Have you ever wondered how young, perfectly able people drive around with handicapped parking tags?   When I see them, I assume someone in their family actually is disabled.  Now I know that’s not necessarily so.  Because this weekend , we accidentally  left our  car unlocked while visiting a friend in another part of town.  And when we got back home, we noticed something missing.  Warning! Thieves steal disabled parking tags.

What kind of person would steal a handicapped tag from a car in broad daylight?  How do they rationalize that kind of disregard for disabled human beings?   Do they smile as they drive  into a handicapped parking place that is reserved for someone in a wheel chair?  Maybe a disabled veteran. Or someone as old as their grandmother?   Do they realize that by stealing a handicapped tag, they are  committing a crime?  Unfortunately, they know they will seldom be caught.  How many police officers go around parking lots checking to verify the rightful ownership of  a disability tag?  Actually, if you have such a placard, you’re supposed to keep a permit in the glove compartment of your car.  But police officers have more important things to do than inspect handicapped tags.

If you have no conscience whatsoever, there’s plenty of motivation for stealing disabled placards.  Especially around  apartment complexes, where it’s a problem finding a convenient parking spot.  I used to wonder at the high percentage of disabled people who park in these spots.  Now I know that they may simply be using their grandparents tag, or else they’ve stolen it.   I would love to ask the Bureau of Motor Vehicles how many of the tags they issue have to be replaced due to theft.  I doubt if they would want anyone to know.

In bigger cities, stolen tags can reap big rewards for the thief.  The street value  may be as much as $2000.  For the buyer, the stolen permit may be worth as much a $10,000 a year in free parking

Lack of accessible parking has real consequences, as evidenced by the responses to a national survey of people with disabilities conducted in late 2017:

85% of respondents said they had problems finding accessible parking.

52% turned back when they were unable to find an accessible spot.

80% believe that enforcement of placard abuse is inadequate or nonexistent.

If you’ve never had a handicapped tag stolen, you’re lucky. But if you forget to lock your car, it could happen to you.