By: Sarah

Sarah
Wed, 06 May 2015 16:07:03 +0000

Faith – Yes I am pointedly saying if they can walk 200 feet without rest they should not park there. This includes all the walking they do, including in the store. This may sound mean and unfair, but that is the law in most states. And with good reason because there is a very limited supply of disabled parking spaces. ADA requires only about 2% of all spaces be accessible parking spaces. Currently you have 10%+ of the population with disabled parking permits competing for just 2% of the spaces. This is causing a supply/demand issue and it is only going to get worse as the population ages.

Now you may say we should just create more handicap spaces, change ADA to require 10% of parking spaces be accessible. I personally would be fine with that. But keep in mind, for those who still walk but cannot walk 200 feet, those extra disabled spaces will be even farther away from an entrance, 2-3 times farther. Disabled spaces are much wider than normal spaces and as you add more they quickly get farther and farther away.

So what to do? It all comes back to mobility aids and barrier free routes. Because with them, distance is not an issue and handicap parking spaces could be located as far from the entrance as needed.

Lastly, Yes I agree we won’t and don’t know if someone truly needs the space. Which is exactly why you don’t know if this group or any group is responsibly using their placards. Human nature and history shows no one or group does. We all on occasion abuse the privilege. I have yet to meet anyone that has not and this includes people with obvious disabilities.