An article regarding persons with vision impairments not being eligible to receive disability parking permits in Qld.
Absolutely disgraceful.
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I saw this on TV. Having know quite a few blind people over many years, I am very sympathetic to their disability, but I donât agree with the blind lady in this case.
I know that guide dogs are trained to remain calm in noisy hazardous environments, I also understand that not all guide dogs handle these things the same. But why is she going to look for a taxi through a busy car park? Usually taxi ranks are accessible via pedestrian ony foot paths, and not through the car park.
It sounds like she is a regular patron of the taxi company, and I am sure if she books her taxi by talking to the call centre, they would know to come and collect her. I think all taxi drivers would be sympathetic to driving in close to the shops to collect her at a pedestrian safe location. She even states that they double park to let her and her guide dog out. The same could occur when she is being picked up.
My limited mobility mother uses taxis to go to medical appointments, and the taxi drivers are almost without exception understanding, helpful, and courteous. But, the blind lady needs phone up to get the cab to come to her, and not attempt the hazards of the carpark.
I think it would be far more reasonable to ask the local council for a no parking âdrop off pointâ to be created at the entrance to the shops where she and others could alight and board vehicles.
Sorry, but I donât agree with her.
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To add to my earlier comment, the ABC had this news article on last nightâs Qld news. This time instead of a taxi, they were talking about the vision impaired lady being driven by a female friend.
This raises even more questions in my mind as to why the friend doesnât drop her and pick her up at the entrance? If the driver parks the car in a standard parking space while they are together, then surely the driver would assist the vision impaired lady safely through the car park.
When applying for a disability sticker, the form states that parking spaces are for mobility impaired drivers and/or passengers. A medical certificate from a doctor is required to go with the application form to prove that the applicant is indeed mobility impaired.
If the Qld Government decides to include vision impaird with mobility impaired, I hope that they increase the number of disabled parking spaces proportionately, unlike other states where this hasnât occurred.
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Another article regarding disabled persons not being able to get disability parking permits.
And an article regarding grubs who not only illegally park in disabled parking spaces but attack persons who call out their disgusting behaviour.
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An article regarding calls for tough action on grubs who park in Disabled Parking spots.
Having their tyres slashed or their vehicles towed might be a good starting point.
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Well not slashed tyres but Wheel Clamping would be a nice start & then towing. Wheel Slashing is Criminal Damage no matter where they are parked, and could easily end up with the tyre slasher facing Court and restitution costs.
I donât have an issue with demerit points either but this from my understanding requires Police or I believe Transport Dept to attend and issue a breach/ticket or for definitive evidence (including time, date, location ie photos with date, time, and location data embedded) to show that the vehicle was parked in a Disability Parking spot without displaying a valid Disability Parking Permit and that evidence is forwarded to the Police for their consideration. The car would probably be driven away before Police arrived to issue a ticket unless and only possibly unless it was a spot in front of a Police StationâŠthey arenât always there from our experience.
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I was meaning that the authorities actually do, it.
My experience is that there are lots of people who donât have an issue with parking (illegally) in disabled parking spots. That is, no permit is displayed. I have also had many chances to wonder if the displayed permit belongs to the people alighting from the vehicle and moving with such apparent ease.
The most effective solution Iâve come up with is to report them (no displayed permit) to the shopping centre management (if it is there) who call out the rego over the PA system and ask them to remove the vehicle.
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In my experience, when I hear these calls in Cairns, there are no details such as âYour vehicle is parked in a Disability Parking Spot without displaying a permitâ.
And when I have called shopping centre managements over the past few decades when I have witnessed grubs parking in such spots in Cairns, they claimed that all they could do was to tell them that they should not do that.
When I saw a pair of grubs park in the only disabled parking space outside the Cairns Day Surgery when my wife was collecting me after a procedure and I witnessed them both walk away heading uptown without any sort of problem after displaying a Victorian Disability Permit, I called our Council who claimed that they could do nothing about interstate permit holders.
And then there all the grubs who have either falsely acquired a disability parking permit or who are wrongfully displaying another personâs permit.
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Sometimes words can be hollow and ignoredl
Maybe they should sayâŠâYour vehicle is parked in a Disability Parking Spot without displaying a permit. Photos of the illegal vehicle parking has been taken and police have been contacted to take enforcement actionâ. And then photos are taken with police contacted.
After a few times, all shoppers as well as the local community would quickly know that the centre will take appropriate action.
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I think a lot of people here overestimate how much can be done in these cases. Ringing a local police station is unlikely to do anything. It will be a bottom priority call and by the time someone arrives the offender would have left.
I think the best thing that can be done is continued cultural change. Apart from state governments giving local council parking inspectors the authority to issue those fines perhaps.
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Just laziness on the part of the shopping centre or not wishing to offend a profit centre ie a customer. As the Carpark is a private car park the Centre can hire a tow company to collect the vehicle as long as they have put up notification at the entry about conditions of entering and parking in the private carpark⊠If they have a security officer, that person can arrange the tow as they are authorised to maintain âsecurityâ in the Shopping area. They can also ask the Police to take action on their behalf and from an article on the matter âPolice can issue fines in a range of areas, including in privately-owned car parksâ.
You can take photos of the offending vehicles and send them to the police, it doesnât require you to contact Centre Management. It is a bit of a cop out by the CM though not to take more severe action. Put a comment on their Social Media page about how they failed to take actionâŠthat will sour their day for them.
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TryâŠ
However, they are very specific in information required.
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âApparent easeâ is far from a litmus test of disability. This is widely publicised these days. To wit: A family member in the US is a disabled veteran and so identified on her vehicle. No visible disability supported by a plethora of medicines and a number of surgeries along the way. Pain management!
There are âinvisible to the eyeâ medical issues. Although many with handicap permits might be on the marginal end of the spectrum to get them, you can not always tell whether it is serious just by looking.
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Thanks for that clarification. I agree with what you say.
I am well aware of that as I appear to fall into the ânot too obviousâ category. Another example are people with heart conditions.
I am very conscious of all of that, but still on many occassions I look at people alighting dexterously from the permitted vehicle and cannot help but wonder whoâs permit it is because all occupants are jaunty and unconstrained in their movements, not like someone who has any sort of physical (or pain) impairment.
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From what I understand, vehicles displaying a disability parking permit isnât restricted to passengers only with disability. As long as one person is disabled in the vehicle, it can be displayed legitimately can display the permitâŠso there coukd be able bodied individuals leaving a permitted vehicle.
I am not sure the ethics or legitimacy of say the driver using their own disability permit to allow parking closer so that able bodied passengers save a few steps.
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I understand it is legitimate if someone in the vehicle needs it. Which is why I said I was in doubt when:
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Shopping centre carparks are usually privately owned by the centre, and in NSW at leasst, the Police cannot do anything.
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Thats me. Walking any distance at all is a real trial for me, its bad enough that te supermarket is so bloody BIG, let alone having to park miles away. Add to that, arthritic joints, which werent a problem when I first got the permit. Shopping trolleys make reasonable âwalkersâ.
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Happens all the time in my suburb.
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