One of my pet peeves was formed many years ago before it was even something that actually affected me. It drives me crazy to see people using parking spaces set aside for those with disabilities. You know; the handicapped spaces.
I have complained in this space in the past about how I wished that there was some way that average citizens could inform the authorities about violations. Many of these spaces are on private property that is not normally patrolled by the police such as shopping centers and apartment complexes. In fact, I used to have to contact the building management when some inconsiderate person parked in the only handicapped space in front of our building even though it meant that an elderly couple living in the building, and very much in need of the close proximity of the handicapped space, where forced to walk and wheel themselves some distance to get back to the building. Eventually the management people did get the police involved when this violator became chronic and several of us in the building insisted that something official be done. Little notes left on the windshield didn't do much good.
Anyway, things might have been much easier if we lived in Illinois. The website for the Secretary of State there now includes a way for average citizens to inform the authorities about people who are violating the rules of handicapped parking. Now, you would think (as I certainly did when I first started reading about this) that the site would be flooded with complaints the moment the complaint form went live but that apparently wasn't the case. In the first six weeks or so that the form was available there were a little more than one hundred complaints. Again, this is for the state of Illinois and not Delaware or Rhode Island. Those complaints led to eight investigations as of a few weeks ago although it's not clear which complaints lead to investigations and which don't. The low (in my opinion) number of complaints could also be that citizens in Illinois are not yet aware that such a site exists.
As you might imagine, based on my previous writings, I think this is a great idea and I would hope that the local jurisdictions would consider adding it to their list of enforcement tools. The police can't be everywhere but these sort of offenses impact people who may not be able to make their own case. If all of us could be eyes and ears to catch violators it might help. Even if potential violators knew that anybody could report them and that they could be help accountable even if a cop isn't there then maybe it would make them think twice about taking that handicapped space even if they think they will be leaving in just a few minutes.
If such a site pops up locally you can rest assured that we will bring it to your attention so that there is no question of its being properly publicized. In the meantime, maybe we can all just be a bit more considerate and think about the challenges some of our neighbors face.
Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.
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