Parking lots for the disabled

A Romanian foundation is running a campaign concerning the reserved parking spaces for people with disabilities

Christine Leșcu, 31.01.2018, 13:25

We all know how
stressful the rush for a free parking space can be, especially downtown or at
the mall. That is why, we get so happy when we manage to find a space, even
though sometimes that place is reserved for people with disabilities. Many say:
I’ll only be five minutes, or these places are never taken anyway, because
there are not so many disabled people who drive. Seriously? would say those
who should normally benefit from these spaces. And that rhetorical question
was the beginning of an awareness raising campaign, run by the Motivation
Foundation, who works with and for people with locomotor disabilities. The
foundation wishes to draw regular drivers’ attention to the importance of
leaving this assigned spots free, for the disabled to be able to actually use
them. This campaign, titled Seriously?, would like to eliminate at least part
of the preconceived ideas about the lack of mobility of the disabled. Many of
them are actually independent and active, and they drive or travel as
passengers in vehicles adapted to their condition. And their number is much
higher than the other people think, as Erika Garnier, a PR officer with the Motivation
Foundation, told us. She gave us some statistical data, made available by the
Romanian Automobile Register:

In
2017, some 1700 vehicles were adapted to be able to be driven by or carry
people with disabilities, and that was only till October. By the end of the
year, the figure must have grown. As compared to 2012, it grew five times. And
that is evidence that the number of people with disabilities who are active is
actually higher, people who want to be an active part of the life of the
community. The disabled are first of all regular citizens, who have certain
needs, which needs they should be able to meet and take part in all the
activities that we normally do: to go shopping, driving, hang out with friends,
all the things that we do on a regular basis. And for this thing to be
possible, they need these dedicated parking spaces.

Erika herself
is a disabled person, but she is a driver too, and is many times faced with the
situation in which she cannot find a place to park her car. What actually
prompted the Seriously? campaign was this very situation, encountered every
day, which can be prevented by means of information campaigns. Erika Garnier
has a message for those who abusively take on the parking spaces reserved
for people with disabilities:

First of all, me and my colleagues who are in wheelchairs, and people with
disabilities in general, need that dedicated parking spaces. So, we want to
make it clear that any justification like: ‘I was in a hurry’, ‘It’ll only take
five minutes’, or ‘that space was not taken anyway’ is by no means valid. And
the fact that someone parks their car in such a place for five minutes, or
because they are in a hurry, prevents someone who is disabled to do something
absolutely natural, such as entering a building to do their shopping, or
entering an office building, because they have an appointment.

Also, it is very
important to understand why these dedicated spaces are close to entrances and
why they are wider than the other parking spaces. Speaking about that, here is
Erika Garnier once again:

When you’re in a wheelchair, you are less visible for somebody
who is driving in reverse. Also, it is very important that the space be close
to the building entrance. Moreover, you need more driving and maneuvering space
so that you may get off the car while seated in a wheelchair. You cannot do
that in a parking lot crammed with cars.

Tudor Darvareanu
is an instructor with the Motivation Foundation.Tudor has introduced
himself as a very dynamic person, who loves sports, a person who carried on
with his active life even after he got into a wheelchair. Tudor Darvareanu is a
driver himself, and oftentimes he has been faced with the situation in which
somebody with no disabilities took his dedicated parking space.

Speaking about
that, here is Tudor Darvareanu himself.

I was lucky because I had a companion
with me, who helped me find another parking space, somewhere at the far end of
the parking lot, where there is more space. And there, I could park my car
safely. First of all, it’s about lack of information and feeble awareness of
the importance of parking spaces. You don’t see that many disabled persons
driving a car, precisely because there are not very many properly arranged and
accessible parking spaces.

And that is not
the only problem the disabled are faced with, whenever they want to move around
town. Here is Tudor Darvareanu once again:

First of all, it’s about parking, then there is how you can get access to a
public institution. If we speak about moving around town, we speak about
dedicated areas on the sidewalk and again about parking, since many park their
cars right on the sidewalk, which means that by default, there’s not room left
for somebody to move in a wheelchair. It’s about accessibility, in general.
Then there’s also the problem of adapting the means of public transport.

In Romania, the
legislative act stipulating terms of accessibility to public buildings
stipulates that 4% of the existing parking spaces are for people with
disabilities. Also, Law 48 of 2000, promoting and protecting the rights of the
disabled, stipulates fines for those who break the law and abusively park their
cars in the areas dedicated to people with disabilities.