Use Licence Plate Scanners to Enforce Handicapped Parking

"Tom McParland" (tommcparland)
03/19/2014 at 10:11 • Filed to: solutions, parkinglopnik, asshats, handicapped parking, mobility, ADA, adaptive vehicles, articles

The Jalopnik community has been doing an excellent job of highlighting some the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of drivers with disabilities. This increased awareness always brings to the forefront an issue that bothers us all, disabled or not...handicapped parking. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Law enforcement usually does not have the time and resources to enforce handicapped parking as much as we would like, but there may be a solution….licence plate scanners.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Handicapped parking offenders primarily fall into two categories. First, asshats with no tags or placards of any kind who are either too lazy, too stupid, or too entitled to walk an extra couple of feet. These folks should have their cars towed and volunteered for the local demolition derby. I know I would pay good money to see that. The second group of offenders is a bit trickier. These are people with handicapped plates or placards but are themselves not disabled. I call these the "grandma died so I get great parking" bunch. Keep in mind it is also very difficult to discern who is legitimately disabled or not, so I ask all of you please don't jump to judgement of someone in a handicapped space with the proper tags even if they "look like they can walk fine."

Recently my wife, a disabled driver, had to re-certify her tags and placards, because the NJ DMV is issuing a new program that all disabled plates/tags must be reevaluated after 3 years. She had to get proper documentation from her doctor that stated explicitly her disability in addition to updating some paperwork. While this caused a minor inconvenience of going to the local DMV for an hour we were glad that something is being done to ensure that the right individuals are getting disabled parking permits. Of course extra paperwork and new tags aren't going to stop the problem if there is no enforcement.

I realize that most police officers have better things to do than write citations for handicapped parking violations. But if we can make the enforcement quicker and more convenient this would result in a win-win situation by cracking down on illegal parking and increasing the local revenue through tickets. Currently across many municipalities law enforcement are using licence plate readers to scan vehicles as the officer patrols. These readers access a database of outstanding tickets, warrants, and other offenses. If a plate comes back positive, the officer can then take whatever action they deem necessary. Of course this practice is controversial, and I am not here to debate the methodology.

However, since the new disabled tags/placards now have updated database information about the driver/passenger with a disability as well as an expiration date, this could be an opportunity to use the licence plate readers. Law enforcement could cruise around a mall or shopping center scanning the disabled plates. If a plate comes up out of date or registered to the wrong car (hanging placards are different, they can be used on any vehicle) the officer can then issue a citation or even better just have the system mail it to the vehicle's residence. Though having the officer physically stand there and write the ticket would send a powerful message to others.

Perhaps this level of enforcement could be taken a step further like Sonoma officers did at this NASCAR race.

What do you think can be done, within reason, to keep the asshats out of handicapped spots?

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is a professional car buying consultant, lover of all things automotive and a bit wagon obsessed. You can find more ramblings and plenty of carporn !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

DISCUSSION (30)

Party-vi > Tom McParland
03/19/2014 at 10:17

Enable cars with handicap RFID chips that communicate to handicap parking spaces. If a vehicle is detected with no RFID signal, the car is compacted on-site and shipped via UPS to the owner's home.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Tom McParland
03/19/2014 at 10:18

While a nice idea of enforcement, it probably won't work everywhere. Here in Ontario, the disabled have a laminated permit they leave on the dashboard.

I've driven a disabled friend with a variety of vehicles that don't have those plates, which seem exclusive to disability converted vans and certain taxis.

Frank Grimes > Tom McParland
03/19/2014 at 10:19

That is a level of asshatery parking I could never even compete with. I consider myself served like a buster.

Tom McParland > Party-vi
03/19/2014 at 10:20

This shipping thing might be tough...but the RFID thing sounds great!

Drsweetdik > Tom McParland
03/19/2014 at 10:27

That pic is so perfect! As a boater, I HATE waverunnners! One being pulled a bro-truck totally fulfills the stereotype. Asshat narcissism at it's finest. Work out, inject steroids, run on the treadmill for an hour, then park as close to the front door as possible.

jariten1781 > Tom McParland
03/19/2014 at 10:43

This is incredibly easily defeated though. No front plate, back in. It would also require the police to constantly sweep the lots.

My solution would be something like I've seen in parking garages for reserved spaces before. In the front of the reserved space there's a little box that you go swipe your card in. If the card isn't swiped within X amount of time of a car being parked there a bright red light on a poll turns on and the attendant is notified. They tow quick too.

Tom McParland > jariten1781
03/19/2014 at 10:47

NJ requires both front and rear tags. Interesting concept, though it would require every lot to have an attendant. Maybe the signal can be sent to the closest patrol in the area to tell them of a ticket opportunity.

jariten1781 > Tom McParland
03/19/2014 at 10:48

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Pipe it to the meter maids. They get alerts for expired meters now already, this just adds another stop on the route.

Tom McParland > jariten1781
03/19/2014 at 10:50

I was thinking more rural/suburban areas with no meter maids...but yeah both could work.

zadtheinhaler > Party-vi
03/19/2014 at 11:06

While I like the compacting option, thermite is quicker.

Sir Halffast > Tom McParland
03/19/2014 at 11:06

Amazon drones. It'll be delivered within four hours of crushing.

Party-vi > zadtheinhaler
03/19/2014 at 11:07

I see - have small drones activate from a nearby kiosk and drop thermite onto the offending car's engine bay, and then have it towed.

zadtheinhaler > Party-vi
03/19/2014 at 11:31

DINGDINGDING!

We have a winner!

Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight > Tom McParland
03/19/2014 at 20:16

I like the idea (think it was Oklahoma) where civilians were deputized to write citations in a very narrow spectrum. Imagine the satisfaction afforded a handicapped person to be able to wheel up to the violators car that had a space they needed and write the ticket on the spot. Or the handicapped patrol showing up by the bus load who comes out to the parking lots in shifts to write tickets. How about the rural handicapped person who just wants to get out for a while and enjoy the sunshine .... and write a few tickets.

They could start their own clubs and get organized. I bet they could even get the Call A Ride companies to volunteer transportation to these individuals.

josephbloseph > Party-vi
03/21/2014 at 13:39

Of course, the system would need some way to confirm that the non-handicapped motorist weren't also leaving children or animals in the car.

Party-vi > josephbloseph
03/21/2014 at 13:40

Collateral damage. Besides, kids are expensive to feed. So are animals.

AdmiralAkbar > Tom McParland
03/21/2014 at 13:47

I need to keep a stack of these in my wallet:

Kinja'd!!!

sklooner > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
03/21/2014 at 14:46

Alberta gets mirror hangers that are good as I can use it when I transport my mother in law, however I see a lifted H2 around with one that is always parked in the same place I wonder how aanyone can get in it without a skyhook

sklooner > zadtheinhaler
03/21/2014 at 14:47

A buddy used to squirt water in their locks in winter

zadtheinhaler > sklooner
03/22/2014 at 00:13

Noice! In -40C weather in Saskatoon, that could mean a burst lock cylinder.

And I am totally OK with that.

kotaKat > Tom McParland
03/22/2014 at 20:12

I have a problem with this — namely, I live in upstate NY near the border. I see more handicapped parking abuse by Canadians that come over the border than anything — and I don't think it'd be as easy to get a DB of all Canadian handicapped tags out to the police for ALPR.

Plus... I'm not sure how hard it'd be to fake a Canadian tag — it seems actually pretty easy to do, considering it's just a laminated piece of paper from what I've seen.

Tom McParland > kotaKat
03/22/2014 at 20:30

And another reason to invade an annex Canada :D

But I was really just focusing on NJ

Gnabergasher > Tom McParland
03/22/2014 at 21:43

"NJ DMV" It's the MVC now, it's been since before I moved to PA.

"I realize that most police officers have better things to do than write citations for handicapped parking violations"

You live in NJ and you think they have better things to do? Like set up speed traps?

As to the actual content of the article, I think any car illegally parked in a handicap spot should be towed and ticketed, not just towed or have a ticket mailed to them. That's the way to teach these assholes. I had a co worker who drove her moms car to work occasionally and would ALWAYS park in the handicap spot (her mom's car had a temp hanging thing on the mirror), it pissed me off so much, I was glad when she eventually got fired, not sure why she was fired, but she sucked at her job anyways.

rasmusbach > kotaKat
03/22/2014 at 22:58

I'm betting the towing of the offending car would result in a satisfactory monetary solution, but yes I understand your point, and it has been a problem for years and years in Europe with speeding and parking tickets being dropped simply because the bureaucracy involved was to much to overcome (or at least more trouble than it was worth); but the homogenization of the latter years open borders and police cooperation have helped with this, and I must say, I always somehow assumed that the US and Canada had a similar agreement

Lawyer_Applegate > Tom McParland
03/23/2014 at 01:18

In case you're wondering, that's not just a ticket being written by the fuzz in Sonoma - that's a full-on misdemeanor citation, requiring arraignment and a potential jail sentence of several months.

To highlight the difficulties of enforcement, my client was cited because his passenger was using a placard that didn't belong to the passenger. Instead, it was the passenger's mother's, which the passenger (also handicapped, also issued a placard) grabbed instead of his own. Took some legal eaglery, but I got the case dismissed.

Xedicon > Tom McParland
03/23/2014 at 07:36

Given the amount of revenue that would result, I'm sure it would be profitable to hire a person or two that deals with handicap parking violations. I constantly see violations, heck just yesterday I saw a vehicle taking up a good portion of the blue striped lines area.

What would be really killer is if people could email in pics of potential violations that include a license plate and a few other snaps to show no placard in place. All that would be needed then is a few minutes of research at the police station, write out the ticket and then mail it to the offender with the pics. I like that idea so much I might troll parking lots myself!

mad.anthony > Tom McParland
03/23/2014 at 12:40

They might not use the technology, but NJ cops do spot checks. My parents have a handicapped placard - my mom has 2 knee replacements and a pacemaker, and my dad has MS. They mentioned that they parked in a handicapped spot at a local shopping center and noticed a cop car nearby. As soon as they got out of their perfectly preserved 2001 Town and Country with their canes, the cop drove off... so they were pretty sure they were making sure they were handicapped. I'm sure if they weren't visibly handicapped they probably would have been asked for proof.

Tom McParland > mad.anthony
03/23/2014 at 12:42

I guess Atlantic County cops don't bother then.

Microcube > mad.anthony
03/24/2014 at 07:43

For every one handicapped person I see I see ten "handicapped" people who seem to be walking just fine. It's either overweight guys or middle aged white women with fibromyalgia. Or teenagers taking their grandma's car somewhere and thinking they'll get away with parking in front because grandma forgot to take down the placard hanging from the rear view.

ED9man2 > Tom McParland
03/24/2014 at 10:07

Stupid idea, firstly because the last thing we need is more unlimited and unchecked police surveillance, secondly because placards are more commonly used and can be used in any vehicle. This isn't nearly as much a problem as you are making it out to be.