I think it is good to have the idea of people question who has one. Otherwise, I think a lot of people would take advantage of it. I think the way of going about it is just to quietly observe if there is a sticker present. A handicap sticker and a sports car are usually not the norm, but who knows, the sticker could of been issued long after the car was purchased etc etc.

I believe its everyone's business in society to make sure these laws are not being broken or abused. I would rather have ten handicap sticker issued persons offended than have one person not be able to use the spot (then need) because of abuse by an able body individual.

 

Honestly, I would have probably seen it more like the angry person. But, it's people like the OP, and others, who have explained why they have the permit. Sometimes the issue is not all the time and maybe flares up, etc. I understand that more likely than not, the permit is legit.

I guess, the anger stems from abuse. And it happens at all levels. I go to the gym at 5 AM, and would you believe this. All the closest spots are reserved for parents with children, and they are all taken. Many of the vehicles don't even have a car seat, and I'm willing to bet that people have decided on their own that the rules don't apply at 5 AM. Problem is, they've also decided they don't apply at noon. Or at 15:00 EST, or 18:00. I've seen teens get out of their cars using those spaces, and asked my buddy via email, we pulled a lot of stunts in our days, but I really don't think we'd park where we're not supposed to. He agreed.

My dad has a permit, and won't display it, nor use it, but he walks quite slowly. That's old school I guess. So it boils down to if you care what impression you're giving, I get it, a lot could give a you know what. But imho that's not how society can function smoothly, we do have to care.

I spent the last week in KY, and was surprised, no aggressive driving whatsoever, how refreshing. But you know what? I witnessed a confrontation on this very subject, where the local PD arrived. So if it were me, I'd rather err to the side of caution. Listen, I curb all of our cars, and I am ok with walking the furthest possible distance from any entrance. Because 2 things, if I do it close to an entrance, it's been my experience, that someone deliberately parks close, and is probably thinking f that BMW/Lexus (meaning if my car is very close to the curb, someone else is equally close straddling or even over my line)... my .02

 

Look and see if somebody has a permit sure, but to confront somebody and verbally berate them when you see that they do have a permit, because you somehow think they don’t deserve the legal permit they clearly have is way out of line.

If somebody feels a law is being abused, call the police and report it. Taking the law into your own hands and confronting people is out of line at best, dangerous at the worst.

For instance, we have an issue where I live with illegal street parking. Townhouse community with 1 car garages, but people fill their garages with crap and rarely park in them, so a lot of people park on the street. We have people who park in no parking areas, in front of fire hydrants, crammed into spaces with their rear ends sticking out in the road etc which is just silly when our houses have garages and driveways they aren’t using. I call the police, routinely. Not going to confront people, it’s not my job. I’ve noticed, somebody gets a ticket all of a sudden they start parking properly. It had gotten really out of hand, and now it’s almost completely solved...and I can still interact with hmy neighbors without being “the guy who complains about the way we park”

Leave enforecement of the law to law enforcement.

 

A handicapped permit is very convenient in the city. I personally would never use somebody else's, but there are some who would.

I live in a suburb, single family home, but one of the downsides of suburbia, is that many people have more cars than licensed drivers. We have 4. What does this mean? Cars need to be parked on the street.

There is this emmy winning d*** around the corner from me. He always has one or two Porsches, a huge Expedition, another full sized Infiniti SUV, and maybe a BMW 635 from the late 80's. One day during an impending snowstorm in 2009, I was about to park across, not in front, across, from his house. He told me like it's an episode of the Sopranos, "If you like your car, don't park there." My impulse was to not park there, but, I changed my mind. I slammed it into R, let him hear the whine from my manual tranny, put my window down, and said guess what, I'm parking there, because you told me not to. He then goes on a f bomb'd tirade in front of his then I'd say 4 y.o. toddler. Ever since then, I have parked my car there, whether he likes it or not. At the time, I would have been willing to engage with him, as that's how I was brought up. Funny thing is, 8 1/2 yrs. have passed, and my mentality has changed, where I likely would not engage. I always joke with my wife, though, I can't imagine what he would have won an emmy for. The funniest thing was I went to this import specialist 3X (for my Nissan but these dudes are Porsche Audi and always have multiple 997 Turbos in their shop), and the guy says where's your house located? My buddy is really close, he's at xxx xxxxxxre Avenue. Ruh roh, the emmy winner is his buddy. Small world.

