[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by mrfixit

Just for info only......When You saw a Golf Car in Handicapped Spot in Colony.. You stated that You "waited in car " while the wife ran in the store.... IF you park in a Handicapped Spot in Florida.. State Statute # 316.1955...... AND use a Handicapped Sticker.... the person to whom the Handicapped status is issued MUST EXIT the Vehicle... therefore IF You also parked in a Handicapped SPOT AND did not EXIT THE CAR... YOU ARE IN VIOLATION ....UNLESS your wife ALSO has a Handicapped sticker issued to her ..and that one was displayed......Just Sayin'

The above quote is from another thread where I subsequently responded saying that there was nothing in Florida law that supported such a contention as I've highlighted above. Following the latter postings I read an article by the Ladylake Chief of Police where he quoted the same thing that mrfixit did, who obviously was not just making it up. So I wrote to the chief who looked further into that statement.

What was discovered is that this provision was in fact NOT based on law. It came from the handicapped parking permit application with a 2003 release date. So it came from the Florida DMV and presumably based soley on opinion. (I worked for NYSDMV, so that doesn't surprise me) What he also found out is that DMV later found out that this statement on the form was not supported by law and had to be removed from it. This occurred in the 2009 update of the form that's still valid today.

Now this doesn't mean that in the future the DMV will or won't add it to their legislative program for an amendment to the law, but I do hope that they don't. That would be an injustice to those of us who stay with the vehicle but may need the extra space to remove our wheel chairs or mobility scooters in an emergency or have a call of nature while waiting for the driver to return.

Finally I want give kudos to the Ladylake Chief for looking into this for me. I feel he went above and beyond duty in his doing so!