The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
We need to talk about disabled parking
CRACKDOWN NEEDED ON DRIVERS WHO ARE CONSTANTLY ABUSING DISABLED PARKING PERMITS
DISABILITY Parking Permits are being profoundly misused in the county, according to the Disabled Drivers Association of Ireland and Mayor of Tralee, Terry O’Brien who is himself a service coordinator with the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA).
“The biggest abusers of the disabled parking cards are the people who have been issued the cards, because they are not using them correctly,” said Mayor O’Brien.
The latest incident of such misuse came just a number of days ago, “I got a text two nights ago from the hospital saying we should check out the number of a card. The family member is in hospital and his family members are going to visit him and parking in the disabled spaces. They’re not bringing them in or out – their argument is the parking is too expensive. That’s not our problem but we’re suffering because of it,” he said.
“The families are using it and saying, ‘oh I was just collecting a prescription for my brother who’s in a wheelchair’. That’s crap. There are plenty of other spaces for that but they feel that this is the option,” he added.
According to DDAI spokesperson, Ken Fox, a number of cases have arisen where family members have even sought renewal of the permit of a deceased family member and added that the abuse of the permit happens “right across the social strata”.
He noted that there is also a growing willingness among the public to highlight misuse: “You’d be surprised at the degree to which the public complain - if there has been instances of misuse, you are likely to have been complained by a member of the public”.
He recalls one such example when a woman, using her sister’s permit was confronted by authorities on her way into work. “We had documented evidence against her and her over-riding emotion was one of disbelief. She couldn’t understand how people had phoned in to complain”, He said.
Unless a family member has signed for the responsibility of a relative’s permit, there is currently no onus on them to report the death and return the permit. The last review of the scheme was carried out back in 2011 and no further evaluation is scheduled in the near future. Cllr O’Brien says change is needed.
“People are getting frustrated. There are so many blue cards now that the blue spaces are becoming more limited and people are becoming more irate. People are sitting, watching and waiting for the abusers... That’s a worry because someone is going to crash a car or do something stupid because of what’s going on”
While the current situation leaves the authorities somewhat reliant on the honesty of the individual – simple measures could be taken, such as the utilisation of websites such as RIP. ie to cross check suspect claims.
The permit is allocated to an individual for a period of two years, at which point it can either be renewed or revoked. Should a second party be found to be using the permit – “it will be taken off the person who really needs it”. Mr Fox said.
Such misuse is punishable by a fine or six months imprisonment and the offence goes on the offender’s record. Cllr. O’Brien is calling for harsher penalties.
“I think we need to be thinking about penalty points. If people could get penalty points for misusing the card they wouldn’t be long coming around. If you contact your insurance company at the end of the year and say you have six penalty points - you won’t be long slowing down”.
Another problem he says, is that many of the disability bays are on private property. “In a supermarket car park, a cinema car park or in a hospital, the Gardaí can’t issue a ticket because they’re on private property. People and companies will have to start clamping,” he said.
Similarly, he has called on doctors to adopt a more hardline approach when signing off on applications, “I have an issue with the doctors because I think maybe in some cases they are signing the application forms too easily. You know, if some fella comes in with a bad back, they are ticking the box. There is a set out criteria on the form and if they live by the letter of the law they won’t sign that, but they’re obviously ticking the box and signing it, which is the bother really”.
One guy walked into my office and said, ‘my doctor recommended I get a parking card – if you really need one, it won’t need to be recommended to you”, he said.
Kevin Fox warned, “People may think they are getting away with it but they’re not. People will ring us up and give us the name and address of the offender. We have weekly interactions with the Gardaí and while not all instances end up in court, Gardaí will arrive at your door.”