Irresponsible motorists park as they please

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Star - Metro

Irresponsible motorists park as they please
Story and photos by ELAN PERUMAL

SOME local authorities in Selangor have ensured that developers provide designated parking lots for the disabled but irresponsible motorists have abused these lots and use them for their own benefit.

A random check by StarMetro at Klang, where there are ample parking lots for the disabled, revealed that most of these lots are taken up by normal people.

This is especially rampant at lots located at busy areas like banks and food outlets, where parking spaces are not easily available.Irresponsible: This posh car has taken up a disabled lot and closer inspection reveals neither a handicapped sticker or a credential card.

However, the check also revealed that some of these motorists preferred to park at these lots even though there was ample parking space nearby.

There seemed to be no difference in the general mentality of these unscrupulous motorists whether they drove big or small vehicles.

It is believed that they park their vehicles at these lots for two reasons - they are readily available and parking is free.

The checks were conducted at various part of Klang including the town area, Bandar Baru Bukit Tinggi and Bayu Perdana.

Polio victim M. Paskaran, 45, from Kampung Raja Uda in Klang said finding parking was never easy even though there seemed to be a lot of parking bays for the disabled.

Stuck: Paskaran has been forced to park at regular bays on many occasions.

He said most of these lots were taken up by normal people at the expense of the disabled.

Sometimes, I have to park my car far away and walk to the bank or shops since motorists do not want to leave these parking lots alone.

“The council has provided a lot of parking lots for the disabled. These parking lots are mostly painted blue or red and they have the wheelchair symbol on them,” he said

Paskaran said he often placed his card issued by the Welfare Department on his dashboard so that he would not be fined by the council's enforcement personnel.

However, he said there had been times when he had been issued with compound notices.

“I find it inconvenient to go to the council office to clear the fines and I believe this situation would not arise if I had parked my vehicle at the special lots allocated to us,” he said

Klang Municipal Council president Mislan Tugiu said the council viewed the offence as serious and the offenders would be slapped with a maximum fine of RM300.

He said the council would not compromise with those who abused the privilege offered to the disabled.

“I urge the enforcement officers to be strict and ensure that those who indiscriminately park their vehicles at these parking lots are issued with fines,” he said

Under its caring society policy, Mislan said, the council had made it compulsory for developers of new townships to allocate special parking bays for the disabled.

Shortcut: Able bodied drivers prefer to use the disabled lots as they are nearer the banks and other shops.

Meanwhile, checks at places like Subang Jaya, Petaling Jaya and Kajang revealed that such parking bays were not available.

Due to lack of civic consciousness from the public, these councils feel that providing special parking lots for the disabled would not help the situation.

However, they allow disabled motorists to park their vehicles at normal parking bays for free.

“We will not fine them for not paying for parking as long they display their credential cards on the dashboard,” Subang Jaya Municipal Council public relations officer Azfarizal Abdul Rashid said.