‘People aren’t disabled, their city is’: inside Europe’s most accessible city
Breda, the Netherlands (The Guardian): On average, the cost of living for disabled people is £583 a month higher than for their non-disabled peers, a substantial amount of which goes towards paying for taxi journeys to mitigate inaccessible public transport options. Travelling is even costlier: disabled people often have to stay in more expensive accessible hotels when hostels and independent bed and breakfasts are not a viable, barrier-free option. Add in the cost of damaged equipment and medical bills from injury, and the feelings of fear and isolation that lack of access creates, and you have a recipe for cities that feel difficult and anxiety-inducing. But in the Dutch city of Breda–recent winner of the 2019 Access City Award–every effort has been made to improve accessibility for citizens with disabilities.
Source Credit: The Guardian
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Don’t get caught misbehaving by parking in the disabled hash marks
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) –Everyone pretty much knows you shouldn’t park in a disabled parking spot unless you have a valid disabled parking placard. However, with little disregard for the law, drivers do it every day.
What many drivers may not be aware of, are disabled access ramps or disabled hash marks.
Disabled hash marks are always right next to the disabled parking spot, and can be painted yellow of blue. Drivers are never permitted to park in or around the disabled access ramps. Not even for a few seconds.
Source Credit: azfamily.com
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Should Drivers with Handicap Placards Pay for Metered Spots? City Councilor Says So
BOSTON, Mass. (WFXT): Parking in Boston isn’t getting easier, but one city councilor says make everyone pay for meter spots may be a solution, including those using handicap placards.
When you open the city’s parking app to pay for the meter, should handicap spots be treated the same as others?
“My mother has one and she needs it,” said Boston resident Philip Pacino. Pacino says it’s easy to see how people abuse handicap placards.
Boston city councilor Michael Flaherty says handicap placard abuse affects drivers like Pacino when people misuse the placards and he says because they don’t pay for the spaces.”Any updates on the handicap parking fraud and abuse that permeates the city On a day to day basis to the tune of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions every year?” Flaherty asked the Boston Transportation Department Tuesday night.
“I think we really need to step up to the plate, require everybody to pay the meter And that eliminates the fraud and the abuse,” Flaherty said.
Drivers told Boston 25 News something needs to change to ease the parking pain.
Sarah Dwyer fees there may be merit to Flaherty’s idea.
“I think it’s fair that they would have to pay like everyone else,” said Dwyer.
Source Credit: Boston 25 News
Read the Boston 25-WFXT article
L.A. Quadruples the Fine for Disabled-Placard Fraud, But Will It Help?
Los Angeles, Calif. (Los Angeles Times) – Disabled parking is in a protracted crisis in California, one that has thrust Los Angeles into an unlikely fight for reform. But while everyone knows there’s a problem, few agree on the cause, and fewer still on what should be done about it.
Source Credit: Los Angeles Times
Read the Los Angeles Times article and watch the news segment
BraunAbility® – Save My Spot Campaign
A wheelchair accessible vehicle is meant to provide freedom, but that can’t happen if it’s been blocked by careless parking. BraunAbility wants to educate the world on responsible parking around wheelchair accessible spaces – and with your help, we’ll make it a reality! Share our video to your friends and ask that they share as well. Together we can make it happen! #savemyspot
Patrolling for Abuses of Disabled Placards in Phoenix
PHOENIX (CBS 5) – Disabled parking placards are issued to drivers or their caretakers so they don’t have to travel far when they go from place to place.
Unfortunately, some people have been abusing this privilege and are using the placard fraudulently.
Stanley Roberts went out with the Accessibility Compliance Enforcement Division of the Phoenix Police Department looking for people misusing disabled placards.
In some cases, people have altered the date on temporary placards.
If caught, the person could be issued a $564 fine. If a driver parked in a disabled spot with an expired or no placard at all, that comes with a $290 fine.
This is part one of a three-part series on disabled placard abuse.
1 in 10 Disabled Parking Placards Being Misused, 2 Investigates
OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) – On a brisk morning before the sun rises in Oakland, a group of investigators with the California Department of Motor Vehicles set their sights on disabled parking spaces and placards, hoping to send a message that misuse and abuse of the placards is not only against the law, but prevents those with actual disabilities from getting a close place to park.
Handicap Parking Abuse on the Rise
According to a recent survey, 74 percent of people acknowledge seeing an able-bodied person park improperly in a spot designated for someone with disabilities.
