Driver Parks in ADA Loading Zone at Mobil Station
Most people are generally nice to me when they see me walking slowly with a cane. However yesterday I had words with a woman that parked in the loading zone next to my car in the disabled space.
I was at the Mobil Station at Delmar & Jefferson — the same one where a woman had visited and was later killed as she was using her wheelchair in the street due to poor sidewalks and missing curb ramps (see post from Dec 2007). After getting gas I parked in the disabled space so I could go into the store. A non-disabled woman was parked in the space while I was getting gas. The station at this time had 3-4 of their regular spaces blocked off while they washed the concrete. As I come out of the store and head to my car a vehicle pulls into the loading space to the left of the disabled space. The driver gets out and starts walking toward me heading to the entrance.
In my friendliest manner possible I said something like, “Excuse me, that space is marked no parking for a reason.” Her reply as she walked passed me, “Yeah I know.” My best response at the time was to call her a bitch. “Did you just call me a bitch? “, she replied. I confirmed, she laughed and continued into the store. I was so furious! A “normally I would never park there but they’ve got these spaces blocked” would have been nice. I don’t think she cared. When I got to our vehicles, with my cane in my right hand, I wondered how much damage I could cause with the cane. Of course I didn’t do anything but it was sweet thinking about it. Instead I got out my other weapon, my camera.
My regular camera was in the car so I used my phone to get a couple of quick shots:
Before getting in my car I stepped to the back to get a shot of the license plate.
I put my cane in the rear seat of my car and get into the driver’s seat. As I start the car she is coming out. Hopefully she saw me taking pics. I get my digital camera out, pull out of the space and start to leave. In doing this I’m right behind her vehicle as she is getting inside. I put down the passenger window to get an overview shot — again I hope she noticed.
I’d like to see these loading zone require a pole or other device to prevent someone from parking in them. Some are too narrow but most are wide enough where they are tempted to park there.
Too bad you didn’t have time to call the cops or get the management of that place on her. Too bad there wasn’t a cop nearby to roust her stupid ass. Oh, if memory serves, that is a tax abated gas station. I’m not positive, but I believe so. Anyway, good for you on at least confronting the asshole.
Quoting General Honore – “You can’t fix stupid”!
I’m curious if she actually lives in Illinois.
Motorized vehicles lever crass behavior.
Some relative of Louis Hamilton?
Your phone takes very good photos, btw. Very sharp. Congrats!
That’s a rough gas station. People get in fights all the time over who’s turn it is at the pump.
steve,
I agree with your post; however, unless a blue sign is posted, it’s not an enforceable violation. Bad taste for sure
jv
Let’s get this straight…
Woman:
– regular parking spaces are blocked due to cleaning, so she parks in a loading zone while she runs into store for about a minute
– when she parks she leaves plenty of space between her and the car parked in the handicapped space, meaning no one was really inconvenienced
– refuses to engage in verbal confrontation with belligerent stranger
You:
– call woman a ‘bitch’
– post pictures of her car and her license plate on a blog read by thousands
Who’s wrong here?
I usually enjoy your posts, but you lost the moral high ground here when you resorted to shouting obscenities.
A bollard would fix this problem. Hell, two bollards wide enough to fit a car from tenty years ago would block access to most of today’s ugly, way-too-wide vehicles.
Enough of this post-modernist BS. She broke the law. Period. She was wrong. Period.
Thats a great story. I think its really ironic how mad you got about it even though you were able to walk all around her car in order to take pictures. But I hope at least posting this story online helped you cool off, I understand getting mad at the little things in life sometimes too.
Steve- if she parked in the adjacent area next to a posted handicapped/disabled sign meant for loading/unloading it is a violation
jv
You should have parked your car behind hers and refused to move. Then when she threatens to call the police, say “Please do”.
lost the moral high ground? please. as if you’ve never called someone a name out of anger. the woman is scum. period.
.
DJ,
have you ever seen one of those vans with a motorized lift for wheelchairs? had one of those vans needed to park here, your “plenty of space” would not have been enough space. the woman was wrong. you are wrong. steve is right. it’s called CONSIDERATION.
