Archive for the ‘Handicap Parking’ Category

Perceived two hundredth handicap parking story

星期一, 三月 5th, 2012

One of my regularly visited supermarkets is the HTI and the do-it-yourself-store IBO (or something like that…), with a big shared underground parking lot.

There was not a single designated disabled parking place, so that I made it to my “mission” to change it over the years and to go on people’s nerves a little bit.

You don’t make yourself necessarily popular in a highly frequented parking lot if you put your car on two parking places at the same time. Then you quickly have a nice modern stripe pattern from a key in your car paint, or you are declared to be a woman.

A service counter in a supermarket is something quite nice.

Since 2009 I am asking every couple of months, how about a disable parking spot down there?

Exceptionally I didn’t take out the big “cudgel” but started the project “let’s see who has the greater staying power” with an inner smile.
I was irritated a little by the permanently changing staff at the service counter, I always heard that there was something in progress… the facility manager etc…!!

Last time the service clerk immediately got her boss, she remembered a wheeler with the same request.

About a year ago I incited a rolling fellow whom I met in this parking lot to bother the service staff as well a little bit.

When the boss came he told me he knew the problem, there were difficulties with the owner because designated disabled parking places would decrease the total amount of parking places in this underground parking lot.
Yeah, sure, I wanted to leave the cudgel in the sack and didn’t want to talk about laws and directives.

I already kept an eye on a special parking place all the time.

The boss immediately liked the idea to declare this parking place to a disabled parking place and wanted to take care of it.
Well, let’s wait and see, I’ll be back ;-)

On Friday I was again in this underground parking lot after around five weeks and was happy to have found quickly a suitable parking place.

After the groceries I took a photo of the possible future disabled parking place.

When I took a closer look to the pictures on my PC yesterday I almost couldn’t believe it, there is actually a wheelchair symbol hanging on the wall.

I couldn’t see a floor labelling, but we are starting from scratch. I am curious if I will have the pleasure to park on this VIP parking place this year, or if I only get upset about disabled parking place occupiers.

I keep you up to date!!!

Click on tag Handicap Parking to read other nice stories (will be translated step by step).

Translator BL

 

Technical Aids Tips und Tricks XLIX

星期六, 二月 4th, 2012

I heard that disabled parking permits can virtually vanish into thin air and can’t be found in the car anymore.

They possibly fall into black holes. Partial drifts in the space-time continuum are nothing unusual anyway.

Everybody knows it when you are looking for something, can’t find it, and suddenly it is back again.

As rumour has it, the permits are also stolen at night by SUV and cabriolet driving pedestrians.
But there is also the variant that the permit has never left the vehicle.

The permit is not gone, you just don’t see it any more…!!!

The permits are laminated in plastic foil and therefore quite slippery. Apply the brakes forcefully a couple of times, and the parking permit vanishes rapidly between front screen and dashboard like in a letter box.

Then a good fisherman or the new application for the VIP permit is required!!!
I can’t advise the extraction of the car dashboard to anyone, something is always creaking afterwards.

It’s absolutely clear that most of the people with walking disability have fixed their parking permits in their cars in some way.

But if you are regularly taken along by different people in their cars the parking permit should stay removable and can’t be fixed with a “final solution”.

OK…, it could…!!!

As “final solution” I recommend to adhere the permit to the windscreen with a special glue which hardens under ultraviolet light (the sun will help), e.g. Loctite 30xx.

A theft of the parking permit is only possible including the screen then. ;-)

If I am on the road with a friend in his car, I made the experience that the dashboard jump for my permit is nothing unusual.

The easiest way is to stick some self-adhesive rubber pads or non-slip mat underneath the permit, or to put it like in the picture below in a thick cover.

The non-slip mat is available in the do-it-yourself store around the corner in car accessories or from the company Dycem, (see older blogposts Technical Aids for Quadriplegics Part I und Part IV), who makes very good technical aids which I have tested myself.

This special English disabled parking disc is good for maximum 3 hours parking, presumably like in Germany in restricted parking zones, is new to me.

I am currently thinking about illuminating my disabled parking permit with a LED matrix as you can see on television if a new CD is presented.

Click on tag “Handicap Parking to read other nice stories! ;-)

Translator BL

 

A wonderful day!!!

