It's kind of funny. This morning I thought about writing this blog to educate the non-using handicap space members of society about the importance not parking over the blue lines. Then I went out and got lift-bound. Someone parked right next to my side door where I unfold the wheelchair lift to get Alisha in and out of the van, which prevented me from using the lift. I had to move the van two more times on the stone-grated parking lot before I could successfully get the lift down and we could be on our merry way.
This is going to seem like a gripe session but bare with me or just humor me. Just trying to do a little handicap parking education. There are two kinds; the regular signed "Handicap Parking" and the "Van Accessible Only" spots. Not complicated you say.
If someone parks in a handicap spot they have been given an extra wide (although not always) lane to park in and some blue diagonal lines next to their space indicating the area where the person with a disability could be unloaded from the vehicle. These blue lines are not painted to make the parking space more symmetrical in appearance or ascetically attractive to the human eye. No, they actually are a sign as important as other signs on the road like the famous "stop" sign or the not always respected "yield" sign.
If you park in a space with these diagonal blue lines you want to do one thing and one thing only- park anywhere but on the diagonal blue lines. If you do park on the diagonal blue lines someone is not going to get into their vehicle very easily. Someone is going to be unhappy. You may even become at risk. Not saying for what.
There are people in this world who will become unglued if you park over the diagonal blue lines. They may want to hurt you. Not me of course. I really try to remain more rational than some.
Now, the words "Van Accessible Only" is a whole other matter. My husband who happens to be one of the more even-tempered people I know in this world is transformed into the likes of Dr. Jekyll when he sees a car parked in the "Van Accessible Only" spot when there are plenty of regular "Handicap Parking" spots available. Even though I told you the handicap spots are extra wide, they are not wide enough for vans. When deploying the lift we take up an extra six feet. The only way to ensure the lift will go down with ample room to get Alisha out is to park in one of these spots. Nine times out of ten parking in a regular "handicap" spot will result in being lift-bound. There is definitely a shortage of these Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Golden Ticket parking spots. So when we see the "Van Accessible Only" spot it's like a teen opening an iPhone on Christmas morning. But when we can find no where to park and see cars parked in these rare "Van Accessible Only" finds, some of us come unglued. Not saying who.
So if you ever park near or in a handicap parking spot think about these things. It just may save your life.
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