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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Forgetting disabled placard
is expensive memory lapseQuestion: I am permanently in a wheelchair due to an injury a couple of years ago. I got a ticket at Costco in Waipio for parking in a handicap stall with no placard. I had put it up but when I returned, I found the ticket and saw the placard on the ground. I think my kids pulled it down, or it fell down. I called the number on the ticket and was told I could contest it, by bringing in the placard and my ID card. However they said there is a new law that automatically will charge me $30. How unfair! Why are we being penalized for it accidentally falling on the ground? I also was told that the outcome "depends on the judge," so, is it like if the judge was in a good mood or something, then the penalty is waived?
Answer: The law (Hawaii Revised Statutes, Chapter 291-57) quietly was amended last year to crack down on people who had been abusing the disabled parking system by claiming frequently that they had just forgotten to display their parking placard.
It also is meant as a reminder to people that it's not enough just to have the placard to have special parking -- the placard must be properly displayed.
The $30 referred to is actually a $25 fine and $5 court fee.
"The law says that if you park in a parking stall reserved for a person with a disability and you have no placard, the penalty is $250," explained Francine Wai, executive director of the state's Disability and Communication Access Board.
That penalty has been on the books for a number of years and remains unchanged.
However, the law was amended last year to recognize people with a disability who have a parking placard, but who may have legitimately forgotten to display the placard.
In that case, the $250 fine can be reduced to a $25 fine, Wai said.
The intent of what essentially is a fine for forgetting is "to instill some responsibility on the part of individuals that they have to use their placard," she said.
Wai also noted that some people -- without legitimate placards -- racked up numerous citations, but were able to get them dismissed time after time because no records are kept of dismissals and no pattern of misbehavior could be tracked.
Regardless of whether you legitimately have a placard, the mere fact that you failed to have it displayed when parking in a restricted stall means you have violated the law.
"You have no right to park there without your placard -- it's not a right that's extended to a person unless they have the placard hanging," Wai said.
In the past, the courts had only two options in penalizing someone who received a citation -- to assess the $250 fine or to dismiss the citation. The lesser fine is a third option meant to provide more incentive for people to adhere to the law.
Wai added that judges do have the option of dismissing a charge, but it's not really an issue of the mood of the judge, but rather, the intent of the law.
So far, the lesser fine has substantially reduced the number of people "who are trying to pull a fast one," as well as those who simply forget to display the placard, she said.
Q: When will the University of Hawaii reopen the stairs between Gateway House and Johnson Hall dormitories that lead to and from the tennis courts on the Manoa campus? Can they at least open it during daylight hours?
A: In response to requests such as yours, campus security officials last Thursday began sending patrol officers to allow use of the stairway during the day, according to UH-Manoa spokesman Jim Manke.
Electric power for the stairway lighting came from Gateway House, and when the transformer failed, so did the lights, he said. The barriers were put up to keep people off the stairs because of safety and security concerns at night.
Patrol officers will remove the barriers in the morning and replace them at night, allowing daytime access, Manke said.
Because of the electrical problems, Gateway House was shut down on Jan. 13 and 220 students and staff were forced to find other living arrangements.
UH officials are hoping to reopen the dorm this fall.
"In the meantime, the UH facilities office is obtaining estimates to determine whether or not it's feasible to re-route power to the lights until the Gateway situation is resolved so that the stairs could be opened at night as well," Manke said.
Auwe
To the person who stole the Waialae-Kahala Athletic Club's brand new batting cage from the Waialae Kahala Mustang baseball field the evening of Monday, Feb. 2. Because of you, a lot of young kids will be without something they have waited for many years. Shame on you! You need to take a good, hard look at your life because what kind of person steals from children? Next time you look in the mirror, remember those children and that they will no longer have a batting cage because of you. -- Disgusted Parent
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