星期六, 十二月 17th, 2011

The day before yesterday I went to have an x-ray of my

Fracture of the shin-bone

Yet there was a vacant parking place for disabled persons.
Next to my car a minibus was parking. If you want or if you don`t, automatically you take a look at the windscreen and you search for the

“blue parking permit”

(blue-coloured parking permit for disabled people)

What a pity, like very often a driver forgot to place the parking permission. Ho, ho, ho… I do believe in Santa Clause again!!
Just as I got off my car, and was sitting in my wheelchair, a lady came on foot in a distance of 30 meters in my direction.
I spent my loveliest and a bit malicious grin to the lady.
I really don`t understand it completely myself, but this lady didn’t have her best day this day. First she harassed the sliding door of the bus, then she jumped on to the driver’s seat, went into reverse gear and then attack…
The sad aspect in this story was, that a few meters behind her instead of me there was a not to be scoffed concrete pillar. She managed to nudge it to the ground nearly. My grin spread much wider when she repeated this action for a second time. ;-)
My new friend, this

concrete pillar

Her front bumper now looks a bit like a cat scratch pole.
She’ll ever remember this parking place for disabled.

Fracture of shin-bone

My fracture from September 4th slowly heals up – anyway, my day was saved.
Translator Teo

 

Insider Tips for Disabled Parking Place Occupiers

星期五, 十二月 2nd, 2011

对不起,此内容只适用于EnglishDeutsch

3 Handicap parking stories in one day!

星期三, 十一月 9th, 2011

对不起,此内容只适用于EnglishDeutsch

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XLV

星期日, 十月 23rd, 2011

I am coming back again to my favourite subject,

Handicap Parking

(See older blogposts).

I have already experienced the “Worst Case” several times, that somebody parked his car in that way next to mine so that I wasn’t able to open the driver’s door completely any more, what is a “must” for me and my wheelchair.

To draw the attention of the other road users to it I have fixed a sign 15 cm x 15 cm with the text: „Please keep distance“ at the inside of the door, which is however still “not seen” by some people.

The CBF (Club of handicapped and their friends, Darmstadt), sells for little money a

yellow sign, “Please keep distance!”,

which one can fix to the window of the driver’s door, like the flags from the football world cup. This sign can’t really be overlooked any more.
I think this is great and ordered it immediately. Due to my broken leg with hospital stay a long time test could not be executed yet.

Source of Supply:
CBF Darmstadt e.V.
Link: www.cbf-da.de

There you can also order the handicap toilet key (see older blogpost)..

Who still parks his car too close to mine then I declare handicapped as well, i.e. blind, chronic off road dementia, or an incurable psychic disease.

Addendum:

A guarantee can’t be provided, teehee…read Robo’s comment :-)

Translator BL

 

Designer Handicap Parking Place

星期二, 九月 6th, 2011

For me the opinion has manifested that the planners of disabled parking places are taking stronger pills than me which would be an achievement in itself.

A big retailer for consumer electronics with the orange planet in Frankfurt has a more than mentionable disabled parking place in its underground parking lot.

You follow the quite good signage and go around in circles into the deep to the lowermost parking level which reminded me of the novel “Journey to the center of the earth” by Jules Verne.

You don’t need to worry about a possible evacuation of your wheelchair because you are the only human being down there, and the ramp to the saving lift can’t be climbed anyway by most of the wheelers due to its steepness. To drive up the car ramp of course wouldn’t be difficult for any Paralympics participant.

Next time I will stock up with enough water and food, just in case.

Although it is quite right that wheelers hardly reach 150 cm sitting, this has little relation to the height of the cars that we drive.

Porsche, Ferrari and Maserati cabriolets are rather uncommon hand throttle cars for wheelchair users unless you are not patient of the employer’s accident insurance.

Although you have a complete parking level available to park your car, there is only one labelled disabled parking place with a partial ceiling height of only approx. 1,60 m.

Conclusion:
The attendance of the underground parking lot is quite charming due to the ambiance. However you should refrain from it if you would like to enter the store as wheeler by yourself.

The disabled symbol is very creditable and radiates certain cheerfulness with its design.

Translator BL

Complaining is worth it! Simply Great Part V

星期一, 八月 29th, 2011

I have already often reported about my handicap parking safaris (see older blogpost).

The discounter with the big “L“ on whose parking lot the most beautiful stories have happened, has relocated the disabled parking place sign on my proposal.

Especially worth mentioning is the reanimation of the wheelchair symbol on the ground.

The labelling is top!!!

A little e-mail with pictures to the head office, a very kind callback on the phone, and it was taken care about the issue.

