Many people may not realize the need to allow extra space for wheelchair ramps when parking next to a handicap space. Marked lines at specific handicap parking spots are there for a reason — so wheelchair-bound individuals can safely exit and enter the vehicle.
For Sara Abell, whose daughter Leah has cerebral palsy, parking her wheelchair-accessible van has become a struggle. Taking to social media to vent her frustrations, Abell didn’t realize that a picture of someone parking too close to a handicap spot would quickly go viral. Quickly getting hundreds of shares and comments within an hour, the post received a range of reactions — from positive and encouraging to hurtful and demoralizing.
“It got ugly — really ugly,” Abell said. “I started to get kind of worried for the person whose vehicle was in the photo.”
Abell decided to delete the post after reading an array of hateful — even racist — remarks that pointed the finger at the person who’d parked too close to Abell’s van.
However, Abell said she still has a message to send, and hopes awareness can be spread regarding those who rely on wheelchair ramps for safe entering and exiting of vehicles.
“There are angled lines between two handicap places. Those lines are there so that wheelchair ramps can be used to bring people in and out of the vehicle safely,” Abell said. “We need 8 feet between the vehicle and the person trying to enter the ramp.”
Abell said people park either on the angled lines or partially park over the lines quite often in Owensboro. The areas this most often happens are at crowded grocery stores, but it happens everywhere, Abell said.
“You’ll see ‘Van Access’ signs for these particular spots,” Abell said. “People think, ‘I’ll just park in these lines,’ and those lines are meant for van access.”
Owensboro Police Department Public Information Officer Andrew Boggess said OPD issues tickets to those who park in handicap spots without a tag, as well as those who park within the slanted lines designated for wheelchair ramps.
“That is the same thing as actually parking in a handicap spot,” Boggess said.
Abell said she has been forced to pull out of a handicap spot and let Leah out of the van in the middle of two rows in the parking lot. In areas with high-volume traffic, this gets very dangerous, Abell said.
“Just to get her in the vehicle we’ll have to back out to where cars are driving and leave her out in the parking lot by herself,” Abell said. “It is dangerous to leave someone who’s already vulnerable and in a wheelchair out in traffic. But that’s what we have to do to get the van where it needs to be. It’s kind of demoralizing. You’re already disabled and it adds insult to injury.”
For those who are wheelchair-bound and drive, the problem is even more debilitating because they are forced to wait until said driver who parked too close finishes their shopping and moves their car from the angled lines.
“Those who drive are just stuck,” Abell said.
Abell hopes people become more aware of the importance of those angled lines in parking lots, and also hopes, even on a local level, that more people can sympathize with the fact that parking and getting out of a vehicle isn’t a walk in the park for everybody.
“I get mad — I hate that I get mad. Then I get to the point that I get tired of it,” Abell said. “The lack of awareness is really the case here. It’s definitely an issue.”
