Fraudulent use of accessible parking passes a source of frustration for many
Sudbury police officer says he's caught people using a deceased spouse's permit
The province knows that people misuse the special parking permits issued to those with disabilities — and it's once again looking at ways to make them harder to abuse.
That's welcome news to Sudbury's Sarah Lashbrook who is paraplegic.
"Lots of times I just circle around parking lots just to find a spot," she told CBC News.
"There's not a lot of parking spots ... [and] there's lots of people with parking passes these days. It's always, always full."
Constable Dann Kingsley works in the traffic management unit with Greater Sudbury Police. He said he's seeing a lot of things that make him scratch his head.
"People use disability access permits that are not in their names," he said. "I've stopped people getting out of their vehicles and checked their permits and seen that it was for a spouse. And where is that spouse? 'Oh, he died two years ago.'"
"There's a misconception sometimes that the permit is issued for the vehicle," Kingsley continued. "It's actually issued for the driver or passenger, depending on the situation."
Permits could change
Permits are distributed by the provincial government agency Service Ontario. They can be issued to either a driver or a passenger with a disability who must be in the car for the permit to be valid.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services said in a statement the province is aware of the problems — and is doing consultations now to figure out solutions.
In the meantime, the province said it has "improved linkages between the death registry information and the accessible parking permit database to identify deceased permit holders."
One thing Lashbrook said might work better for her is a system of passes that reserve the bigger spots exclusively for wheelchair use.
"I think the government needs to regulate parking spots and make it so that you have wheelchair parking spots, and then maybe you know, [spots for] people who have disabilities but can walk and don't need that extra space. There needs to be [something] like a tier system," she said.
'People who legitimately need them'
For the most part, Kingsley says people appreciate that police make the effort to protect those few parking spaces.
"I've had good feedback from people ... it's been a rather positive experience," he said.
"Whether we're getting people out of spots they're not supposed to be in or ensuring those spots are available for people who legitimately need them."
In a statement, the province said there are approximately 729,000 Accessible Parking Permits active in Ontario.