[Nucky]

What a shame about the theft of your placard. You have to have eyes in the back of your head now a days. I may be with you in that I notice things about handicapped parking spots that don't add up but to ever make a comment to the person is out of line. You never know what the real story is and truly it's not your business. Take the time & observational powers you have and use it for the force of good instead of evil. Give someone a helping hand or hold a door for someone or give somebody a kind word. I'm almost 60 and I was raised to respect everyone as if they were my Mom or Dad...best lesson I ever learned.

[golfing eagles]

I've signed hundreds if not more than a thousand of these in the last 30 years. You cannot tell what the driver's handicap is with a glance. Most are for respiratory or cardiac conditions that preclude the patient from walking 200 feet. Many are also temporary after surgery. Heck, I had emergency neurosurgery on my neck 5 days ago and qualify---I can even sign my own, but you wouldn't be able to tell from looking at me.
My best advice is to be happy YOU don't need one and not worry about what your neighbor's reason is, and let the very few number of scammers live with their own conscience.
As far as the thief goes, he/she should have a reserved spot at the furthest end of any parking lot from now on.

[outlaw]

Originally Posted by dbussone

Your concept of "handicapped" is somewhat archaic. My wife frequently uses a walker - she has MS. If she doesn't, she is capable of walking short distances. She can likely get from a handicapped space to a grocery basket, but not from a space out in the lower 40.

You seem to have a negative view on lots of issue. Try smiling once in awhile.

It's a rule of thumb. I hope you don't take advantage of it. It's for your wife, not you I assume. Sorry, but you may have to live with many people resenting your special accommodation because there are a lot of frauds that use these tags, and still more that lie to get on SS disability. So you can thank all the frauds out there.

[NYGUY]

Originally Posted by dbussone

I prefer not to suggest what you may be implying. If it is what I think I won't go further. And neither should you. I'll leave it at my wife qualifies and has for decades.

dbussone, I am so sorry if you took my post the wrong way. I was merely replying to someone else about obtaining 2 placards and was not referring to you or your wife in any way.

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by NYGUY

dbussone, I am so sorry if you took my post the wrong way. I was merely replying to someone else about obtaining 2 placards and was not referring to you or your wife in any way.

Apology accepted. Please excuse me as well NYGUY.

[outlaw]

Originally Posted by KeepingItReal

Florida Statutes:

(4)(a) A vehicle that is transporting a person who has a disability and that has been granted a permit under s. 320.0848(1)(a) may be parked for a maximum of 30 minutes in any parking space reserved for persons who have disabilities.

That one is NEVER enforced.

[outlaw]

Look, no one is denying a handicap person a little help regarding parking. I open doors for more old people, and women (heck, even men) than probably more than just about anyone. But it is out of control. When I was growing up, there were always available handicap spots anywhere you went. Now we have the first two rows in every parking lot at every business (a bit of exaggeration, maybe) full for most of the day. Honestly, I watch cars and carts circling Walmart and the town squares looking for an available handicap space. Are you telling me, all of a sudden, this country has a handicap epidemic? I could get a handicap placard just by telling my doctor my feet hurt when I walk. I know people who have done this. I'm sure many if not most do not abuse this system, but something has happened in this country over the last few decades to require the continuously growing handicap spaces at parking lots.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by outlaw

Look, no one is denying a handicap person a little help regarding parking. I open doors for more old people, and women (heck, even men) than probably more than just about anyone. But it is out of control. When I was growing up, there were always available handicap spots anywhere you went. Now we have the first two rows in every parking lot at every business (a bit of exaggeration, maybe) full for most of the day. Honestly, I watch cars and carts circling Walmart and the town squares looking for an available handicap space. Are you telling me, all of a sudden, this country has a handicap epidemic? I could get a handicap placard just by telling my doctor my feet hurt when I walk. I know people who have done this. I'm sure many if not most do not abuse this system, but something has happened in this country over the last few decades to require the continuously growing handicap spaces at parking lots.

Well, I know your not my patient---good luck getting me to sign one for "my feet hurt". But yes, there is a mini-"epidemic" of handicapped---aging population, living longer, feeling well enough to get out more, etc. There is also a mini-"epidemic" of "me first" attitudes. I have often remarked , tongue in cheek, that eventually ALL parking spaces will be handicapped and only a few at the end of the lot for non-handicapped. Maybe I'll buy stock in fast signs.

[Bonny]

Originally Posted by outlaw

Look, no one is denying a handicap person a little help regarding parking. I open doors for more old people, and women (heck, even men) than probably more than just about anyone. But it is out of control. When I was growing up, there were always available handicap spots anywhere you went. Now we have the first two rows in every parking lot at every business (a bit of exaggeration, maybe) full for most of the day. Honestly, I watch cars and carts circling Walmart and the town squares looking for an available handicap space. Are you telling me, all of a sudden, this country has a handicap epidemic? I could get a handicap placard just by telling my doctor my feet hurt when I walk. I know people who have done this. I'm sure many if not most do not abuse this system, but something has happened in this country over the last few decades to require the continuously growing handicap spaces at parking lots.

