the plaques just to get a better spot I just want to yell at them! PEOPLE, IF YOUR NAME ISN’T ON THOSE PLAQUES DON’T USE THEM!!
@salti Dawg the number is tied to the owner of the card. When my wife uses my car which has handicap plates she brings our special son's placard if he will be with her. Rules are rules. A photo on the placard would possibly stop some incorrect usage.
If your not disabled or have someone who is disabled with you don't need the space. People who violate this know what they are doing, they deserve a large fine. Someone disabled people can't get these placards when they would benefit from them.
100% Disabled vet with placard here. In my apt complex, I have to park a block away and walk or get a ride from my wife because the 8 Handicap spaces in the apt complex are occupied by teenagers and young drivers. I have no way to prove them wrong, but the property manager told me there are 2 Handicapped persons according to information on the lease. I wish Cali would make these placards with photos of the handicapped person.
I'm disabled with a placard. My husband won't use disabled parking unless I am with him AND getting out of the car. He understands that placard is mine not ours.
Same with my Mom. She never uses my placard unless I am in the vechicle and am getting in or out at that specific stop. She was shocked to learn some people do use them illegitimately because it is so selfish and on top of that it is illegal. Even though Mom currently has a swollen painful knee that prevent her from walking very far she still doesn't use my card because she knows that would be wrong.
THANK YOU!!!! Should also be a rule or law with a couple of exceptions that they actually havr to come out they cant just loiter in the vehicle while other non placard holders go out without them.
My mother doesn't drive, but she has a placard for when someone transports her. Usually, If I take her somewhere, I'll drop her off at the door of the place and go park in a regular spot, just to keep the handicapped spot open for someone else to use. When we're done, I bring the car around and pick her up at the door. It was the same with my father before he passed. Seeing a car in a handicapped spot without plates or placard really gets my goat.
I always without fail have had people tell me I’m not disabled because “I don’t look disabled, you’re too young” or “if you’re disabled why aren’t you in a wheelchair” - I have POTS & Dysautonomia, with all the subcategories that follow them. I’m currently without health insurance aka I don’t have my meds rn and something as simple as walking to the bathroom is a struggle sometimes, let alone walking across an entire parking lot. These people are so incredibly selfish.
Yep been there. I developed severe inflammatory arthritis in over 90% of my body when I was 18. Been dealing with it for over 30 years and still deal with the occasional comment because I dont use a wheelchair.
I'm thankful for the disabled placard. I never thought I would need one. I'm amazed how they are misused however, always seems like when I really need one and I see a person using a placard and leaping out of their car and running to whatever they are going to do, it's just not right. The fine is to low. Start at 500 dollars and up, that'll get their heart pounding.
From what I understand the handicap permit or license plate is for the disabled person who is driving. Not for your wife cuz she's got to go to the store for a few minutes and you're in the passenger seat that's just wrong. Your wife can drop you off at the front of the store and she can go find a regular parking spot and meet you at the front of the store.
Reminds me one time when the wife parked on the road and she was driving my truck. I have a Disabled plate and the meter maid seen her get out of it ran the plate course came back to me. Well my wife was going down to one of the paid parking kiosks to pay, the meter maid was writing a ticket when she got back tried to tell her she can't be driving the car with the plates ( which is pure bullshit she can) and that she was trying to get away with free parking My wife with little payment sticker in hand showed her she was paying but the woman just kept writing the ticket out. So off to court we go. We go with the payment receipt in hand which shows it was paid before the meter maid even started her ticket, judge looked at that looked at the meter maid and read her the riot act. oh and case dismissed.
Jeannie Alviz that is not an answer it also goes against HIPAA laws. On top of that why should someone have to prove it. Let the cops do there thing and what not
Um no it isn't against the law, only when hiring and housing but it isn't against the law for a cop to ask for proof, say your state ID card which should match up to the placard that's all the proof they need.
I have been disabled since 2004 and I do not have a Placard. I park in the rear and walk. I am crippled, I am not that crippled. There was an old expression, "Have you no shame ?" Some folks...
Another common violation is when the person the placard is issued to is present but never exists the vehicle. If you're driving a disabled person around, but they stay in the car, it's still illegal to use a handicap space. The person the placard or plate is issued to must both be present and actually enter the business the handicap space is located at.
This needs to be done in apartments where the disabled & elderly live, but police falsely claim apartments are private property so they don't have to deal with it; yet the ADA states that every handicapped parking spot is public. The largest number of placard abuse offenders are asians, africans, mexicans and city/state employees. It's really abuse of the elderly & handicapped because it forces them to park so far from their destination that it's painful or life threatening to walk that far. Placard abuse needs to be a highly enforced felony offense.
