I can immediately see problems with this, for example when you have a ‘loaner’ while the car is being serviced, or a rental vehicle (because your car has had structural modifications imposed on it by a 2nd or 3rd party, serious issues, or even if you are lucky enough to be on holidays).
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Not a disability parking issue with the exception of the featured person being brain dead, but an amusing slideshow.
When we returned to our vehicle after visiting a family member in the Cairns Base Hospital last Sunday, I could not believe that some totally inconsiderate grub had parked in the middle of the road in the carpark thus blocking vehicles on either side from leaving.
A McLaren driving parasite parks across 2 disabled parking spots.
What a disgusting grub.
The Brisbane City Council is cracking down on grubs who park illegally in disabled parking bays.
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And in today’s episode of “You Just Can’t Help Stupid”, the winner is the Brisbane City Council".
"Cr Marx said she urged anyone who had concerns about a parking fine to contact the council immediately.
“We are also working to find a solution to make sure vehicles linked to valid permits are recognised in our database and not incorrectly issued with infringements going forward,” she said."
These muppets need to wake up to the fact that disability parking permits are not linked to vehicle registrations and to find an accurate method to police this issue.
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Linking permits to rego is imperfect but would you like to propose how a disabled permit holder can be tracked for the purposes of issuing fines if they were not in the ‘right place at the ticketed time’ to make the vehicle’s present in a disabled spot legal? Tracking devices like criminals wear? Even if you agreed they should be tracked and traced 24 x 7 just in case, imagine how the locality information system would be integrated with the find and fine system.
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The system already exists.
If Council wants to police parking using moving vehicles instead of foot patrols, then it is up to them to get their act together and adapt their technology.
Google Maps uses vehicles to record 360 degree video with cameras on small roof mounted masts so hard can it be.
Of course, any camera recording is less likely to reveal expired or fake permits than a foot patrol could.
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Cameras everywhere? Are you expecting that they would record every vehicle parking in a disabled space and who gets out of it. to be matched with a fool proof recognition system? And integrated into the automatic fine sending system?
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No. I am simply saying that they should be capable of getting a mobile camera to be able to focus on the disability parking permit on the dashboard.
If they are not capable of doing so, then go back to foot patrols instead of unfairly targeting valid pertmit holders.
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Wasn’t the highlighted problem that the permit is linked to a person, not the vehicle and the person is supposed to be with the vehicle for the permit to be valid? And the disability tag does not have the same validity period as rego?
Ever try taking a [reliable, legible] photo/image/video of anything behind curved glass? The mobile spotting cameras are not 100% able to differentiate a Snickers from a mobile, let alone read the label. Technology has its limits, and those who implement it usually have even lesser limits.
But that puts fairness (and council costs) back into the system. Cannot have any of that. It would set a bad precedent. It is always easier to push the onus of compliance back onto the citizen rather than ‘the system’ establishing guilt, and so it goes, and we have been ‘educated’ accordingly through routine and dismissive responses when it is raised.
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An older topic with the correct title, Disability Parking.
There are a few links in previous posts about eligibility and if one has a problem less than 6 months duration the system does not want to know you unless you and the doctor/surgeon or therapist play their game.
The ridiculous criteria suggests many people with short term disability (eg crutches after major surgery) who should be mobile without aids in 2~3 months have to claim and apply for 6 mos minimum permits or they do not have a mobility worry in the world according to the homogenised process involving the state licensing authority, the doctor, and a council!
Since I cannot find a short term version of the permit I have to conclude there are not only people but also committees who have neither respect nor appreciation for people recovering from often serious illnesses/surgeries; they prioritise their trouble and processes to issue the tags above people who genuinely need them.
Those mentioned in previous topics might be people who were disabled for a few months, played the 6 mos game, and are using their tags until they expire, rightly or wrongly.
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A change to the system could include the issue of six month permit for short-term disability cases with the doctor/surgeon advising the relevant authority to cancel the permit if the medical need is no longer there before the expiry of the permit e.g. after two months.
If there is already an on-line database of valid permits, the proposal could be implemented fairly easily. Just the same as police can check for the currency of a vehicle registration or driving licence, parking officers could check the currency of disability parking permits.
The only other thing to consider would be the number of such permits being issued and whether this would overload demand for the number of available parking spots.
I think the parking inspectors rely solely on the expiry date on the front of the permit. For shopping centre parking which is private property, do their security staff even have direct and legal access to the holders details or permit approvals?
As background.
Our aged mum had one issued in NSW. The outward facing side provided a Govt motif, permit background and expiry plus a permit number. For my partner her permit was issued by the GP due to serious knee issues pending surgery for replacements. The permit expired some time after the second knee replacement. Recovery varies and is managed by the specialist knee surgeon. Some recover/rehab faster than others. The timing is all in the hands of the specialist, as is the assessment of reclaimed mobility.
Is the issuing of the permits, which are typically subject to a medical opinion best done by the Govt transport departments or should they be issued, dated and updated by the referring medical specialist? We trust the same to issue prescriptions for potentially dangerous medications which are controlled through prescription. It seems a small step to take.
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