Handicapped placard abusers: They are wise to your ways
Travis Anderson of The Boston Globe wrote an article published on Thursday about handicapped placard abuse in the City of Boston! Hallelujah! How many times have you driven around your block after 10pm and notice that all the handicapped spots are open? As fellow CIS writer Peter Gailunas once wrote, “Are all these people out together? And handicapped people must have the best social life because I’ve driven around the block at 2am and many spots are still empty. I can only assume that there is some shenanigans going on with the placards.”
We wholeheartedly agree and evidently so does a new report from the state inspector general. Inspector General Glenn A. Cunha’s office believes that improper use of placards in Boston may cost the city millions of dollars each year.” Cunha also set up an old fashioned parking abuse sting in Boston neighborhoods. Guess what was discovered? Abuse in every single neighborhood!
So what is the criteria to get one of those placards. It’s the inability to walk 200 feet without stopping to rest or without assistant from another person, or a cane, or prosthetic aid. Hmmm, didn’t we just see the guy with the placard just get back from a walk around Castle Island? Other criteria include “cardiovascular disease that severely limits functioning, a pulmonary disease that affects breathing, impaired vision, or the loss of a limb or the ability to use one.”
Some of the biggest violations were people using the placard that belonged to someone else. We witnessed placard abuse in our neighborhood in the form of – move the car with the placard out of the handicapped spot into a non-handicapped spot to save the parking space for a friend, spouse, or relative who is still out and about. When that said person, returns – then move the placard car into the handicapped spot and free up space for the other person. We don’t think that the intention for these placards.
If you see abuse in your neighborhood, you encouraged to report it. Visit http://www.massrmv.com/rmv/hp_complaint/
To read the full Boston Globe article visit: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/02/24/abuse-handicap-parking-placards-uncovered-boston-neighborhoods-report-says/NTjUZDoJoQr8MnI9YCi03L/story.html
The lady at 156 M St. Had two cars. Half the time she would be away all weekend and kept her second car in the space in front of her empty handicap spot. Her mother passed and she kept using the placard, also complained about a bad leg. But after all those storms last year, guess who shoveled herself out every time! She did! However I had to trek two small children back and forth from blocks away almost all the time. Unfair and illegal and she should be reprimanded.