Inconsiderate Drivers Of Cars WLC 5702 And WNY 8347

There are people who have eyes but refuse to use it to see. There are people who have ears but refuse to use it to listen. There are also people who have brains but refuse to use it to think. I crossed path with one such person yesterday. No, make that three. Here is what happened.

Jusco Taman Maluri Shopping Centre allocated a parking space wide enough to park two cars for disabled people just outside the entrance to the supermarket. The parking space is painted blue. Two signboards with the wheelchair logo were prominently placed there as well.

Inconsiderate driver of car WLC 5702 stealing parking space for disabled people at Jusco Taman Maluri Shopping Centre
Is the signboard with the wheelchair logo not obvious enough to the driver and passenger of WLC 5702?

I was waiting for Wuan at one of the parking spaces. The other was occupied by a white Kancil. A middle aged couple who had no apparent disability got into the car and drove off. As soon as the Kancil went off, another car backed into the space. The plump lady driver got out. The passenger was a middle aged man. The following conversation took place after I wound the window down to confront the driver.

Me: Excuse me, are you disabled?

Driver: No.

She was taken aback by my question.

Me: This parking space is for disabled people. The ground is painted in a different colour.

I pointed to the ground.

Me: There are signboards too.

I pointed to the signboard on the passenger side of the car. She looked confused by then.

Me: If you park here then disabled people have no place else to park.

Driver: Just a short while only.

Me: Everybody says it is for a while. If you park here then where are disabled people supposed to park. These are the only places wide enough for us to get out.

She looked more confused but still defiant. Her companion waved to her and said something that was intelligible to me. She immediately locked the car and walked off. And that is how lady driver of Kia Spectra WLC 5702 became the first inductee into The Digital Awakening’s Hall of Shame.

Inconsiderate driver of car WLC 5702 and WNY 8347 stealing parking space for disabled people at Jusco Taman Maluri Shopping Centre
Drivers WLC 5702 and WNY 8347 abusing parking spaces for disabled people at Jusco Taman Maluri.

When Wuan came back, I got her to take a photograph of the offending car while I backed our car out. While Wuan was snapping away, a white Kenari drove into the space vacated by me. The driver and his entire family were all non-disabled people. It had been a long day for us and I just did not have the strength left educate ignorant people on the importance of not abusing accessible parking spaces. We went off just after Wuan got the photographs that I wanted.

While I am at it, let me rant just a little more. A few months ago at the same shopping centre, I wanted to park at the same parking space. The two signboards blocked the way. Wuan got out of the car to remove the signboards. A guard came out and shouted rudely at Wuan and told her to go park somewhere else without bothering to check if there was any disabled person in the car or if there was sticker with the wheelchair logo on the windscreen.

Wuan got annoyed and shouted back at him and pointed to the wheelchair sticker on the car windscreen. The rude guard even got the nerve to tell her that she could at least told him in a polite way. He then walked away, leaving Wuan to move the two heavy signsboards by herself. That was very unlike the courteous security personnel that I have come to expect from Jusco.

It is also ridiculous for Jusco to place heavy signboards to block the parking spaces. How is a disabled driver supposed to park there? Not all disabled people travel with a companion who can get out of the car to move the signboards. In trying to prevent non-disabled people from parking their cars there, which obviously is unsuccessful, the action is also preventing disabled people from using the facility.

It is ironic that people who are genuinely disabled are not able to use parking in spaces reserved for them while non-disabled people continue to abuse such facilities with impunity. These are inconsiderate Malaysians for you. They are not the majority but they make life difficult for disabled people who are already facing so many problems with public transport and the built environment.

How To Become Famous Without Really Trying

1. Annoy a blogger

2. See #1.

When I first saw the photo below, I thought to myself, “Wow, nice car!”

Then I noticed the signboard with the wheelchair logo behind the car.

I thought to myself, “A disabled person who has made it to be able to afford such a nice car.”

Then I saw that he occupied two parking spaces.

I told myself what an idiotic and selfish disabled person the driver was to deprive other disabled people from using the parking space.

Then I read in Yoon Kit’s blog that the person who parked the car there refused to move the vehicle despite being told that he had occupied parking spaces for disabled people.

*&%$#@. That was all I could think of.

Parking spaces for disabled people are there for a purpose. They are extra-wide to allow the car door be opened fully and a wheelchair placed beside it for the disabled person to get in and out of the car. Regular parking spaces are too narrow for this. Another car parked beside the car of a disabled person in a regular-sized parking space will prevent the car door from being opened fully.

Driver of car BJD 8282. Pray very very hard that you never ever officially qualify to use these parking spaces. It is no fun for a disabled person to travel twenty kilometers to run errands only find all accessible parking spaces taken up by inconsiderate people like you and leaving us no place else to park.

Read Mentally Challenged Parkers for more on the incident. Special thanks to Yoon Kit for advocating on behalf of disabled people. Thanks also to Paul Tan for directing me to Yoon Kit’s blog.

BJD 8282 parking in spaces reserved for disabled people
Photo courtesy of Yoon Kit.

Criminal Offence To Abuse Parking Spaces For Disabled People

An interesting piece from BBC via Wheelie Catholic. Too bad this is in Birmingham and not in Malaysia.

Illegal blue badges cost £500,000
Disabled parking space
Anyone caught parking illegally could face fines of up to £1,000

Drivers parking illegally in spaces for disabled motorists are costing Birmingham £500,000 in lost parking fees each year, council chiefs said.

The city council has vowed to take tough action against those caught, threatening fines of up to £1,000.

Hundreds of people had already been caught, council leaders told an investigation by BBC’s Inside Out in the West Midlands.

A blue badge can only be displayed if the permit holder is using the vehicle.

Criminal record

Transport chiefs said the most common misuse was people using badges awarded to their relatives, without the relatives being in the car.

However, people had also been caught using fraudulent badges.

Currently, wardens only have the powers to tow away the offending vehicles and to issue a fine of £140.

However, the city council said it would now start using private prosecutions to bring people to court, which would allow them to impose higher fines and leave the drivers with a criminal record.

Extra patrols will also be out on the streets catching those flouting the law.

Clamped for parking at accessible parking without the wheelchair logo

In Malaysia, offenders mostly get away with less than a slap on the wrist. Ikano Power Center is one of the few shopping complexes that enforces clamping of vehicles that do not display the wheelchair logo parking in spaces allocated to disabled people. However, no authority is responsible for issuing official parking stickers to disabled people that is recognized throughout Malaysia. Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya is issuing similar stickers but only to residents of the municipality for parking spaces managed by the council which I have spoken out against. Apart from that, anyone can print the logo and display it on their car dashboard and claim the right to park in such spaces.

The public must understand that such parking spaces are there for a reason. They are extra wide to allow for sufficient space to place a wheelchair beside the vehicle for the disabled person to get in and out. I have come across drivers who conveniently parked their cars in the accessible parking spaces at Mid Valley Megamall and Tesco Ipoh when they were not even walking with a limp. By occupying these spaces, non-disabled drivers are depriving disabled drivers a place to park their vehicles. We are unable to use regular-sized parking spaces. If our cars are sandwiched between two vehicles in such parking spaces, we will not be able to get out or into the cars because the car door cannot be fully opened due to the close proximity of the vehicles.