Overdue parking curb
San Francisco has more disabled parking placards than metered curb spots. Among the 7 million Bay Area residents, some 500,000 people have the plastic strips dangling from rearview mirrors. Something’s definitely wrong with such numbers and the system designed to ease life for those with medical disabilities.
The situation may finally be improved. Rules just signed into law will bear down on the profligate totals by matching a list of deaths reported to Social Security with a list of placards issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
It’s one way to cull the numbers since families and spouses are tempted to keep using the cards good for unlimited free parking even after the person issued the placard dies. Calls for a crackdown have echoed for years with an answer finally coming in the measure authored by state Sen. Jerry Hill, a San Mateo Democrat.
The changes follow an audit of the system showcasing other dubious numbers such as 26,000 placard holders 100 years of age or older. Sporadic crackdowns by the DMV have led to tickets for misuse and court cases against people selling the cards. But the underlying program still needed stricter rules to monitor abuse.
The new law obliges Sacramento to oversee more strictly the dashboard identifiers. Replacement cards will be harder to get, and there will be a renewal period of six years.
Making placards harder to keep has other benefits. With fewer cards circulating, people with disabilities will have a better chance of finding parking near their destinations. It could also tone down curbside confrontations over suspected misuse. A worthy program will get the reforms it needs.