Your living in Florida now surrounded by "many" older and or retired people that have developed medical issues.

[birdawg]

Theirs a guy with a little gray sports car that parks in the handicap spot at the sports pool and then goes in and play's volley ball for two hours, That takes balls.

Whoa! Karma can be a bi**h to the person whose Wheaties were pi**ed in and felt the need to diss people using H/C placards. God forbid that person ever need to use one.

We carry one in our car for my mother-in-law; when I'm driving, I'll let her and my wife out at the front door and drive to the "lower 40" to park. When my wife (with a new knee) drives her Mom somewhere, they will use the placard.

I'm usually pretty low-key about most things, but if I see a person parking in a H/C space with no license or placard, I'll call them out; that is one of my few pet peeves.

[KeepingItReal]

Originally Posted by dbussone

I understand the law, and my RN wife qualifies under #7 above. She has been diagnosed with MS since 1978. So what is your point?

This is the point:

If your wife is truly deserving then that is what these spaces are for and she deserves to park there.

HSMV 83039 - REV. 08/15
7. Severe limitation in a person's ability to walk due to an arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition.

My father that has passed now was disabled with a stroke and we could never park close but had to drive up and let him get out in a wheelchair and then go park, often while he waited alone because lazy jerks that were perfectly able to walk had taken all the handicap spots already.

While some conditions are more obvious than others we all know these permits are abused and used improperly just like any other benefit like disability for example.

It is a pathetic shame that there is no enforcement on this problem just like many other problems where people cheat and are dishonest.

When people get out of a car and do a fifty yard dash to the store they darn well do not need a handicapped permit and it is clear to anyone that sees them. It is pretty much the same scenario out on the golf courses too with the handicap placards but I could care less about those that cheat out there.

A lot of people should read the last part of number 2 shown below.

HSMV 83039 - REV. 08/15

2. Inability to walk without the use of or assistance from a brace, cane, crutch, prosthetic device, or other assistive device, or without assistance of another person.
If the assistive device significantly restores the person's ability to walk to the extent that the person can walk without severe limitation,
the person is not eligible for the exemption parking permit.

[KeepingItReal]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

I've signed hundreds if not more than a thousand of these in the last 30 years. You cannot tell what the driver's handicap is with a glance. Most are for respiratory or cardiac conditions that preclude the patient from walking 200 feet. Many are also temporary after surgery. Heck, I had emergency neurosurgery on my neck 5 days ago and qualify---I can even sign my own, but you wouldn't be able to tell from looking at me.
My best advice is to be happy YOU don't need one and not worry about what your neighbor's reason is, and let the very few number of scammers live with their own conscience.
As far as the thief goes, he/she should have a reserved spot at the furthest end of any parking lot from now on.

So how does a neck surgery hinder anyone from walking and qualify them for a handicapped parking permit? Under what item on the HSMV 83039 - REV. 08/15 Form would this fall?

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by birdawg

Theirs a guy with a little gray sports car that parks in the handicap spot at the sports pool and then goes in and play's volley ball for two hours, That takes balls.

No, just one. Generally about a foot across and white.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by KeepingItReal

So how does a neck surgery hinder anyone from walking and qualify them for a handicapped parking permit? Under what item on the HSMV 83039 - REV. 08/15 Form would this fall?

In the style of a current presidential candidate, I apologize that you did not understand me. If you must know, due to the nature and location of my surgery, the impact of each step is painful from my posterior cervical region down my left arm. NY criteria includes the inability to walk 200 feet without stopping FOR ANY REASON, I'm only up to 20-25 feet
Of course I have no intention of getting a handicapped placard, that was pure hyperbole. The point of my post was that no one, not even me, can tell if a person meets criteria form a distant glance, so why assume they are a fraud? I have found most requests for a handicapped parking permit are legitimate, and most that are not are just running it up the flagpole to see if I salute it. They don't get one anyway. Even though I tend to lean conservative, I would rather waste a few dollars on the food stamp frauds than have a child go hungry, just as I would rather someone scam a handicapped permit than have some 90 year old break a hip walking too far.
The alternative to the current system is to take the permission out of the hands of the patient's personal physician and give it to some government bureaucrat with 40,000 pages of regulation to follow. This would cost billions, delay the process by months, and probably be associated with a measurable body count. No thank you.
Now here's a food for thought question: If you have an identical house to your neighbor and he is paying less property tax than you, do you go to the assessor's office and argue why your tax should be less based on the value of YOUR property, or do you complain that your neighbor is paying less than you? No criticism or offense intended, but it does go to the point of worrying about what the other guy is getting.