Widespread misuse of handicapped placards and the growing prevalence of phony ones continue to frustrate police and disabled people alike, authorities and advocates said.
Within a five-minute time frame, Miami Twp. police on Tuesday afternoon cited Dayton residents James Zappe and Priscilla Belton for illegally parking in handicap spaces outside of Walmart.
Zappe, 71, told police he parked in a handicapped spot because he was running into the store for just a minute. Belton, 28, admitted the handicapped placard she produced belonged to her mother.
The parking lot contained plenty of open spots less than 15 yards from the handicapped section.
Some people, who do not have a disability or physically limiting condition, will brashly park in handicapped spaces without displaying a handicapped placard or license plate. But more often, the people who inappropriately park in those spaces use fake placards or cards they borrowed, bought or stole from friends or relatives, police said.
Miami Twp. police Maj. John DiPietro has bulletin boards full of fake, photocopied, expired and homemade handicapped placards he has confiscated in the last three years from people who were willing to break the law for better parking.
“This is a crime,” he said. “This is probably the most prevalent crime against the disabled.”
In one case, police confiscated a card that was actually the handicap sign from a handicapped restroom stall.
Authorities said most placards and handicapped license plates are used by the people who need them. However, they said fraudulent misuse is rampant and many people do not view their actions as wrong or harmful.
The victims
Kimberly Lovings, 42, of Washington Twp., said she is disappointed when she sees people illegally parked in spots she needs for her van. Lovings’ 12-year-old daughter, Kyra, has cerebral palsy, and she uses a van with a special lift to transport Kyra’s power wheelchair. Lovings said she keeps a pad of paper in the vehicle to write notes to place on people’s windshields whose cars do not belong in spots she needs.
“Generally, when you see a 19-year-old hop out of a car and run into a store, chances are it’s probably not their handicap placard,” Lovings said. “Plenty of times we’ve gone to a store and there is no place to park. ... At Kohl’s at Christmas, I thought I was going to have to leave without getting our Christmas shopping done because there was no place to park.”
Lovings said she believes that when people misuse placards, they are selfishly thinking only of themselves and what is convenient to them. She said they do not consider or care that their actions creates problems for disabled people.
Who gets placards?
According to Ohio Revised Code, placards can be issued to people who are unable to walk 200 feet without a rest; people who have respiratory conditions or require portable oxygen; people who cannot walk without the assistance of a cane, crutch, wheelchair or other assistance device; and people who have cardiac, arthritic, neurological or orthopedic conditions.
Nurses, physicians and even chiropractors can certify that a person has a condition that necessitates the use of a placard.
As of July 2010, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles confirmed there are 1.2 million active handicapped placards statewide. The BMV said there are 138,010 active placards in the Miami Valley region, a 50 percent increase from 2002.
Only 783 Ohioans were issued two or more placards this year, including 41 in Montgomery County, 10 in Warren County, eight in Greene County and four in Miami County, according to BMV records.
The time usage varies for the placards, depending on the disability and the doctor’s recommendations.
Not a free pass
Relatives and friends of people who rightfully own placards sometimes borrow those cards for their own benefit.
DiPietro said he has explained to many motorists that the placard is not valid in the absence of the person to whom it belongs.
“The placard goes with the person who has the disability — not with the car,” DiPietro said. “This is not a free parking pass.”
DiPietro said his department steps up parking and other “quality of life” enforcement during the holidays.
Miami Twp. police on Black Friday will run the numbers on the placards in vehicles in handicapped sections to make sure they are legitimate. It is fairly easy to weed out the fake ones. The fine is $261.
But police have a tougher time enforcing parking laws when the placards are legitimate because officers have to catch offenders in the act, said Michael Manville, a researcher at the Institute of Transportation Studies at University of California, Los Angeles who studied handicapped parking trends in Los Angeles.
“The placard is not assigned to a vehicle, it is assigned to a person,” Manville said. “It is a hard law to crack down on, and as people become aware of that, they take advantage of it.”
Manville said parking lots at malls and stores are usually built for the businesses’ busiest days, which means there is almost always sufficient parking.
“They sort of design the parking lot specifically for the store’s busiest time of the year,” he said. “Walmart has enough parking everyday for the day before Christmas.”
The Dayton Mall has 6,400 parking spaces, enough to accommodate even the swarms of Black Friday shoppers.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-0749 or cfrolik@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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