Caughtya™

• Feed
• Sitemap
• Skip to Content

• Home
• About
• Infractions
• Drive-By
• Contact

I was thinking about the various reactions I have encountered in relation to this site, and to accessible parking in general. There is a broad spectrum of reactions. This isn't bad in and of itself, as it has the potential to create dialogue about the issues, and to raise public awareness. It sometimes gets disheartening though. What are some of the various reactions?

It's funny

I get two types of reactions along these lines about the site. Some people are amused, as if the site was one big joke. These people obviously don't understand that accessible parking issues are real and important, and aren't just inconveniences. And there are those who actually do understand the issues intimately, and who think it's funny, not in a laughable way, but get a sense of mirth at the idea of getting their own back at accessible parking abusers.

Surely it's not a problem (or "people don't do that")

There are many people out there who don't abuse mobility carparks, and who don't have an impairment, yet appear to be oblivious to the issues of disability parking. When we discuss problems encountered with them, and how often we encounter these problems, they are flabbergasted. Many are incredulous, and take some convincing that there is in fact regular abuse going on. They are well meaning, good people. They have not been confronted with the issues that take place. How are they expected to know it's happening if it isn't part of their lives? Yet as long as so many people are unaware of the issues, we have no hope of stopping these kind of parking violations. This is where "awareness campaigns" may have an impact. Perhaps the awareness campaigns target the wrong people though. Instead of trying to stop the offenders, maybe the answer is to raise awareness of those around the offenders.

In the same line, there appears to be many facility managers, store owners and people in position of authority who believe that parking abuse doesn't happen in the lots they are in charge of. They say there isn't a problem and therefore, we don't have to do anything about it. To be fair, other people in positions of authority, such as some City Council staff who are aware of problems get as frustrated as we are by the refusal of these same facility managers and store owners to acknolwedge there is a problem.

It's not my job (or "it's not our responsibility")

This seems to be a typical response from store managers when they are asked to monitor their parking lot. They refuse to systematically monitor the spaces. While they may agree, sometimes, momentarily, to go out and chase someone who is in parking illegally, in general, they won't do a thing about it. But if it's not their responsibility, and if police or city council staff aren't allowed to ticket on private property unless invited on by the owners (as is the case in New Zealand), whose responsibility is it? And if police are allowed to issue parking citations, is it not the responsibility of the store owners to call the police in?

I submit it is everyone's responsibility to monitor parking lots, regardless of impairment, regardless of their relationship to the parking lot (owner, customer). If society as a whole, our communities, stand up and refuse to let it happen any longer it shouldn't take long for parking offenders to stop, or move away, until they run out of places where they can park illegally with impunity. As long as we continue not to call them up on it, they will continue to do it. Our silence condones their action.

You should do this (or that)

Several "helpful" people have approached us with suggestions. We assume these suggestions come from good intentions, if sometimes ill-informed. The most recent bit of advice was that we "should consult a lawyer about the legality of [our] website". I couldn't help to feel patronised at the implication that legal issues had not been checked (when in fact we did check with the US Department of Justice, the UK Information Commissioner's office, and the NZ Privacy Commissioner's office, which all said there didn't appear to be any breach of law on our site.) There are also those who think the site is a good idea, but should be done "better", with no suggestion as to how the site could be better done.

We welcome feedback and constructive criticism. By all means, do share your ideas as to how improve the site and increase the reach of "the message", but don't assume a lot of thought and effort hasn't already gone into doing what we do, the way we do it.

Don't take my photo

First, we don't take your photo! Only your car gets to appear on our site.

People do get upset at having photos of their illegally parked car taken. Given caughtya.org is relatively new and unknown, one wonders what is so upsetting to them that the photo is being taken. Could it perhaps be that they realise they've done something wrong and illegal, and that having someone take a photo of the infraction forces them to consider what they've done?

Then there's people who do own a parking permit, but forgot to put it up. They get upset at having the photo taken as well. Are they afraid to be painted in the same light as the rat-bags who abuse parking spaces? Are they in fact angry at themselves for having forgotten to display their placard? Do they not encounter the same problems we do? They should be happy someone is attempting to do something about the issue so the next time they are looking for parking, it's not taken up by someone who really shouldn't park there. And they'll remember to put their placard up.

Some attitudes can't be changed

Surfing the web looking for entries about accessible parking issues is an interesting experience. You never know what you will encounter. What surprised me (though in retrospect really shouldn't have) was the number of people who brag about abusing the mobility spaces. Not only do they brag about it, but they get downright insulting about people with disabilities. My latest find said:

"As some may know, I've been parking in handicapped spaces to blow off the spider webs and put them to good use.

I just happen to have a blue air freshener on the rearview, which maybe from a distance, gives the false impression that it's a handi tag."

When you encounter such attitudes, it is very difficult not to get discouraged. People who think and behave that way are unlikely to ever "get it". The only thing that might get them to stop their behaviour would be a hefty fine or three. But they wouldn't understand why they shouldn't use accessible parking spaces, they'd just not do it because it costs them. And they'd get even more angry at people with disabilities. There's no win there.

Others are having similar problems

This post was inspired by an entry on another blog called Where Have I Heard That Before?. HollaBackTALK describe themselves as being:

Dedicated to ending sexual violence that exists on a wide spectrum, HollaBackBoston catalogs street harassment and gives women and marginalized groups a space for recourse, solidarity, and resources.

The concept of the HollaBack site(s) is rather similar to that of Caughtya.org (although evolved independently from one another). The similarity doesn't stop there. In their blog, the authors discussed different attitudes toward street harassement. They mention three prevalent responses:

1. The "Just ignore it" response [and it will go away]
2. The "NAH" response [it doesn't happen, it's not such a big deal]
3. The "Here let me help" response [apparently well minded folks offering advice, but missing the point

This is another debate, another topic, another inequality. But I was struck by how "frighteningly similar" the issues are between disability parking violations and street harassement. There are knuckle-heads and there is work ahead of us.

[tags]Social+Change, Attitudes, Parking, Disability, Disability+Parking, Abuse, Violation, Accessible, Mobility, Blog[/tags]

Post Details:
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 19th, 2006 and is filed under Drive-by. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Tags:
Abuse, Accessible, Attitudes, Blog, Disability, Disability Parking, Mobility, Parking, Social Change, Violation