Using the HC License Plate to commit a felony is also against the law. (but i'm sure you knew that .....) Best Wishes In a message dated 4/17/2010 11:36:08 A.M. Central Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Hi Bob, The common types of violations we routinely see committed by people with disabilities include not having a parking permit or not displaying it properly, altering their permit (changing the expiration date), remaining in the vehicle, and parking in loading/unloading areas. Some did not know or claimed not to know that these are violations, others simply did not care. Steve - C4, 21 years From: Bob Vogel [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 12:24 PM To: Steve Oldaker Cc: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [QUAD-L] Handicapped Parking Enforcement Hi All, Out here in California--the financially broke state--a great thing has happened. The powers that be found a way to help solve two problems in one--there are too many Handicapped Parking Violators and not enough money so as of January the fines increased from $250 and can be as much as $1000. The amount depends on how much the city decides it is. I think it is around $850 in San Francisco but I'm not sure. AND the state being broke, I don't think the judges are likely to let people off with a warning. One question I had--in the original post for this you mentioned that a majority of violations of Handicapped Parking were by individuals with disabilities. What kind of violations are we talking about? Parking in the lined zone reserved for van lifts? That type of thing? I know I *used* to be a little lazy about remembering to put my placard up--but no more, I remember it every time! Bob On Apr 17, 2010, at 8:42 AM, Steve Oldaker wrote: Hi W., While I agree that the best way to get one's attention is via their pocketbook, we found that the vast majority of the citations issued by our Handicapped Parking Enforcement Patrol were either dismissed or changed to warnings when the offender went before the judge. So we decided that if we cannot effectively punish violators, we could at least inform them and hopefully reduce future violations. Unfortunately, there will always be abusers no matter what the efforts, but we will keep on trying. Steve - C4, 21 years From: [email protected] [_mailto:[email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) ] Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 11:27 AM To: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) ; [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) Subject: Re: [QUAD-L] Handicapped Parking Enforcement That is great news Steve. Parking Enforcement is a very sticky issue in all of North America. Violations occur, because they can and ignorance is merely a hollow excuse. A citation or ticket is the only lesson that they react to and still fail to comprehend those rules. Often, violators only think of themselves and not of others. I've personally witnessed those being advised, flipping the bird in response to being educated. Standing before an administrative judge, they are meek and defensive.(dumb like fox) and will go out and do it again..... because they can. Get them in the pocketbook always gets their attention... until the next time when they will truly believe that they are more needy of that spot then those vehicles on either side of the striped area. Some people will never learn. Who's the worst? That LiL Old Lady From Pasadena......... Thanks for the posting. Best Wishes In a message dated 4/17/2010 10:11:22 A.M. Central Daylight Time, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) writes: I live in a fairly small town in Southeast Georgia and serve on our Mayor's Committee on Services for the Disabled. Over 15 years ago, the Mayor's Committee formed the Handicapped Parking Enforcement Patrol comprised of individuals with disabilities who were trained and deputized by our city and county police departments and empowered to issue warnings or citations for handicapped parking violations. Participation in the Handicapped Parking Enforcement Patrol has varied over the years along with the number of warnings and citations issued, but the patrol is still active and making at least some difference in our community. One of the surprising things we discovered is that many if not the majority of handicapped parking violations are committed by people with disabilities. Most were either unaware of or are simply disregarded the state laws that regulate the legal use of a handicapped parking space. So our Mayor's Committee developed an information and courtesy warning flyer on handicapped parking enforcement that outlines the lawful use of a handicapped parking permit or vehicle license tag. This flyer is distributed to everyone in our County who receives or renews their handicapped parking permit which averages around 100 permits issued per month. You can view the flyer (front and back) via the link below if interested: _http://mayorscommittee.org/Documents/Handicap-Parking-Flyer.pdf_ (http://mayorscommittee.org/Documents/Handicap-Parking-Flyer.pdf) We have no way of measuring the effectiveness of this flyer, but even if only a relatively small number of recipients read and comply with the information we think it is worth the effort. Steve - C4, 21 years
