Most signs are there for a reason, which is why it’s important to respect them. But some people seem to do that selectively, failing to follow the ones that might inconvenience them.
Redditor u/Mago-Salicar told the ‘Petty Revenge’ community about such an instance, which ended in a Karen learning a painful lesson for not following the rules. The latter parked her gigantic car occupying two disabled spaces; not only that, she wasn’t allowed to use the disabled parking in the first place. Scroll down to find the full story below.
Parking-related regulations are not less important to follow than road traffic rules
Image credits: GeneReddit123 (not the actual photo)
This entitled woman learned a painful lesson after parking across two disabled parking spaces
Image credits: Kindel Media (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Yaroslav Shuraev (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Mago-Salicar
Designated handicap parking spaces are there for a reason
Parking-related rules do more than just arrange cars in an orderly manner—that is, if drivers follow them to begin with—they help to avoid chaos and ensure that everyone has access to the destination they arrived there for. That is why certain groups of people, such as those with disabilities, often have special parking spaces allocated as they might have certain needs or face certain troubles that have to be attended to.
In order to meet everyone’s needs, parking-related rules and regulations are established not only for drivers but for businesses and organizations, too. Based on the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act, there ought to be a certain number of disabled parking spaces by every establishment, which depends on the size of the lot. For instance, if the latter fits less than 25 vehicles, at least one space must be a designated handicap parking space, while lots large enough to fit 26-50 of them call for at least two.
There are also certain requirements for the spot itself, too, regarding its size, properties of the surface, and the spaces between them—access aisles—as there ought to be enough space for the disabled person to comfortably get in and out of the vehicle.
Quite a large part of the population might benefit from a disabled parking spot
According to the U.S. Census Bureau data from 2019, 12.7% of the total civilian noninstitutionalized population in the US lived with a disability, adding up to over 41 million people. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that now, in 2023, the percentage of Americans with some sort of a disability is as high as 27%, meaning more than one in four people might benefit from a disabled parking spot.
The CDC revealed that roughly 12% of adult Americans have a mobility-related disability, which can affect their ability to walk or climb stairs; a similar number of people have a cognitive disability, which results in difficulty concentrating on or remembering things and making decisions. Such and many other disabilities—often referred to as invisible or hidden ones—might not be immediately apparent; but, as the OP pointed out in the comments, that doesn’t mean a person is less likely to require a designated parking space or other assistance.
“There is no reason to believe that the invisibility of a disability itself necessarily lessens its impact or makes the disability less serious,” ethicist N. Ann Davis pointed out in a piece for The New York Times, which emphasized that societal reactions to hidden disabilities can be quite harsh.
Some people with such a disability might choose to wear a sunflower lanyard, indicative of a condition that may not be immediately apparent. However, even if the disability is not apparent, a disabled parking placard on a car is, which is one of the first things the OP looked for on the improperly parked vehicle to make sure it didn’t belong there.
The majority of disabled people say that parking availability is important to leading an independent life
The redditor emphasized that situations such as this one, when handicap parking spaces are occupied by people with no disabilities, happen way too often. By doing so, irresponsible drivers tend to make an already worrisome matter even worse, as more than half (52%) of people with disabilities tend to alter their plans of going somewhere because of concerns about finding a parking spot.
The data is provided by the Accessible Parking Coalition, which also revealed that 70% of disabled people say their decisions to drive tend to be influenced by parking availability. In addition to that, the vast majority of them—96%, to be exact—believe that “parking availability is important to leading an independent life”.
After encountering yet another driver unconcerned by parking rules, the OP decided not to let her actions slide, and made sure the ‘Karen’ knows that violations of such rules can—and in her case, will—be punished.
Both the OP and fellow redditors shared their views in the comments
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