Let's Eliminate Government-Mandated Handicapped Parking Spots.

[1srelluc]

What do you do when you can't find a spot?

Park near the cart corral, get a cart and use it to help us along. Either that or grin and bear it.

 

[1srelluc]

Meh. I don't care one way or the other about the accessible rooms-mostly just means a walk-in shower.



The biggest reason in this area isn't even the marked parking. It's that the permit allows UNLIMITED time on city streets, WITHOUT paying the meters.

Who has parking meters anymore? My town got shed of them near 40 years ago.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Who has parking meters anymore? My town got shed of them near 40 years ago.

Cities. Lots of places.

 

[Mashmont]

Park near the cart corral, get a cart and use it to help us along. Either that or grin and bear it.

I would hate if undeserving folks are taking spots from you. Perhaps the hospital should voluntarily put in more handicapped spaces.

 

[Missourian]

As per usual, it's the ones that abuse the system that ruin it for everyone.

But that said, when your parents get into their 80 and neither can walk without assistance, you'll be glad there's handicap parking.

 

[cnm]

Does walking a few extra steps really hurt you?

It's amazing in this thread to see the number of supposedly fit people complaining about extra steps. I drove my mother with mobility issues around. Those parking spots were life savers for her.

 

[GMCGeneral]

Its still far better than marrying in ones 20s with very little attained wealth and no degree to fall back on. Two young people building from nothing is the worst thing one can enter into.

Not true at all. My dad was in the Army and my mom was 19 when they married in 1959. I had a classmate in HS that married her boyfriend in 1987 and she was 18. Guess what? BOTH couples ended up with stable, happy lives together. My parents were married 53-1/2 years when my mom passed away 12 years ago. My classmate is still married to her husband, has three kids of her own, and two grandkids. So take your feminazi propaganda and shove it.

 

[Mac1958]

It's amazing in this thread to see the number of supposedly fit people complaining about extra steps. I drove my mother with mobility issues around. Those parking spots were life savers for her.

I didn't expect the pure cruelty component of this whole thing. It's still a little surprising.

 

[Lisa558]

Meh. I don't care one way or the other about the accessible rooms-mostly just means a walk-in shower.



The biggest reason in this area isn't even the marked parking. It's that the permit allows UNLIMITED time on city streets, WITHOUT paying the meters.

Why should that be? Because someone sprained their ankle and now gets to use the handicapped spot, he doesn’t have to pay the meter? That’s ridiculous.

 

[j-mac]

In 2025, America is faced with such an erosion of liberties that many of us are numb to it. It's just expected, and it's imbedded in so many subtle ways.

Today, I'm going to focus on one of my pet peeves that I am sure many of you will disagree with me on, conservatives included: Handicapped parking spaces.

Ten years ago this summer, I had a torn quadriceps tendon, had major surgery and was in a cast for six weeks. I borrowed a walker from a neighbor. There was a point when no one was home, and I had to go to Walmart to buy groceries. All the close by parking spots were taken, except for the 20 or so handicapped spots of which about five were occupied. As you know, handicapped spots are the premium locations always closest to the door. So I began my slow trek about 200 feet from the entrance. As I neared the empty handicapped spots, a van pulled into one of them and out waddled a 300-pound woman. I don't know what her disability was, but the main one appeared to be that she was morbidly obese. She was walking without assistance, so I would assume if she were to drop 150 or so pounds, she could walk normally and not need a special spot. The only requirement for getting approval for handicapped parking is for a health care professional to sign off. Doesn't have to be a doctor. A nurse practitioner will do. And there doesn't have to be a specific condition; only the determination that one has difficulty walking normally. So this could be most anybody who wants one. I am told these things are relatively easy to come by.

A business must have 2% of spaces solely for handicapped parking. For a small business, any number under 20, must be for the handicapped; again the prime spot. My beef is that this spot is usually available, and 98% of the population is inconvenienced at all times to accommodate the possibility that less than 2% might use a spot. For a business like Walmart or Lowe's that has upwards of 1000 parking spots, at least 20 front-and-center spots have to be available. Usually fewer than half are filled. This inconveniences everybody else. I sure could have used one of those spots that day I was in a cast with my walker.

This madness started in 1973 with the Rehabilition Act which guaranteed rights for the Disabled. While the act didn't mandate parking spaces, it set the table for the American Disabilities Act of 1990 which ushered in the familiar guy-in-a-wheelchair blue icon where the rules were standardized.

