[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

When we came out of the restaurant, there was a note on my cart from the car driver that was to the left of the space that I was in. She explained that because of the way that I parked she had a lot of difficulty getting her handicapped passenger into her car and I should be more considerate and think about that the next time I park my cart.

Winston, Winston, Winston! Don't you know you're supposed to be carrying a crystal ball with you so you can foresee and avoid problems like this?

Seriously, as a user of a mobility motor vehicle and scooter, and with my wife as the driver, we've been in the same situation several times as described in the note you received. We never thought, not even once that the driver of the vehicle in the space to our right that was blocking my access was being inconsiderate or thoughtless, even with a sign on the passenger side of our vehicle with the handicapped logo and a statement that extra space is needed for deployment of the loading ramp. I know people are just not in tune to looking for such a notice and I probably would have missed it myself if I was in their shoes.

What we normally do when necessary is move our vehicle to a position where the ramp can be deployed so I can drive up it. However, there was one exception where there was no handicapped spaces available. So we parked the vehicle out of the way where it was less likely that we would be blocked in; there were few cars in the section both when we arrived and when we left.

As I later returned to the vehicle and was in the processing of positioning my scooter for loading, another vehicle pulled into one parking spot then unexpectedly advanced to the empty spot in front of him between my vehicle and me, just as I was about to deploy the ramp. Apparently inattentive and unaware of what he just did, he and his passenger quickly left the vehicle and headed toward the store's entrance. My wife approaching our vehicle told him that he just blocked my ability to load my scooter. Despite my yelling out that it's OK, that I'll just load up after she pulled out of the space, the driver came back and moved his vehicle. I thanked him and all was well that ended well.