TOE THE LINE OR BE TOWED
Lazy, ignorant drivers hog disabled parking bays
MAYOR Tom Tate wants cars that park in disabled bays without permits to be clamped or towed as a deterrent to committing “one of the poorest displays of community behaviour imaginable”.
Ten drivers on average are being fined $333 every week on the Gold Coast for parking in the bays. Disability group advocates say that is only the ones being caught. The fine is due to rise to $551 in March.
Leaders believe it has got to the stage where tougher measures need to be considered as demand for parking increases on the Gold Coast.
Mr Tate said he was appalled by the behaviour, saying stronger measures may have to be brought in to convince people to follow the rules.
“Swinging in to a disabled parking bay would have to rate as one of the poorest displays of community behaviour imaginable,” he said.
“The people who need these bays may have a permanent or temporary impairment. They are already doing it tough in life so to have an able-bodied motorist make their day any harder is wrong on every level.
“Monetary fines are one thing: I’d be happy to see their cars towed.”
Geoff Rowe, CEO of the ADA Australia advocacy service, said the problem was particularly acute at busy times of the year such as the weeks before Christmas: “As more pressure comes on parking, especially at this time of year, people think that the disability parking space is a soft target.
“No one will notice and no one will care and it’s not going to really impact on anyone. That just misses the mark.”
Pictures shared to the Australian Disability Parking Wall of Shame Facebook page show cars allegedly parked without permits at multiple locations across the Gold Coast, including shopping centres, hospitals and Bunnings stores.
Mr Rowe said offenders came from every section of society. “It’s not just about people who are educated or are wealthy ... it just seems behaviour that people think, ‘it’s OK for me to do this’.”
Marathon-winning paraathlete and motivational speaker Natasha Price said there was a “lack of awareness” about the needs of wheelchair users: “If you are a wheelchair user and completely unable to use your legs, by using that spot they’re preventing you from being able to get out of the vehicle at all.
“If you park in a standardsize spot, it’s not like you can stand up in order to get into your wheelchair. If you can’t open your doors fully to put your wheelchair next to the car then you literally cannot get out of the vehicle.”
Ms Price said that contrary to what some people believe, spaces for permit holders were in short supply.
She believed more stringent measures may be needed to combat the problem. “I think something like towing or clamping would probably be the only option. Unless people are affected by something personally they don’t realise the extent and consequences of their actions, so if they were affected in that way maybe it would help the situation a little bit.”