My thoughts? This is just another unfunded mandate that businesses are expected to eat. The decision should be left up to the business. If they think a spot should be left open, leave it open. If not, don't have a handicapped spot. If people complain, it's on the business to decide. It also depends on the type of business. Hospitals and doctors' offices could choose to have them. Athletic speed performance centers may decide they don't need them. Right now, no one is encouraged by our laws or government health care system to be healthy. America is increasingly obese, and we must not fat shame people. In fact, we are told by the left we must celebrate people's obesity. "It's who they are". There are no incentives for being fit. No incentives to walk. But if we were to mandate spots, let's restrict eligibility and make it tougher. Being a 40-year-old fatass should not be enough.

But if we must have mandated handicapped parking, let's do it more intelligently. Lowe's shouldn't have 15 open prime real estate spots on a crowded business day. Have 15-minute parking. Or open those spaces for everyone between, 6 pm and 8 am. Or if there are say, eight parking spots, let the end spot be for the handicapped; not the one right in front (which requires another adjacent space for loading and unloading).

It's all part of the softening of society. What did people do before 1974? They worked it out. They went when it wasn't busy. They got dropped off. Someone went in for them. They did what they could to become ambulatory again. Or businesses decided for themselves. Forced mandates are not compassion. True disabilities are unfortunate, but you don't make everyone else move heaven and earth to accommodate. Government needs to get the hell out. It's none of their business.

History of Handicapped Parking Tags

Discover the history of handicapped parking tags, how they originated & shaped accessibility laws to support drivers with disabilities.

wkfirm.com

US obesity rates have tripled over the last 60 years | USAFacts

Nationwide surveys show that 40% of Americans are obese, while 10% are severely obese.

usafacts.org

I don’t have a problem with handicapped parking, my problem is with those people you see, and we’ve all seen them using the mobility carts when they don’t need them…Or better yet, marking off 25 premium spots for order pick up…

 

[initforme]

Not true at all. My dad was in the Army and my mom was 19 when they married in 1959. I had a classmate in HS that married her boyfriend in 1987 and she was 18. Guess what? BOTH couples ended up with stable, happy lives together. My parents were married 53-1/2 years when my mom passed away 12 years ago. My classmate is still married to her husband, has three kids of her own, and two grandkids. So take your feminazi propaganda and shove it.

Upwards of half of all marriages today end in divorce. One had better ensure they have the training to support themselvesvwith good pay if the marriage fails. Its prudent thinking. The old days arent coming back. Thats not propoganda, those are just facts.

 

[Mashmont]

I don’t have a problem with handicapped parking, my problem is with those people you see, and we’ve all seen them using the mobility carts when they don’t need them…Or better yet, marking off 25 premium spots for order pick up…

I’ll take the order pick up spot if they’re mostly empty. What are they doing to do?

 

[1srelluc]

I would hate if undeserving folks are taking spots from you. Perhaps the hospital should voluntarily put in more handicapped spaces.

LOL....The one section the wife goes to has a whole parking lot of them, always full of WVians. I just drop her off at the door go park someplace, and she calls me when she's done and I pick her up at the door.

At least that way I'm not using a HC spot. I usually park down by a large pond they have there and watch the critters till she's done.

 

[Mr Natural]

The poor baby might have to walk a few extra steps.

So sad.

 

[Elusivebutterfly]

We have a lot of elderly in FL. Many of them have heart problems. Then there are those that have balance problems. My neighbor went out to get her mail and fell on the sloped driveway. She died one week later from a blood clot in her brain. They die or break hips just taking out the huge trash bins so i dont have a problem parking further. All im going to add is, try being disabled and immobile for a decade or 2 and see how many pounds you accumulate.

The problem lies in young family members using the placards because they are lazy or they leave the elderly in a disabled spot so they can shop.

 

[JWBooth]

Let's Eliminate Government-Mandated​

Could have stopped there and been good.

 

[j-mac]

I’ll take the order pick up spot if they’re mostly empty. What are they doing to do?

Oh, I’ve done the same thing…

 

[Mashmont]

LOL....The one section the wife goes to has a whole parking lot of them, always full of WVians. I just drop her off at the door go park someplace, and she calls me when she's done and I pick her up at the door.

At least that way I'm not using a HC spot. I usually park down by a large pond they have there and watch the critters till she's done.

That's odd. West Virginians are usually very thin and fit as a rule.

 

[1srelluc]

That's odd. West Virginians are usually very thin and fit as a rule.

It's the pills/meth.

 

[22lcidw]

You deserve bad news from your oncologist.



You're nuts.



A big reason, of course, is that a parking pass is about $200-small, used bills discreetly wrapped in paperwork and handed to the DMV employee. The only reason needed is the cash.

All I am saying s there are people who cheat. And that is okay as the medical system is getting more and more expensive. In fact, it is growing near ten per cent a year. Therea re people perhaps family members who are associated with those with disabilities living pretty well with the costs provide from the government and taxpayers. Rackets exist from those who know how to play the system for any reason.