First, let me start off with explaining what disabled parking is, in case not everyone knows. It is a parking spot specially reserved for disabled people. You are supposed to get a disabled placard from the DMV to hang on your mirror (or a disabled license plate) to prove you are allowed to park there. Otherwise there is a HUGE fine.

So earlier today I was at a plant nursery with my mom (she wanted to get flowers for some new flower pots she bought). She has a disabled placard. However, some guy in-front of us (in a huge Hummer -- he apparently hates the environment) pulls into the only available disabled space. He had no placard and no disabled license plate. Therefore, my mom was unable to use the spot like she needed to. Not to mention the guy looked so fit I wouldn't be surprised if he was in the military.

We left an hour or so later and HE WAS STILL THERE, using up the disabled parking spot. This made me furious. It was a small parking lot too, so it wasn't like there were a million more disabled parking spots for use. Unfortunately there were no cops around or I probably would have signaled one over.

What are your thoughts on this? Is it acceptable to park in a disabled parking space without a placard? What if you are just going to run in an out really quickly (unlike the aforementioned jerk)?

P.S. In case you could not tell from my message, my answer to both of these is absolutely not !

Hum...if you run a quick errant and No Disabled person is around to use that spot . It should be ok . Of course , you are not supposed to HUG the spot for yourself...it's OPEN to anyone with disablitie . Beside.....some mom could park there and she is not Disabled but maybe she has a kid disabled .

And today with everyone temper flying around.....keeping a zen attitude will help more .



I never see anything like that here in Canada (Plz canadian confirm this) . But here , peoples are kinda nice you know . Super polite and respectful . well sure you have your usual Ass-hole walking around and doing crap...but most peoples are polite .

I never drived in my life and don't own a car...so I never stole a disabled person spot . I once broke my leg and had to use stick and I used the disabled walker (in front of a bank) because there were many peoples and was afraid to lose my grip . But it was just that one time . When my leg healed...I used the normal walk path like everyone else .

I personally think , if it's for a quick errand it should be FINE . Because for exemple , some cars shouldn't park where embulances are . Well what if someone has a mother who is having a heart attack in there ? you gonna tell him to park elsewhere while someone is dying in there ???

But yeah..none should take that spot for granted . Or abuse it....again , that's my opinion .

I would never park in a disabled parking spot without a permit, however, I've learned that sometimes people who may appear to be not diabled actually are. Perhaps the guy was disabled and forgot his pass for today and wasn't simply being a jerk?

Not only would I not park in a disabled spot without a permit I don't park in them with the permit when I'm by myself. My Mom is 79 and has difficulty getting around so we have a disabled placard for her but when she's not with me I don't take up the disabled spots there will always be someone else who really needs it. I think it just goes to karma so that when I do have my Mom in the car we will be able to find one of them open.

I don't think it's right even just to run in and out of store as you might only be in there 5 minutes but in that time someone might well have truly needed that spot. I will say my outlook on this would not have been quite so stringent 10 years ago when my Mom could still get around pretty easily. Now I really understand how important those spaces are to the people who need them.

I get bent out of shape about the in store ride carts as well. They are meant for the elderly and disabled yet I frequently see people on them who are neither they are just too lazy or in some cases too overweight to walk around the store. Although I suppose the argument could be made that the extremely overweight people are in fact disabled but I'm not willing to go there.

I thought about that, but I doubt it. He was as fit as humanly possible and walked around just fine.

Bodhie: Perhaps disabled parking is exclusive to here in the USA.

No it's not okay to park there for any reason without the disability permit. That's why they have the permit, because they have trouble getting around and to use up that spot even for a few minutes is so dang rude it makes my head spin whenever I see it happening. My mom has arthritis in both of her knees and has a placard for her disability, while sure she can walk a little farther is it really fair to her to take up that spot and cause her to endure pain any longer then is absolutely necessary? No, I think not.

We have them in Australia too, and my son uses a wheelchair so this is something I have very strong opinions on. What it comes down to is, if you are lucky enough to have the ability to walk then do so!

If we can't find a disabled bay we have to go home because we can't open the door wide enough for him to get out of the car. That quick run into the shop for you means I've driven round the car park several times hoping some lazy sod has finished whatever he was doing. It's not hard for an able bodied person to walk a litlle further and in fact if we don't have my son in the car we park towards the edge of the parking lot to get a little exercise.

