That’s a big incentive to get in on the scam, and plenty of people are doing just that.
It’s a form of theft — let’s just call it what it is — that threatens Chicago’s entire policy of free parking for the handicapped. And it must be stopped.
As Sun-Times reporter Chris Fusco found with the help of a retired Chicago Police Department lieutenant, seemingly able-bodied people have been using handicap placards or handicap license plates to park throughout the South Loop, around the Cook County Criminal Courthouse at 26th and California and at various other spots — and it’s getting worse.
In Cook County today, there is one handicap placard in circulation for every 13 passenger vehicles, and that doesn’t even include vehicles with handicap license plates or with placards issued by other states.
The cheaters make it harder
for people with legitimate disabilities to find parking spaces; and those whose disabilities aren’t obvious may be viewed with cynicism as they leave or return to their cars.
But cracking down isn’t easy. Law officers can’t wait around for hours for someone to return to a vehicle with a suspicious placard or plate, and even then a suspect who spots an officer might just turn around and walk away until the coast is clear.
Moreover, the placard or plate might in fact be valid if an able-bodied person procured it by lying to a medical professional.
An ordinance to crack down on cheaters is scheduled to be introduced early next year, but its provisions are not final. Karen Tamley, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, is proposing that the city tow cars that display stolen, expired, “borrowed” or bogus placards. That would add a $150 towing fee and $10 daily storage fee to the $200 ticket.
That sounds good to us, but the penalties are pretty tough already and have failed to discourage the cheaters. For using fake, altered, lost or stolen placards, drivers can be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, be fined as much as $2,500 and have their driver’s license suspended. In addition, applicants, who once could obtain as many placards as they requested, now are limited to one.
Michael Manville, a Cornell University assistant professor of city and regional planning, says Census data show that about 80 percent of those who use handicap placards or license plates are not poor, suggesting that not every handicapped driver needs free parking.
Bob Bogdan, disability liaison for the Illinois Secretary of State, said authorities are studying a Michigan law that limits free parking to people with valid driver’s licenses and who have physical impairments that impede their ability to use parking meters. That would mean, of course, that all disabled people who have an able-bodied driver or — despite their disability — are physically able to pay at the meters themselves would have to do so.
Doctors, who must sign the two-page applications for parking placards, must step up and refuse to sign in inappropriate cases, Bogdan said.
Parking cheats hurt us all. A crackdown can’t come too soon.
# http://www.suntimes.com/opinions/8823030-474/editorial-time-must-expire-on-handicap-parking-cheats.html
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REPORTING ABUSE
Handicap-parking complaints can be filed with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office online at cyberdriveillinois.com. Click on “Parking Program for Persons with Disabilities Abuse Complaint Form.”
PENALTIES
†People caught using handicap placards or handicap license plates without the placard- or plate-holder present face a fine of at least $500 and a 30-day driver’s license suspension. The police also can confiscate illegally used placards.
†Doctors who make false statements to help someone obtain a handicap plate or placard face fines of up to $1,000.
†People caught altering placards; manufacturing fakes; using fake, lost or stolen placards; or selling real or fake placards could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by jail time, fines of up to $2,500 and a one-year driver’s license suspension
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