Should they have or not?

[msshearin]

http://www.bikerspost.com/forum/topics/bikers-vs-apd-over-bar-parking

[Miles]

The bikers should not have parked in the handicap parking spaces. Period.

[Trader]

In Ontario unless you have a permit visible, you can be charged with a hefty fine for parking in a handicap zone.

 

Like the man said ....it's the state law....nobody has the right to say "it's OK to break the law".

 

It sounds a lot like the bar owner is distancing himself from the issue!

Bet Bike night finds a new location after this one!

[SilvrT]

Ignorance of the law is not a legitimate defense.

[Condor]

I think this handicap parking thing is getting way out of hand. I just read an article this morning in the Sacramento Bee concerning the ability to park on downtown streets for free if the car displays a handicap placard, and you'd think that half the city was handicapped. All you need is a Dr.'s signature and the DVM will issue the HC placard.

We originally had a parking self serving enforcement group, manned by handicapped people, that had the ability to ticket anyone parking illegally in a handicapped space. The group became a cash cow and now they even patrol residential streets to find possible illegal parking. My wallet is $100 lighter because I had an empty boat trailer up on the curb roll in front of the house several years ago. 6" too close to the sidewalk.

So in my opinion this whole handicapped thing is a bunch of BS. Here we have a building code that says a business has to have a ratio of 1:10?? or 1:20?? handicapped spaces to regular spaces. In front of Sam's club there must be 30 HC spaces in front of the store, and I bet 80% of those using those spaces don't need them. Last week I walked past a Corvette in one of the spaces and the gal getting into it looked like she could run a mile or two. Maybe she was married to a HC'd person, but that doesn't mean it was good for her too....

In the case of the motorcycles parking in a HC space at a bar. Give me a break!! When the last time you've seen a wheel chair in a honky tonk saloon. If the bar owner has a MC crowd visiting on a regular basis maybe a MC only space should be made. Divide a regular space into quarters and put a post at both ends to keep cars from parking in it??

Like I said this whole HC thing is out of control. There's a guy here in California that is making a very nice living sueing business' that might not be up to code with ramps, HC restrooms, parking spaces... I guess you can tell I don't like this HC movement much.

[SilvrT]

I think this handicap parking thing is getting way out of hand.

 

[Vance]

We've all seen this abused. A classic I will always remember is a guy where I worked drove a Suburban, with two kayaks on his roof rack.

 

 

[Flyinfool]

[rant]

There are handicapped people on motorcycles. Take our own Aussie Annie for instance. She shipps her specially equipped MC over when she come to visit us.

 

I had a case once where I was in a full leg cast in March in Wisconsin winter. I had a temp handicapped tag for my truck. The only time I used it was if the weather was bad and I needed to keep things as dry as possible. There was one time I parked close because there was heavy snow and sleet coming down. Some guy walks up to my truck and starts screaming at me that there is no way a handicapped person can drive a truck like mine. When I got out with my full cast and crutches, his wife began beating him over the head with her purse. You can not tell a handicap from appearances.

 

I know a woman in her late 20s that looks like she could run a marathon. She has a heart condition and can not walk very far. She parks in the handicap spot and then walks into the store and jumps into one of their motorized carts. She gets a lot of strange looks and some rude comments.

 

Just because someone drives a Corvette and is good looking does not mean they are not handicapped.

 

On the other hand there are a lot of people that figure since they have the handicapped plate or tag for a spouse or other relative that they can use it any time for front row parking.

 

A lot of people with motorcycles feel that parking rules do not apply to them.

 

[/rant]

[icebrrg3rd]

+1 on appearances. Can't always tell by looks, but I'm sure there are a ton of people that abuse the permit by parking when the person it's issued to isn't with them.

 

As for parking in a handicap spot w/o the tag, I once parked my bike in the painted lines between the handicap spots and someone called the cops & I wound up with a ticket. Went to court, got off with a $10 court fee, and now I will never park there again. If there are painted lines but not by the handicap spots, I will sometime park there. But for now, I'm healthy and I will walk the distance to park correctly.

 

-Andrew

[RedRider]

I am curious -

 

If an owner ropes off a parking lot area that includes the HC spots, can they place temporary HC spots right outside the roped off area and be in compliance?

 

RR

[dacheedah]

A handicapped spot is 16' wide ( if it's van accessable ) or 14' wide for car access, this includes the parking lane and the lined out area for access. There are portions that are not included as exclusion areas in those spots and this is especially true if it's in angled parking, that said I won't park next to a handicapped space.

 

The business owner is required to have one in 25 spaces marked handicapped and those need to be at the nearset point of handicapped access.

 

The property owner has no right to give permission or block the access to that spot. The constitution givith and the elected officials taketh away.

[JohnMidnight]

No, it wasn't smart. But what has peeved me bad, is when these kids take their moms HC vehicle to go shopping.

[Midrsv]

I recall once when my parents had a wheelchair van that had a ramp that folded down from the side door. I had taken my dad to restaurant and parked in a handicapped spot with a striped space to the side to allow for the ramp to come down with room to load. While we were there some jerk comes in and attempts to park in the regular space adjacent to us but parks about 2 feet over the line. This made it too close for my dad to easily line up with the ramp without scratching the cars door. I could have backed the van out of the spot for loading but instead I went back into the restaurant and had the offending person paged to come and move his car. He came out kind of huffy until I pointed out that we could have just as easily scratched his car attempting to load if he preferred that. I figured he needed and education.