 

If you have a handicap sign clearly visible in your windshield, it shouldn't bother anyone. It's not like everyone can get one of those thingies.

 

,exactly that's the look I normally get until they see my permit go up or see me walk. This guy felt I should never have been given a permit.

i new thought just popped into my head that may explain his anger. I've seen misuse of handicap parking by valid individuals. To explain, reserved spaces are full and because they have a permit then just park in a nonspace like it's ok they have a permit. I've been in that situation before. Either I find a spot somewhere, or I end up having to leave and come back later depending on condition of the lot and my leg that day. So maybe he saw something like that recently, and I just happened to be the one he vented on.

 

I guess it's the same everywhere.

when I bought my house 5 years ago, before I even signed the paperwork, I had a run in with my neighbor on the east side about parking...

on that side of my house when we purchased the house, his driveway/property line was at the edge of my grass line, 3' from the house.. When we were having our inspection done by the city, he came out and told me that he had an agreement with the current owners that he could park on the grass along that side of the house because his drive was to narrow for him to be able to open the cars doors without hitting his house or his flowerbed that runs along the driveway.. The City Inspector actually chimed up and told him that was illegal because my gas meter and my HVAC unit were on that side and there has to be 3' of clearance between the end of these units and the vehicle, which put his vehicle squarely in his driveway, not on our grass.

His response was classic, "well I'm a county Sheriff, so there is nothing you can do about it, I need to park on your grass in order to exit my vehicles"

My response was to build (legally) a 6' by 60' Brick wall between his driveway and the edge of my grass.

 

Agreed, tell them to pound sand and go about your life

 

It happens after 36 months (15, 9 and 12 month tours) in the sandbox.

I believe it is not your business, nor your job, nor anyone else's business to "make sure these laws are not being broken or abused". Its the job of police officers and parking enforcement. That's what they get paid for. In Texas, if you park in a handicap space without a permit, it is a $200 (maybe $250, but I think it was $200 last I checked) fine. If you intentionally use another persons placard, or you drive their car with a handicap plate, park in a handicap space and you are not disabled, it's a $2,000 fine, and a Class A Misdemeanor. For those wondering, that's just a step below a felony.

Falsifying documents to obtain a permit under false pretenses is fraud, and is a felony. So either way you look at it, there is no way to obtain or use a permit unless you are disabled that doesn't result in fines, jail time, or both if that person gets caught. If you reallllllllly must be in other people's affairs...call the police and let them sort it out. But if you approach me in a parking lot and ask me to prove I am disabled (which is illegal too btw) or some other such asinine request, if you are lucky, I will laugh in your face. If you aren't, you might need a dentist.

Let me ask you this. I have the legal right to park in these spaces...by law I am allowed to.

However, I got my *** chewed the other day because I parked in one that said "Van Accessible". It was the only one open, and anyone who has been to a sams club knows that over half of them are van accessible, sideways or perpendicular. My response was to point at the Disabled Vet Plate with the Handicap logo on it. They shook their head and stormed off. **** and pound sand.

See thats what's nice about my new place. You can't park on the street in front of my house unless you physically block my driveway. I have the community mailbox on one side (ticketable to park in front of it), and a fire hydrant on the other (duh). So I am covered. I have a 3 car garage, and my driveway is large enough I can park my truck and 4 cars or if I put my truck sideways at the base of the driveway, I can get 6 cars and my truck in, plus the 3 car. I won't ever need to do that because there is a big overflow parking lot 100 yards away for visitors to park, but hey, its handy.

