THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610250203
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: ON THE STREET
SOURCE: Bill Reed
LENGTH: 61 lines
Folks who knowingly park in handicapped spaces illegally are lower than pond scum.
They make life unnecessarily tough on the elderly, the feeble and people with disabilities who find it extremely painful or impossible to walk even short distances to stores, restaurants or doctors' offices.
By law handicapped parking spaces, whether on public or private property, are reserved for people who have walking handicaps, said Police Lt. Gary Van Auken of the city's 3rd Precinct. To park in one of these spaces a person must have a physical disability verified by a physician and a handicapped license plate, decal or permit issued by the state Division of Motor Vehicles.
Anybody who is able bodied, yet happily occupies a handicapped parking space just to be a few steps closer to a store or movie theater entrance deserves to be slapped with the maximum punishment allowed by law.
Public flogging is out of fashion these days, except maybe in Singapore, so in Virginia the most painful penalty for any legal transgression short of an ax murder is allowing a judge to extract cash from somebody's wallet.
In Virginia Beach, conviction on a handicapped parking violation can be very expensive indeed, Van Auken points out.
``The fine for illegally parking in handicapped spaces is $100 and that doubles after 14 days,'' he said. ``And the state legislature this year pushed the maximum to $250.''
For that kind of dough you can buy two weeks worth of groceries or pay for a swanky anniversary bash for the spouse - maybe even toss in a couple of bottles of bubbly as well.
To see that folks abide by the law the city eight years ago organized a corps of PEST officers - volunteers, whose job it is to roam the highways and by-ways of Virginia Beach to ticket violators of the handicapped parking laws. There are now 18 PEST officers in the city. PEST is an acronym for Parking Enforcement Specialist Team and its members are mostly retired men and women who do an excellent job of writing up scofflaws.
This year alone PEST officers citywide have issued enough tickets to generate $180,000 in fines, said Van Auken.
``We do enforce on private property because that's one of the biggest sources of complaints,'' said Bill Day, a veteran 3rd Precinct PEST officer. Day is referring to parking lots at shopping centers or office buildings where some spaces are reserved for handicapped parking.
And people who see PEST officers approaching with summons books in hand can be nasty at times, said Capt. Al Smith, 3rd Precinct commander. ``We've had some quit, because they aren't going to take all that stuff.''
Added Day: ``The biggest thing is that they try to drive away before you can give 'em a ticket.'' Day acknowledges that he has barely escaped being run over by a few motorists caught parking illegally.
Then there are the con artists who try to talk their way out of a ticket, said Smith, recalling an elderly lady who was written up for parking in handicapped space with an expired permit.
``It turns out the permit was her husband's and he had been dead for 3 1/2 years,'' said Smith.
Using somebody else's permit also can get you in a lot of hot water, said Van Auken. ``This year it's a separate violation for using somebody else's permit fraudulently - you can lose permits this way.''
And don't forget the BIG bucks you have to pay in fines. by CNB