Posted on: Tuesday, May 7, 2002

EDITORIAL
Measure on disabled parking should get ax

One of the more poorly considered bills to come out of the 2002 Legislature is a proposal to drastically chop back the minimum fine for illegally parking in stalls reserved for disabled drivers.

Gov. Ben Cayetano has indicated he is considering vetoing the measure. He should, and lawmakers should take another look at the logic they used to pass this piece of legislation.

Rep. Joe Souki said part of the thinking was to give the judge greater discretion in assessing fines for these infractions. Today, the minimum fine is $250, while the maximum goes up to $500. The bill would change the minimum to $100.

We're all in favor of judicial discretion, but this proposal sends the wrong signal to those who would rather callously use parking reserved for drivers with handicaps.

If an honest mistake were made (say the markings were somehow obscured), then the judge has the discretion to dismiss the ticket altogether.

But a stiff fine is absolutely necessary to send home the message that use of handicapped stalls by those with no need is more than an ordinary parking violation. It is a direct affront to people who have a tough enough time as it is getting around in an environment that has been built largely without the disabled in mind.

Police officials say the $250 fine is an effective attention-getter. Most drivers who get one of those tickets are unlikely to use one of those reserved stalls again.

While a veto would lose some changes to the law that had been sought by the disabled community, on balance it makes sense. Those changes can be made next year.