Making Disabled Parking Visible
Last Friday evening I met friends for dinner at the very popular Mi Ranchito restaurant in University City. It’s in a horrid little strip mall between the Loop on Delmar and Olive to the North. The parking lot was packed when I arrived — it was 7pm on a Friday night. I got one of the last disabled spots. No there was not a disabled meeting at the restaurant, others were parking in the disabled spaces even though they lacked the required hang tag or plates.
I saw one couple do it. I didn’t say anything to them because I didn’t see their plates when they pulled in next to me. After they went in and I got out of my car I checked and as I suspected they didn’t have disabled plates.
I don’t think any of these drivers were doing it intentionally, the spaces are so poorly marked it is easy to overlook when you are not trying to find one.
So despite having four spaces for the entire strip center three of the four were taken by the non-disabled. I had the fourth.
The building owner is to blame here. The spaces are not marked as required. Each space should have a vertical sign at the head of the space so that it is clearly visible to someone pulling into the space. The wheelchair symbol is also painted in faded yellow rather than blue. Had these two simple things been done when the building was built it would be a huge improvement. The building is only a few years old, the requirement is older.
In parking lots you often need a vertical pole to mount the sign. In the above example two of the four spaces have brick columns which are ideal places to secure disabled parking only signs. Compliance would be very easy in this case. Keeping the symbol painted more visibly should also be a priority.
Contrary to what many may think, disabled spaces are not always the best spaces. Here the spaces are at the center point of the building while my destination was at one end. I’m not complaining – just saying that disabled parking is not always the most convenient. I’ve actually used disabled parking even though a non-disabled space might be closer. I figure out if I can walk the distance or not and what the impact on others might be if I parked in a regular space vs a disabled one. If there is tons of parking available for others I’m going for the shortest route.
The young college guys in the Audi pictured above did recognize when they got out of their car that it was a disabled space. I heard one of them say something like, “None of the others have stickers,” which is true — the others didn’t have permission to park there, “except this one” as they saw my hang tag hanging from the rear view mirror of my car. Within 5 minutes one of the guys came back out and moved their car to another spot.
I could have called the police and had the other cars ticketed but again I don’t think these drivers realized they were parking in disabled spots. Had I arrived and not found a space open for me I might have been on the phone complaining. I was just ready for a good meal and a Corona. I had my spot so I let it go.
I think most people are respectful of disabled spaces, especially those that are clearly marked. When I’ve got a choice of two disabled spaces I’ll take the one that is not “van accessible” as I know that someone that uses a wheelchair and a ramp with a van needs the extra room to get in & out of the vehicle.
Some of you may object to the reservation of these spaces for the disabled. If so I’d be happy to trade my disability & hang tag for your ease of walking.
So when you are pulling into parking spaces make sure they are not poorly marked disabled spaces. If you own property with disabled spaces make sure the markings and signs are visible. I’m contacting University City about this parking lot so the next time I go to Mi Ranchito I’ll be sure to have parking available.
There are two components at work, the faded paint (it doesn’t really matter what color it started out as if it’s barely visible) and public ignorance/arrogance. Yes, the property owner needs to both keep all his spaces painted and post the correct signs – I ran into a similar situation at Nachomama this weekend – one space had the painted designation on the pavement, while two spaces over had the only sign.
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The other half, as you observed, is too many people not knowing the rules and/or choosing to ignore them (because of little or no enforcement?). A week ago, I challenged a guy at Starbucks who parked on the striped area between the two accessible spots. His response was first that why should I care (a brother-in-law in a chair and a mom with a walker), his second was that he was only going to be there for a few minutes (enough time to run in and run out), and his third was to go ahead and call the police. Bottom line, for too many people, it’s simply “all about me”.
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Finally, as with every rule and regulation in urban life, they don’t count for much without enforcement. I have no idea if the U City Police would even respond to your call, but on this side of the river, I’m not aware of any proactive, ongoing or consistent effort to enforce these restrictions. Illinois, on the other hand, apparently does: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/press/2006/august/060811d2.html and http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/along-for-the-ride/uncategorized/2008/06/park-illegally-in-illinois-pay-out-the-nose/
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And a PS: http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/along-for-the-ride/uncategorized/2008/07/some-disabled-drivers-dont-look-it/
It’s just like littering; they know…they just don’t care. A person with a modicum amount of intelligence could have figured it out. Sure it’s a bit faded but if we can tell from the picture how much more when you’re actually right in front of it. I would cite whoever is responsible for maintaining the properly designated handicap parking spaces and I would cite the dilweed who parked there.
The painted marking shown in the picture is by far the best marked disabled spot in the lot. The others in many cases are
just ghosted images of where the paint used to be – none of the parking spaces are well defined with paint. Further, two of the
spaces are in the middle of the parking lot in an unexpected location. It is very difficult identify when you are in your car,
navigating pedistrians – especially if it is at dusk or dark. I’m a stickler for “the rules” (or laws as the case may be), but
in this case I would have to give these parkers the benefit of the doubt. In more cases than not I do not believe that
the non-disabled drivers park in these spots due to ignorance, laziness, or rudeness. To me this is 95% on the shoulders
of the building owners and business operators.
The building owner has to be called-out on this. It takes only a couple of hours to restripe the spots and the cost is not that great.
I may be wrong, but i think AADAG requires signage identifying accessible parking that is not obscured by a vehicle, ie mounted “high enough” at the back of the space. Painting the accessible symbol on the pavement is just optional, unless U City specifically requires it. I dont know if they do, but the point is the peeling paint wouldn’t be an issue if they installed the required signs.
agree with you on parking–hard-to-see spaces make it difficult to do the right thing sometimes. But how was the food?
I thought saw you in the parking lot that night! When I said something like “I think that guy’s a blogger…” my 10 year old daughter said: “You mean someone who writes stuff on the computer?” Funny in a small world sorta way.
Mi Ranchito is UCity’s headquarters. Despite their crappy location (hey, they brought life to a new-but-already-dead strip mall AND they expanded recently,) they are wildly popular amongst UCitians. Half the town was there. Heck, you probably took pictures of some friends’ cars. I’m glad to hear the one guy moved his car.
Interesting the the paint has faded on those spots. I really don’t think the parking lot is that old, but I’m no parking lot paint expert. Maybe the stuff needs to be repainted every year.
Great post. I really hate when people who are not handicapped park in an accessible spot. In this instance I think calling it in wouldn’t have done anything because it was not properly marked. Without vertical signage indicating fine for parking here, and the poor striping I doubt they would have done anything. If anything they should fine the property owner for poorly marked spaces. A litigation happy disabled person would be all over this one suing the restaurant, architect, civil engineer, and building owner if its a leased space. They would do well to get this fixed pronto. Most require spaces to be marked with the white on blue background on the paving as well as the vertical signage. If there are two spots with a shared access asile the one on the left should be marked “van accessible”. Your observation at Loughborough Commons is an interesting one. Many times architects struggle with where to put the spots. Sometimes the most convenient does not equal the most accessible- especially when you take slope concerns into account. This facility does not have that issue, but what they DID have was accessible parking right against the building when it first opened. For whatever reason they have since taken this out and put up a barricade to keep people from parking against the builidng. Probably something about handicapped people having to back out of a spot into a major stream of traffic (or never being able to get backed out in the first place since this drive lane is always packed with cars at the cross walk stop sign).
Finally- I disgusts me when able bodied people use their relatives hang tag to park in an accessible spot. I am sure its against the law, but good luck enforcing it.
Anyway- good post- thanks for pointing it out!