Friday, August 14, 2009

My letter to the T&G editor on disabled parking.

http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2009/08/14/opinion/letters/02letter8.14.txt
Posted by Jay Moreno at 10:57 AM

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Last night my husband and I ate at a small restaurant at River City Marketplace (airport exit). As we were looking for a spot to park the truck ahead of us (also from Camden) pulled into the Van Accessible Handicap parking spot. Their parking lot was only slighly full. We ended up parking 4 spots down. As we walked by I checked the situation out. Two adults early 40's or late 30's, two children and a red temporary handicap parking permit. I know their are all types of disablities that qualify for a permit that don't neccessarily mean you are using a walker or in a wheelchair. However, all 4 persons in this truck appeared perfectly capable of walking the same distance that we did. I wanted to say something so badly but for fear of how people react these days I minded my own business. I see this type of abuse too often. I don't know the answer but I do know Karma is a Bitch!

August 16, 2009 at 2:07 PM
Jay Moreno said...

My all time favorite story is tghe time I pulled in to Angelo's (the current location of the "original Angelos" and saw a guy on a motorcycle sitting in the one diabaled parking place directly in fromnt of the restaurant. He was gabbing with two people on foot. A I waited about ten minutes, slowly edging up closer behind the guy thinking he would get the hint.

Whe he didn't I reachd into my console and got my old disabled parking placard ( I have a tag now), held it up in the windshield,a nd lightly tooted my horn. When he looked my way, I made hand gestures to the effct that I was waiting to get into that space.

He pointed to the small Georgia license plate on the back of his motorcycle. To my utterly flabbergasted amazement, the damned thing had a disabled tag on it! A "disabled" motorcycle rider!

I had to go park down by the dumptster beyond the convenience store while the obstinate, inconsiderate lout continued to sit there.

I'm guessing that the folks you saw may have an elderly relative who qualifies for it, but was not in the truck.

August 16, 2009 at 4:33 PM
Jay Moreno said...

Just out of curiosity, I loked up the qualifying conditions for a disabled parking permit in Georgia.
Here they are:

Disability Defined

Your doctor will need to certify any of the following conditions of your disability, based on criteria set forth by Georgia law:

Hearing impaired
Cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest
Cannot walk without assistance or use of wheelchair
Lung disease or severe breathing difficulty
Uses portable oxygen
Has severe cardiac condition
Is blind
Has limited walking ability due to arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition or complications due to pregnancy

I am triple qualified under the second, third and last criteria.

The red tags are temporary and good for only six months whereas the blue placards and license plates have to be renewed every 4 years.

I believe you can get a temporary one if your leg is in a cast. If you recover and have the cast removed before six months and you have no character whatsoever, you can probably go on using it illegally for years.

August 16, 2009 at 4:55 PM
Anonymous said...

The nice lady's experience with the family with a temporary handicapped permit makes me think the State of Georgia should issue a flyer entitled "Handicapped parking - Rules of etiquette" along with all placards. To utilized a "van accessible" space when another handicapped space is available should be a "no brainer." In fact, for some, utilizing a handicapped space when there is a perfectly good regular space right beside it is also extremely inconsiderate. I have often parked immediately to the right of a "marked" spot as I only need a little extra room on the driver's side in order to get into or out of my car.

September 20, 2009 at 12:03 PM
Anonymous said...

EDITED for typos.
Heads Up to my fellow (yes, it IS a sexist term) disabled travellers -- the number of disabled motorcyclists are rapidly increasing. We are the baby boomer social workers, doctors, lawyers, blue collar workers, secretaries, etc. who tried to smile when many of you glared as we wheeled our Triumphs, Harleys, Moto Guzzis, etc. through rush hour traffic in the late 60's and early 70's. We have heart conditions, MS, severe arthritis, COPD, etc. We've been in love with the feel of the wind in our faces and the view of nature's wonders unhampered by tinted windows for over 40 years and don't wish to give all that up any sooner than we absolutely have to. For years we have customized our two-wheelers with all manner of accessories such as an "Easy Clutch" and "Throttle Boss" to aid our arthritic hands in using the clutch, throttle, and front brake. As our chronic conditions have gotten more and more debilitating, we've sought help from the a new industry which has expanded from developing cars and vans to creating motorcycles for the handicapped. This was, as many things are, started to meet the needs of our returning members of the military service missing limbs, etc. who want to do everything they can to return to the life they once knew. "Training wheels" such as a "Voyager Kit" can be added to the rear of a bike but the results are less than satisfactory to most of us and, to some, seem outright dangerous. The advent of "kits" to modify a two-wheeler into a three-wheeled trike provided a permanent alternative to "bikers" who can no longer handle the weight of a big touring motorcycle. I even have a "reverse" on my latest conversion - a crimson red 2008 Harley ElectraGlide with full-size car tires and a good-sized trunk--essential for a lady who likes to travel long distances for weeks rather than days. Now that Harley-Davidson has introduced the 2009 TriGlide, a trike built entirely in the factory and sold with the normal H-D warranty, more and more aging and disabled bikers will choose three wheels over/in addition to cars and vans as long as possible. In addition, a surprising number of older Americans are joining their 30-something children on bikes - "something I've ALWAYS wanted to try" and purchasing their first motorcycle now that the stability of a trike is easy to purchase. Now the motorcycle industry and safety folks are working together to develop training courses for new, older, bikers. Surely many of them will eventually transition from regular motorcycle tags to handicapped tags as well. Just as we did not like being painted with the same brush as "Easy Rider" many years ago, please don't view all of us as inconsiderate as the lone biker who wouldn't end his conversation early in order to let you have the accessible parking space you needed.

September 20, 2009 at 1:10 PM

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