It's actually dispicable behavior to be using those spots without a placard authorization and in my neck of the woods the fine can be as high as $5,000.00 so there are not too many violators taking the risk around here. Ridiculous it's come to that of high fines to discourage people who should know better.
I was following someone just yesterday and they pulled into a Handicap Parking spot and a regular space was right next to it. So I pulled into that space he didn't have a Handicap Placard or plate and as he got out I asked him do you want to borrow my handicap placard so you don't get a ticket. He said big deal there was a open space right next to it. So I said not anymore.
I am a severe diabetic that just had a heart transplant. Before that I was stuck with cardiac issues for 10 years that caused me to get super winded to even go 50 ft... Yet because I didn't walk with a limp and some days were better than others I had to justify myself everyday for having a permanent handicap plate.
In my case, my credentials 🪪 are valid and I don’t feel the need to justify it to anyone non-police especially since I got a disabled veteran tag with the wheelchair ♿️ logo on my SUV and my placard for my car
I didn’t know daddy had to be present? So by you taking the spot to go to class someone else who is disabled will have to park in the back. I use a placard and have had to park in the back while someone who didn’t care that she took the spot, parked up front. She then cursed me out and gave me the finger for telling her she was in a handicap spot. I was still on oxygen at the time.
+kragseven sure. you are right. but these people that are so stupid and do it anyways get the chance of their life. plus i would make it also for cellphone users bc they endanger way more people now than people driving under alkohol
Then the City would make a lot of money, so would better enforce. Until; only rich A/holes can afford to continue to abuse the system. They do it for convenience so make the penalties inconvenient and time consuming.
In certain parts of CA: They can be fined up to $985 for misuse of placard + up to $985 for parking illegally in a handicap spot + the car towed + the car impounded until a hearing + put in jail for up to 30 days. when misusing a handicap placard and parking in a handicap spot. The towing fee can be $100 to $250 and the impound fees can exceed $150 a day. And the court can "conveniently" not have an opening in the schedule for the hearing to get the car back for 90 days. (and then it is sure to be scheduled at the most inconvenient time possible, ensuring you lose the whole day's work) But the dumbasses still abuse the placards, buying and selling them on E-Bay. (which is conspiracy to commit a crime which could be prosecuted as a felony)
Their cars should be impounded, get a $10.000 fine, the vehicle sold at auction and the money used for hiring full time officers to handle nothing but illegal placard users and create more handicap parking spaces
Douglas McCarty >>> I agree with the enforcement of the existing situation, but more handicapped parking spaces? Hardly necessary... it’s not like disabled people are like zombies coming out of the ground and we have a sudden influx of them every day. The ADA is designed to help the disabled, not make them specially entitled to the point where ambulatory citizens are made to feel like 2nd class trash, just for being normal. It never fails, as soon as politics & law are used to artificially “level the playing field” for the underprivileged, the pendulum swings too far in their favor, at the expense of the rest of us.
Douglas McCarty >>> And vehicle sold at auction? Really? Dude... that’s a bit harsh... don’t you think? You must be one of those bleeding heart liberal ADA lawyers. Ahh... let’s let the handicapped people take over the whole damn world because they’re more important! Please! The punishment must fit the crime... confiscating someone’s car and selling it out from under them? That’s way below the belt.
Go get'em! I am disabled and depend on being able to park close. Before I was disabled it used to really piss me off to see able people taking spaces from those who need them. Now I assume that parking will be a drag and have to leave 15 minutes earlier.
So, 1 time a month they do something useful and the rest of the days they set up speed traps and stop sign traps, giving tickets to people barely driving over the limit and people that don't stop completely at stop signs with no traffic around
They should make it harder to get this cards and those people that sign the forms to issue it should be charged with fraud and lying on a stat declaration and go to jail
Cruel and selfish. I've seen too many people parking in disabled parking without even having a placard! They need to start cracking down on this violation all over the country.
I believe if you are Disabled, you should be able to write a citation yourself if you go to park and someone is illegally parked. I've had many confrontations with people using the spot I needed saying I'm just waiting for someone...
EVERY SINGLE TIME SOMEONE IS CAUGHT "they were just making a mistake" there are no criminal s anymore, just victims and people that "didn't know that was a law"
Here in Georgia they put your name on them. There are a few states that put pictures on them. If you’re in legitimate need you can get one by having your doctor sign the form. I got pulled over a couple of months ago because I had my portable placard on my mirror while driving my dads van that has a handicap plate on the car itself. I was wondering why the cop stopped me and she asked why I had a placard when there’s one on the tag and I told her it is my placard but not my car so I can’t just use my dads. This cop was surprised and said that she had never seen someone follow the law like that. I told her that I know the penalty for using someone else’s tag gets it revoked from the person who needs it and I’m not about to do that! I’m 41 and have had old people cuss at me or block me in and call the cops who get mad for having their time wasted.
