Tougher laws to check disabled parking abuse

According to a 2010 Seattle DOT report, about 30 to 40 percent of downtown and First Hill spaces are filled with cars possessing disabled parking permits. Out of these permits, over 10 percent were inactive – temporary placards lasting only six months. Presently, the city police estimates 60 percent of disabled placards on the street are used fraudulently. The problem has only worsened with the change in state law and disbanding of the Seattle Police Department parking enforcement unit. However, state legislators are now devising a strategy to curb disabled parking abuse, which is more rampant in Seattle than any other community in the state.

Workgroup to recommend solutions

The Washington Legislature has directed the Department of Licensing (DOL) to set up a workgroup to study the issue. The workgroup has members from the DOL, Department of Health, City of Seattle, Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues and Employment, and Arc of Washington. The workgroup has been meeting since June and will submit its recommendations by December 1.

Possible actions, the group could suggest, range from close supervision of doctors who authorize disability for a pass to establishment of a more efficient system for checking whether placards are valid. Police officials have pointed out that drivers often place placards in such a manner that the expiry date is hidden.

How other states are fighting disabled parking abuse

After Raleigh, North Carolina introduced pay stations in 2010, those with disabled placards had to pay for on street parking too, removing monetary privileges that they once had.

Now there are fewer vehicles with placards parking on downtown streets, according to Raleigh parking enforcement agent Chip Murphy.  “As soon as they had to start paying, it went away. The only group that ended up losing were those that were abusing the system with all day parking, using the placard as a front,” says Don Carter, owner of the Capital Bank building on Fayetteville Street.

The disabled have welcomed the move. “If we have to pay, we have to pay. That’s my attitude, just like anybody else. But I do need that spot,” says Gail Lashock, a legitimate placard owner. Such measures help free parking spaces and increase city revenue. Revenue has nearly tripled, from $8,200 monthly to $24,000 a month, in downtown, according to Gordon Dash, Raleigh Parking Administrator.

In Chicago, Illinois, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has decided to stop residents from reaping parking benefits through illegal use of disability placards at city’s metered spots. The city’s finance department employees will place flyers (resembling traffic tickets) on cars that display a disabled placard and are parked in metered spots. The flyer will warn drivers that people with placards or a disability license plate will not be able to park for free at metered spaces unless they get new “gray and yellow meter exempt placards.”

Controlling parking abuse at metered spots is also crucial since it puts a heavy burden on the city’s budget, a part of which is used to reimburse meter companies for free parking provided to disabled drivers. More free parking by the way of illegal use of disability placards means that it drains more money from the city’s revenues, which ultimately affects its taxpayers- the public.