Most people just don't realise what a wonderful thing it is to have the choice of where to go and the ability to jump in the car and go. We need to plan ahead, get all sorts of things ready and to finally get to where we're going only to turn around and go home is beyond infuriating.

Sometimes disabilities aren't apparent. I've really learned not to judge it can be really something you can't see or doesn't seem obvious.

I am sure there are scammers, but... That fat person in the cart might genuinely have a health or medical condition that might make it tough to walk or some other debilitating disease. Mr. Marathon may have a prosthetic leg or something else which might mean he seems to be getting around, just fine... But really is disabled.

Last edited by SimsLover50 : 16th Apr 2012 at 03:49 PM.

The thing is though, that few minutes you are in that space could mean that someone who needs it can't use it.

My father has Parkinson's and if someone is parked in the disabled spaces outside the chemists, he can't get his medication. He can't walk far and is very unsteady on his feet, and has fallen before now trying to walk across a car park when the disabled bays were occupied.

The one that really threw me...

Many times, two disabled parking spaces will be together, with some additional space between the two parking spaces. That additional space allows people to get out of the car, get their wheelchairs out, etc. and usually has the ramp to the sidewalk for both parking spaces. The additional space is clearly marked as unavailable (large yellow and black stripes?).

When I lived in the States, I often saw people parked in that area between the two disabled parking spaces, thus making both disabled parking spaces unusable. When confronted, most people explained that they were not parked in a disabled parking space, so it was just fine... they weren't bothering anyone!

I would usually suggest that they wait for a few minutes while I called the police, to check on their interpretation of the law. For some reason, they would usually get back into their car and drive away...

In case it's not clear: I believe that this is abhorrent behavior. People have permits for these disabled spaces because they are unable to use regular parking spaces. By using these spaces, you are hurting other people unnecessarily.

No, of course it's not ok - it never is. I hope you took his number.

If it's any comfort to you, over here (the UK) the police watch disabled parking spots because the type of people who park in them without a licence are often the type of people they are looking for. It's a sort of self-selection routine. Basically, the sort of people who do that are self-centered and if there's one thing unpleasant criminal types have in common it's self-centeredness. Apparently, it really helps with arrest rates.

I wonder if the police would take a picture as evidence. Show the license plate and any other place they could have their pass, and take it to the police.

I think they should have senior parking as well as disabled parking. My local drugstore has all the slots in front of the store marked for seniors and disability parking with the disability ones marked in blue, but a sign suggesting the remaineder should be used for seniors and their caretakers.

One thing to recall with disability parking, is often disabled folks have people with them in the cars or may be driven so you may not see the disabled person. I have often been asked to drive my mother who has a disabled placard, and sometimes after going in the store, mom is too tired to walk out. So I go out, get her car and drive it to the front area pickup zone. I'm not disabled and sometimes feel funny doing this, as I realzie people are watching me.

If I know I'll have to do that, sometimes I'll drop her off at the front, park the car some distance away, leave her to wait and then go back to find the car.

I wont park in the spot if she's not in the car. I just don't feel right doing that. I also don't mind hoofing it.

I wouldn't park in a disabled spot, heck I don't even like to park in the expectant mothers/family parking spots even though there's no fine for using those. I am perfectly capable of walking a little bit further if I can't find a decent spot, that's just the way it is. I don't want to be a dick and take the spot away from somebody who actually needs it. I see cars parked in disabled spots all the time, some have plates/placards, others don't. I don't make assumptions, I just know I have no business parking there and won't.

I hate when people do that, they do it all the time here in NJ and it's just so rude and selfish. I almost never see people getting in trouble for it either, it's like it doesn't matter.
It's never okay, even if you'll only be there for 5 minutes because at any time, someone who NEEDS that spot could drive up.

I try not to make assumptions either though, because I don't know that person and I don't know their situation. I don't know if they have some kind of internal problem but forgot/lost the card, or if they're just taking the space up because they're too lazy to walk.

It could be a lost card. My brother looks like he's fine, but he broke his back last year. He wears a brace on his back that's hard to see due to his loose clothing and he looks like he walks fine because of that brace and shitloads of medicine.

This made me laugh hard.

Whoever it was that said the hoped I got his number, I actually do have his license plate, but I didn't take a picture (now I wish I did). So there isn't much I can do.


I actually have a feeling he only parked there because his big ass Hummer (did I mention he must hate the environment?) probably couldn't fit in any of the other spaces