Most of us know the feeling of locating the last open disabled space only to see another vehicle get there first. As you pull up, you see the driver exit and start skipping to the entrance of whatever building. Ugghhh! What a farce! How does he get away with it? How did this skipper get a disabled tag to begin with?
Lack of enforcement? Fraud? Clueless physicians? Obviously, many reasons exist as to why the above example seems all too common. What we have now is a chance to change the existing laws and requirements. On January 10th, the 2012 Florida legislative session will commence and last for 60 days. During that time, Senate Bill 226 (Margolis) and companion House Bill 27 (Julien) will be debated. These bills revise laws relating to disabled parking permits. Specifically, they:
- expand the type of officials who may waive citations for disability permit parking violations by including the parking enforcement specialist or agency that issued the citation;
- revise the requirements for renewing or replacing a long-term disabled parking permit and includes prohibitions for certain violations;
- provide for random audits of disabled parking permit holders;
- require the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV or department) to develop and implement a system to allow the reporting of abuses of disabled parking permits; and
- require the department to develop and implement a public awareness campaign regarding how such abuse burdens disabled persons.
On the surface, these changes appear to remedy the problem; however the specifics are yet to be determined. The best way to help in this situation is to become your own advocate and educate yourself about the issue. Consider tracking these bills and contacting your local state senator or representative to make your opinion known. Hopefully, at the end of the day there are less fraudsters and illegal permits out there to take your front row parking space.