Gary ‘Tiger’ Balletto Addresses Handicapped Parking Issues
Former boxing champion and Cranston resident Gary “Tiger” Balletto is fighting a new opponent these days: ignorance.
In a photo posted to his Facebook page that has gone viral, Balletto shows a Jeep that was parked in the painted line area next to a handicapped spot, where he was parked, inside the garage at the Providence Place Mall Sunday.
“I think a lot of people are not totally aware of that’s what the lines are there for,” Balletto told NBC 10 News Monday evening. “It’s equivalent to a handicapped parking space. It’s the same thing.”
Holiday Shoppers Warned to Think Twice Before Snagging Handicapped-Accessible Parking
You might be in a hurry this holiday season but if you park in a handicapped parking spot and you’re not disabled you could face a stiff fine.
“Unfortunately this is the time of year where people abuse it the most. Black Friday they want to go in get those sales rush in.” Travis County Constable of Precinct 5 Carlos Lopez says even if parking is hard to come by on Black Friday and during the Christmas shopping season, that’s no reason to park in a handicapped space.
Read the Nov. 25, 2018 article and watch the news segment by FOX 7 Austin.
A Smart City Is an Accessible City
A new breed of accessibility apps can make life easier for people with disabilities. They can also make it harder.
Wheelchair-Bound Woman Begs for People to Stop Blocking Handicap Parking Areas
West Michigan woman says she is frustrated after she has been blocked from using her wheelchair accessible van several times around town.
Source Credit: WXMI-TV, Grand Rapids, MI
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Automakers Must Deliver on the Promise of Self-Driving Car Technology
When I bought my most recent car — a 2014 Chrysler Town and Country —the salesman walked me through the list of available upgrades. I could get a leather interior and heated seats without a problem, but there was one glaring oversight: accessibility. As a wheelchair user, I’ve found that no major automaker offers an accessible vehicle as standard…
“Not Your Spot” Disabled Parking Campaign Begins
Rotary Central Cayman Islands has launched its “Not Your Spot” awareness campaign highlighting the correct use and importance of disabled parking spots. The campaign, which was started 14 June, aims not only to educate the public on the proper and improper use of disabled “blue spots” around the island, but also show why these parking spaces are so important to the people who have the rights to use them…
Campaign Encourages Respecting Wheelchair Accessible Parking Spaces
Superior partnered with BraunAbility for the Save My Spot campaign, which highlights respecting parking spaces for wheelchair accessible vehicles. The striped space lets vehicles extend a ramp so wheelchair users can access their vehicle. Illegally parking in these spots can leave users stranded…
City Workers Cheat and Lie for Disabled Spaces
Hot on the tail of San Diego’s meter-reading scandal comes word that at least two city Public Utilities Department workers have illegally used Disabled Person Placards to park in handicapped spaces, and similar abuse may be common among other employees…
Local Police Carefully Monitoring Illegal Use of Handicap Parking Spots
Police are paying special attention to cars illegally using disability parking spots. This week marks the RMV’s placard abuse prevention week, and local law enforcement agencies are making sure the spaces are saved for those who need them…
Disabled Parking Placard Abuse Crackdown Nets 381 Citations
Investigators with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) caught 381 out of 4,951, including 11 people in Valencia, fraudulently using disabled person parking placards during 22 enforcement operations in April. Investigators confiscated the placards and issued each offender a misdemeanor citation that carries a $250 to $1,000 fine. The violation will also appear on their driver record…
I-Team: State Lawmaker Calls for Change to Free Parking Benefit to Curb Handicap Placard Abuse
After a WBZ I-Team investigation exposed rampant abuse of handicap placards, a state lawmaker said it is time to change the benefit that allows people to park for free at metered spots all day…
DMV Cracks Down on Disabled Placard Misuse in Undercover Sweep
Drivers in the East County were surprised Wednesday when officers approached them to check whether or not their disabled placards were valid. With 2.7 million placards issued in California, it can be difficult to find a handicapped parking space. Adding to that difficulty are the countless drivers who misuse them…
How California Plans to Stop ‘Dead’ Drivers from Using Disabled Parking Placards
Last year, a California audit revealed an impossible statistic: More than 26,000 people over age 100 in the Golden State had blue disabled placards, allowing them to park at any street meter for free, all day, or at prime blue-stenciled stalls at the front of store parking lots…