It gripes my butt to see placards hanging on mirrors goung down the riad. In Texas the last line of the first paragraph on the back says Do not drive with this placard on your mirror.
Here in the U K, violators have to go before a court on a fraud charge. If found guilty, it’s a police record, a £1000 ($1200) fine and the blue badge as we call it, taken away from the owner. I think you need to tighten up in the USA.
Oh come on. He didn't know that his father had to be there? What a load of crap. They know exactly what they're doing. As for the "there's a lot going on in my life" woman, there's a lot going on in the lives of people with disabilities, like trying to find accessible parking, and it's one reason they have the permits.
I have a placard for my son, we have a large van with side lift. It's still very hard to park at times. When my son is not with me I park without the placard. It's been stolen at car wash and we reported to DMV
I have also heard the argument that using the handicap permit of someone else is like borrowing someone else's car. There's no crime in borrowing someone else's car. So why is it a crime to use someone else's permit?
I don't get upset when I've been checked..I've been told I look to young to be disabled by security offers...I am and have the correct paperwork...if I could walk the distance without help I would do it and not use the han.space...I need also to be able to open my car door completely and that cannot be done in a reg.space...I'm glad there cracking down on this..I've seen a lot of misuse...they also need to check on people who have passed and there family is still using the handicap plate on there car and just pay each year and don't have to prove that that person Is still alive..check age for example or Dr certificate every so many years...
"There is a lot going on in my life right now". . . . What about what is going on in the lives of truly severely handicapped folks who really need the space?
@@valuecalc Yeah. I'm a disabled vet. I go to LA Fitness for swimming since I can't do other exercises. I always see the handicapped spaces filled by guys who have muscles on their muscles, bench press 250 pounds and jog for miles on end without stop. Sure they have handicapped placards but it's probably their grandmother's.
@@zenodotusofathens2122, and I hate how those clowns show no consideration toward someone like you. Hell, I would NEVER do that nonsense. A disabled vet should have the highest respect. The very highest!
Other states and places need to do this too. My friend’s dad has sat alone in his car listening to music while he waits for her grandma to shop and never questioned besides once. Only asked in a hospital parking lot at a hospital that only allowed one family member with the patient due to Covid. The grandma does really need the placard.
Massachusetts puts the registered owners photo on the tag. With a sleeve that covers the photo. The photo must be shown on request. I Florida as in most states, they have a complicated checking program that doesn't catch anyone.
2,400,000 placards. A total of 2,000 scammers caught by DMV over 4 years. Less than 1 in 1,000. How many more are caught by police? I’d like to think that there are very few scammers, but have to wonder if most get away with it.
In Texas they get a huge placard and then leave them up while they drive, blocking 1/6th of their windshield. I have seen larger ones, but there is no spot on it that tells them to "NOT DRIVE" with them blocking their forward view, or to take them down when driving. From the Texas Highway Patrol Office, there IS a large fine for doing this, but most judges ignore this crime until someone is hurt by one of these drivers having a blocked windshield. AND there has been many sweeps in different areas that showed the original owners of many of these placards are dead.
Maybe make more parking spaces and people wouldn’t have to resort to doing this also. Just look at any college town. Zero parking available but always a row of handicap spots just sitting there empty. It’s not right to park if you aren’t handicapped, but I can see the temptation when there is nowhere else to park.
I'm a T4 paraplegic and I don't have one. I just write "Driver uses wheelchair" on an old envelope along with my drivers license number and the C2 all hand controls designation. I've never had a problem. However, I rarely use blue spaces unless the weather is bad.
So you're saying that you use it for convenience if the weather is bad. That's just as bad as somebody using somebody else's placard. A little rain not going to hurt you in your wheelchair that won't rust
I’m curious how they know who to approach to check? Just because someone looks young & healthy doesn’t mean they don’t have a legitimate disability. And conversely, some people look older & move a little slower, but have no legal disability. Doesn’t probable cause have to come into the picture before enforcement arbitrarily approach’s just anyone? Or is it a case of age-profiling the young; because enforcement has to start somewhere and uses a likely demographic as a baseline?
B3burner that’s why they run the plates or placard. The person gets back to the car they ask for id and the permit if the names don’t match or that person isn’t with you then you’re illegally using someone else’s privilege.
If the people want to use the handicap placard so badly, maybe one day their wish will come true. One day they will have some kind of medical issue for them to use the handicap placard.
In Boston, this gambit is the domain of the hundreds of construction workers who seem to expect to have free parking when they enter the city ... and the city does nothing to stop it, even though it loses millions. That's because no one wants to upset the developers as they carve up every last speck of land.
They need to crack down on people who have them registered to themselves but do not meet the qualifications for one even know they have one under their name. That will make more of an impact I think.
