The state of California is giving out disabled parking permits to people who may not need it. That’s the word today from the state auditor’s office. Drivers with disabilities say this is a big problem.
The disabled parking spaces are filling up with cars with the proper permit, but the state argues some of these drivers don’t actually need it.
A big deal is today’s report from the state auditor’s office that says the state is giving disabled parking permits to people who don’t provide the proper medical documentation. In the report, three out of four approved applications for the permit did not adequately describe the disability. This impacts people like Wendy Young who has an approved disability. She says it makes it hard for her to find parking when she is running errands.
"One thing is that sometimes you might have people who have parking passes because their relatives have one and they’ll use them. So, the actual person who is entitled to have it you know they might need a parking space and they can’t get it."
The audit says nearly one in five applicant’s are using a provider’s signature that does not match the one on file with the licensing board. That’s something Wendy says should be a violation.
"Maybe they should be fined so that it would be taken away. That’s how i look at it."
This permit allows people to park in blue disabled spaces and even for free in metered spaces.
But this man, who wasn’t comfortable being shown on camera, has a severe disability and says the problem behind this issue is clear. This is what he says.
"All you got to do is lie. That’s all you got to do. The doctor don’t know if your telling the truth or not. And if it’s a doctor you just pop in to see, he doesn’t know you from I, and I guarantee you they don’t have a doctor in the DMV to check it out. There is too many of them."
He says all too often he has to park in the back of the parking lot, making his errands all that more torturous.
"I have to walk further and with double knee replacement when it gets cold, I have to pull out my cane. Sometimes i just don’t go out. I don’t deal with it."
The state DMV is now implementing changes to fix the problem.
They say it’s time to put a stop to abusing the disabled parking permit system.
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