 

Sounds pretty stupid, but as mentioned, a while back I gained a better understanding of why someone might have a handicapped permit and they don't necessarily appear disabled. Maybe it's a condition that comes and goes.

Forgetting about the legalities, I was brought up to respect older people. My parents insisted I address other peoples' parents as Mr. and Mrs., distinguishing that they are a level above you, not your equal. Times have changed. My wife's cousin's husband's parents, insist, absolutely insist, that I do not address them as Mr. and Mrs. ******. It's Nancy and Greg. They are about 70. But it is my instinct to show that respect to older people. We will be there too someday.

Now, if you are a disabled Vet, I would like to think that the person who was angry with you was young--18? 22? Even 25? Please don't tell me they were 35, or 40, or 50. I have a problem with that. If you are young, and we all were, we will make serious mistakes, and society will forgive us, as we're still learning. But you cannot be 35+ years old, and have treated someone like that....my .02

 

You've (obviously) also had the advantage of military training and how to use it. Many have not.

 

If I see a person with an ADA permit and they do not appear to me to need it, I simply think to myself "I have no idea what their medical condition is and it isn't my business" and that's the end of it. Medical issues/histories are personal and having an ADA parking permit does not grant any onlooker the authority to demand an explanation of medical history. This is just insane.

 

If you have the placard or a plate on your car, I don't give a crap about if you deserve it. I don't know you or your situation, you don't have to be crippled to qualify for one.

Although I must say there are scum-bucket people on this earth, some acquaintances of mine had a handicapped placard they abused all the time. Husband had knee surgery, wife would take the car and park in a handicapped spot when he wasn't with her. She's fit as a fiddle, does yoga, etc. I know she kept using/abusing the placard, even after it expired.

She's from that school of daddy's money, married well off, only work she's ever known is how to be charming and good looking. Very selfish and self entitled person.

 

I get what you are saying, but respectfully disagree. People spend way too much time concerned with the business of others.. It is not your place or my place to police what someone else is doing, if a law is being broken it is not my place to pass judgement, it is only my place to call law enforcement and allow them to handle it.

Disabled plaques, stickers, plates or whatever have no "norm" insofar as type of vehicle is concerned, that is a prejudice or judgement in your mind, I ride a motorcycle, drive a sports car (several over the years) as well as a family car, and a 1939 Hot Rod, that all have disabled plates.. My 80 year old mother drove a '68 Mustang Convertible for 40 years will disabled plates, my father owned a '62 Corvette with disabled plates for 30 odd years. I work with someone that drives a new Tesla with disabled plates, and another who is in a wheel chair and drives a 1943 Mercury that has been modified to accept hand controls and allow him to drive it while seated in his wheel chair, build by DRS Automotive Fantomworks who happens to have a Cable show dedicated to customizing hot rods and muscle cars for paraplegic or similarly disabled veterans.

The type of vehicle someone drives has no bearing on their injury, and it is straight discrimination to assume that someone who is disabled must be regulated to a specific type of vehicle.

Do people abuse disabled parking - Yes, typically they are disrespectful, lazy, narcissistic, entitlement minded morons. But it is no ones place to determine if someone is or is not disabled and if they are or are not abusing the system.

I will call if I see a vehicle with ZERO markings, plaques, plates, etc. in a disabled spot or parked in the cross-hatch area around the disabled spots. I've even photographed and contacted a company when one of their agents/drivers has opted to use or block the spots to make their deliveries. But I will never question someone that has a plaque, that is Law Enforcements responsibility.

People need to learn to mind their own business, there is a time and place to intervene and there is a time and place to mind yourself.

 

I would guess the guy was in his 50's...gray hair, a few wrinkles, certainly not my age (32).

This^

Those are the people that (if caught) in Texas, catch the stiff penalties. Please report them if you see them doing it. Nobody is above the law, and friend's don't let friend's be dicks.

I went to the plates on my truck with the symbol because I would often forget to hang the placard.