Disabled Parking Bays (and mother&child bays):why do people abuse these spaces?  

I firmly belive in the disabled parking spaces. I think that people who use them should have to need them. I do not on the other hand care for the mother and child parking places, here there are spaces for pregnant women at the mall and I do not think that they are necisary, they take up great spaces that could be used for people with a real disability.

My mom has serious back problems that cause her great pain, to the point of making walking very difficult sometimes. When she visits me she wants to run my errands with me but if she is in bad pain we will use her parking sticker so that we can legaly use the space. She has good and bad days, on her good days we do not use it because someone else might actually need it.

On the other hand I know people who have the parking permit that hangs from the rearview mirror who will use it every time despite the fact they they do not always need it.

Yeah i totaly agree people should be aware that it is indeed a disabled parking lot. everyone who drives a vehicle should be aware of this, and avoid using or parking their vehicle there unless they are disabled users. Ir becomes really difficult and inconvenient for disable users as they are unble to find a proper place to park. Well i feel that heavier fines and penalty should be given to people who park in the disable parking babys. Then i think people will stop parking there as time goes by.

best regards,
alvingb

I am also disabled, though I don't use a wheelchair. I get so annoyed by this, and I wish I had the courage to do what a friend did recently. He saw a young woman park in the last disabled bay, then get out and run into the store. He parked his car right behind her, then went in and took his time doing his shopping. After a few minutes, the announcement came over the tannoy, 'Would the owner of car registration xxx please move their vehicle, as it is causing an obstruction?' He ignored it, and returned to his car about half an hour later. The woman was there, screeching at him, 'I was in a hurry, and now you've made me late.' My friend replied, 'I'm disabled, and you took the last space. I can't walk very far, so I had to leave the car here. Don't ever use the disabled bays 'just to pop in' again.' Everyone within hearing distance broke into applause, and the security man came up and shook my friend's hand!

When people park in a handicapped space and are not actually handicapped urks my nerves so bad. I am very fortunate not to have to use one. But when I see some one that has a tag in their window or on their license plate and they get out of their car with as much ease as me, I get pissed. I would love to be like most lazy people and run into a store while parking in a "prime" spot too. There is nothing worse then going to Walmart or such and having to park all the way in the back of the lot, especially toting my three kids. But I suppose my conciencse gets to me and I would never park in a handicap spot to avoid doing so. That is just plain wrong. Unfortunately, I see it happen all the time. I just love to say something nasty to the lazy bums who do that. I have often been told that one day I will find trouble doing so but it really makes me mad to think that people are better than everyone else. As far as the mother/child bays, they are a complete godsend for us parents who juggle toddlers in parking lots where people dont even pay attention to the way they drive or drive recklessly. To those who complain about them, I would like to see them try to juggle carrying one infant and holding onto two toddlers. Can be a very big nightmare!