I don’t know, if it turned all UFC like, I think Steve woulda tapped out. Maybe your initial attempt at dialogue could have went something like: “M’am, as a disabled person, I really could have used that parking space, I’d appreciate it if you could look out for us in the future. I know it’s easy to forget, but we’re out there.”
Then if she gave you any ‘tude, you could have said, “Well, I gladly give you my disability and I’ll take the regular parking spot.”
And then if that fails, ring the bell!
Yet let’s not waste time with moral high-ground nonsense. You think someone who parks in handicaps spaces is a moral person? She deserved what she got.
And as for the posting of the license plate….if you are in public, you are in public and have no right or reason to expect privacy. Any lawyer or privacy expert can explain that to you. You can be photographed by anyone and they may use that photo in any way they choose, especially if not commercially.
I understand, but disagree, the attempt by some of the posters at being pragmatic and saying “she had to run in for a minute…what’s the harm?” I never thought I would result to this response, but, ‘rules are rules.’ It’s no excuse to block a handicapped space “just for a minute,” or to block a fire hydrant “just for a minute.” Besides, in the moment how does someone know if the handicapped-space-stealer was running in for a minute or would be inside for quite a while waiting to use and then using the restroom, chatting with the clerk, browsing the snaces, etc..
–
–
To me it’s a matter of being classy or not. When I was a child, my father taught me I should be grateful to be able-bodied and health,y and a way to show that gratefulness was to help make life a little easier for people less lucky than me. That meant my father would rather walk from the end of a massive suburban parking lot than to park in a handicapped space.
You should have beat her in the kneecaps with your cane. People with disabilities have the right to be upset at this kinda laziness. She should stay in Millstadt.
As someone who sometimes needs to use her hand tag, I can understand Steve’s point. I am not restricted to the use of a chair, but can struggle with the distance when my hip gives out. As a courtesy I try to park in the furthest marked spot and not those marked for van loading. It is interesting the looks one gets and the “you can, why can’t I park there?” from others who see me as taking their place. Until someone walks in your shoes they cannot understand the reasons. The world has become a “me first” mentality and not a ‘what can we do for each other’ place. I see this same attitude in the adolescents I teach each day. I would hate to meet this woman’s children and the values she has shown them. Let us each take time to think about both sides of the world and not be quick to be greedy.
Dole said: “To me it’s a matter of being classy or not.”
Which was exactly the point of my post, missed by so many. I’m not defending people who park in handicapped spaces; I would never do it myself and respect the law. But Steve’s reaction in using profanities, posting license plate numbers, contemplating physically damaging the car (and others advocating physical violence) is not being classy, to put it nicely.
People do this in my apartment complex. Its one thing if they’re loading/unloading as I have done, but some have parked on the ramp overnight. I end up having to tape a note to their window.
These are the times that I like to deploy the ramp on my wife’s van and have it whack into the side of the offending vehicle. Oops, gosh golly darn I’m so sorry but you know you are parked illegally :). My wife actually tangled with an admin person (he was something like the dean of the evening school) at UMSL a couple of years ago for pulling the same kind of thing. Fortunately she had the back of the campus police who didn’t like the guy to begin with. In the 7 years that my wife and I have been together I have seen this kind of utter stupidity way to many times. And DJ, as someone else mentioned, try deploying the ramp (or a lift on a full size van) of a handicap accessible van and exiting in a wheelchair into the space that the woman left. This woman was lazy and stupid and Steve had every right to call her a Bitch.
Max…
Courtesy is not always given in the world by those who believe they are entitled to do something for a mere minute wherever and whenever they feel that so-called entitlement.
We are blessed to have Steve producing a quality award-winning blog with a heart & soul & mind attitude. The woman was an inconsiderate louse at best, and I dare say that if many of us were in Steve’s cane and heavy-laden shoes, I think calling her a bitch then STOPPING from hitting her attractive mini-van with “my” cane would have been difficult – at times.
Steve I give you additional props for controlling your anger at the spur of the moment, taking the pictures, as well as sharing those pictures with the public.