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'It's stealing someone else's right' Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Marge Simonsen prepares to place a citation on a car illegally parked in an access area for the disabled at Providence Medford Medical Center. Although the car had a legal permit, it should not have been parked in the access area. Increased fines are part of an effort to enforce disabled-parking laws By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune If you depend on your disabled grandmother to get a good parking space, make sure she's in the car. If she's not, it could cost you $450. Oregon's fines for misusing disabled parking spaces and placards rose as of the first of the year, in some cases nearly doubling. Drivers who use another person's placard, shoppers who park in a disabled spot and "run in for a minute," store managers and even legitimately disabled drivers will pay increased fines if they don't comply with parking regulations. The new fines are a result of action by the 2001 Legislature. "Why anyone would take a chance on a $250 ticket just so they don't have to walk in the rain?" asked Marge Simonsen, an Oregon State Police volunteer who enforces disabled-parking laws. "It sure wouldn't be worth it to me." Placards are issued to people rather than to vehicles, Simonsen said. But it's not uncommon for OSP volunteers patrolling Rogue Valley parking lots to run across people using placards issued to a family member or to someone who died several years ago, Simonsen said. "It's cheating, it's lying, it's stealing someone else's right to park in that space," said Simonsen, who is disabled herself and uses a placard. As of Jan. 1, the fine for using another person's placard rose to $450 from $250. Parking in a disabled space without a placard still costs drivers $250 for the first ticket but jumps to $450 after a second offense. And there's no longer any chance to get those fines reduced in court. Courts also used to erase fines if drivers who failed to properly display their placards could show a valid permit. But those drivers now are subject to a $20 fee every time they leave their placard on the car floor or cover it up with a glove or hat instead of placing it on the dashboard or hanging it from the rear-view mirror, Simonsen said. Jackson County OSP volunteers issued 633 disabled-parking tickets last year and 579 in 2000. They warned 512 drivers last year and just under 600 in 2000 about misusing disabled parking. Costco shoppers typically receive the most tickets, followed by Wal-Mart patrons and those with business at Rogue Valley Medical Center. Disabled parking laws can be enforced whether the space is marked with a symbol painted on the pavement, with a sign in front of the spot or with both, Simonsen said. Store employees often call State Police volunteers when they find cars parked illegally in handicapped spaces, Simonsen said. But now those store managers can be responsible for a $70 fine - usually reduced to $50 in court - if carts or display items block disabled spaces or the access aisles next to the spaces. Managers at several Medford stores hadn't heard about the law change but said they didn't anticipate any problems keeping parking lots clear for disabled shoppers. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.