Handicap Parking

Why do places even have designated Handicap Parking places? It doesn't really make sense. They are never used for their actual purpose. Don't get me wrong. I am all for it when it is used properly (much like our wonderful welfare system). It just seems to me that it is way too easy to get a handicap sticker. If you are actually handicapped and it is difficult for you to walk far or even get around then it makes sense. The only people that I see using them is typically people who are borrowing the actual handicap person's vehicle or my favorite one is the people who are just overweight. Doesn't that defeat the purpose? I'm not sure of all the laws and rules for handicap stickers or the things that hang down from the mirrors that give you permission to park in handicap spaces, but I think their should be more regulation of this. Maybe if you have five or more handicap parking spaces you should have a designated person there to make sure the person is actually deserving of said privilege. That would be awesome. Our country throws so much money away on other things why don't we use some of that to pay people sorta like police to regulate who gets to use handicap parking places. Have someone sitting right out front of where ever the parking spaces are and when someone gets out of a vehicle with a handicap sticker they can say, "Hey! You! You aren't actually handicapped. You are gonna have to move your vehicle." That would be awesome. I can see someone like an older lady or old retired vet/cop guy going off on some young dude for parking their grandmother's Ford Taurus in the front handicap space. Hahaha. I actually just laughed out loud while typing that. Have like a Barney Fife out front doing some regulating. Yeah, that would keep people from abusing this privilege.

But in all seriousness this can have negative effects besides just getting me rowled up. Handicap parking places are there for a reason. If we actually took them away it would hurt the people who are really deserving of them. And since so many people abuse them people who may have an actual reason to use them that may not be seen outwardly or is just not very noticeable are afraid to use them for fear of being accused of not needing it. That's unfortunate. If we didn't have people that abused this kind of thing we wouldn't have this problem.

So I looked up the conditions that they allow for people to have handicap privileges in Mississippi. Some of them are okay but there were a few things that I had problems with. The first one is person cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest. Okay some people may not be able to do this for legitimate reasons. But if the reason is that you are overweight that's when I have a problem with it. Maybe if you didn't get the handicap sticker and had to walk those extra steps you would lose a few LBs and not have to get the sticker or those little scooters they have in Walmart. I mean that one should be a little more strict. Maybe cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest for health reason besides obesity. My fat butt doesn't need one.

The only other one that I had a problem with is if the person uses portable oxygen. Okay that can go either way too. But if the person gets to use a handicap space because he smoked his whole life and now has emphysema or some kind of cancer and has to use oxygen to breath or stay alive, that doesn't make sense. If someone is handicap by choice, which is what I would consider this since it was done from smoking, they shouldn't get the privilege of getting an handicap space. That one really burns me up actually. But see that's why this is so open to interpretation. The person could actually have to have the oxygen to breath for other reasons. I just feel if it is from smoking that they should be excluded. There tons of other reasons that a person could need oxygen to breath and I'm sure those could be reasons to warrant a handicap sticker.

Those are the two requirements that stand out the most to me. But like I said I do not know for sure if these are or are not excluded from this. Let me know if there are any that you know of that sound crazy. I'm just going from past experiences that I have run into in my trips to Walmart or other places with handicap spaces. If something is going to be abused it hurts the people who actually need it more. That's pretty ridiculous to me.