I know, penned by me it sounds a little paradox, but don’t just always complain, raise the issues at the appropriate positions, often it is quite simple to change something.

However I have to mention that I kindly announced to an approximately 30 year old driver of a car with a star that he would be standing on a disabled parking place when I came out of the supermarket. He apologized several times, he hadn’t seen it. This partial blindness seems to be wildly spread. I believe in the Easter bunny and Santa Claus, and now him as well…

Translator BL

Special Edition!!

星期三, 八月 17th, 2011

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Collective suicide of the disabled parking place labels!

The silver-coloured car on the first picture has a parking permit, the driver of the black car is suffering from the widely spread chronic “Offroad Dementia”.

Translator BL

Please park all on disabled parking places, then I can discontinue my blood pressure pills!

星期一, 八月 8th, 2011

I probably get on your nerves with my handicap parking stories in the long run, but I can’t hold back this “fairy tale”, once again on the parking lot of the supermarket with the big L, from you.

The front two of four opposing disabled parking places were occupied by DPB’s*. I parked my car with appropriate distance, so that I could open the door completely, on the next parking place. So far, so good.

When I came out of the supermarket with my wife, my blood pressure raised rapidly. While I was doing the groceries someone squeezed his matchbox car next to mine.

The front car was gone in the meantime, however this didn’t help me on any further. It was a

Déjà vu

(see older blogpost).

My wife stowed the groceries into the trunk while I drove quite rapidly into the supermarket again and announced the number plate of the vehicle in barker style.

When I arrived at the cash desk after my lap of honour I saw two guys in their early twenties standing next to my new favourite car, who were “instructed” by my wife.

They seemed understanding, but when I approached them I couldn’t suppress to ask them loudly about the “whistling” of my recently passed away “pig“ (translator’s note: German idiomatic expression for “Blow me down!”: “I think my pig whistles!”)

For the driver the situation was apparently unpleasant and he apologized several times, which slowly made me feel uneasy. He said he hadn’t seen that he was parking on a disabled parking place. I criticized the bad labeling already a couple of weeks ago, and it was promised to me to change it (see older blogpost).

I believed him.

For me the small dispute was long settled when he opened his trunk, took out one chocolate and one vanilla pudding with cream and absolutely wanted to give those to me as apology.

Of course I denied it, I was embarrassed and I felt already sorry for complaining.

The two guys drove away, and what was put on my rear window shelf,

2 cream puddings.

One minute later an around 45 year old guy parked his black “mobile home” (SUV) directly in front of me on the opposing disabled parking place. I asked him if he knew that this was a disabled parking place. He confirmed this and said that he was disabled. Then he grumbled and drove away again when I asked him about the parking permit.

Does anybody have an idea which handicap he could have had?
Write a comment.

*Disabled Parking Blockers

Addendum 13,08.11: “Pudding booty” tasted good! ;-)

Translator BL

 

Eigude Shame IX

星期四, 七月 28th, 2011

Does this international hotel chain want to address especially wheelchair users?

Promo vehicle

Original text of the e-mail to the company on the driver’s door:

Dear Sirs,

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that this kind of “promotion” (see photos) is not well received by us wheelchair users, especially because your vehicle is blocking two disabled parking places at once.
When your vehicle arrived I was in my wheelchair getting into my car on the next parking place!

Click on tag handicap parking to read other “nice” stories.

Translator BL

Recently in front of the supermarket with the big “L”

星期四, 七月 21st, 2011

Legal traffic regulations are applied on this parking lot!!!

There are 4 designated disabled parking places at the entrance. 2 opposing on each side.

After the groceries, I was parking without bad conscience on one of these parking places, I was rather astonished.

Somebody managed to park with a “Smart” on the opposing 2 disabled parking places in such way that both places were blocked. This was a real effort, remarkable.

Unfortunately I was too slow, the creative parker just came out of the supermarket when I was still digging for my camera. Unfortunately I was already sitting in my car, what a shame, or luck for the lady!!!

My wife asked the lady why she was parking on disabled parking places?

These parking places would be for people who cannot “walk” and not for people who cannot “park”!!

She replied where this was “standing” that this would be a disabled parking place???

I just shouted from the car: You are “standing” on it!

She was standing with her feet on the

Wheelchair symbol!!!

I have to admit, the symbol is really a bit “scraped off”.

I have informed the company L. concerning this matter. They answered by phone and convincingly assured me to renew the symbol as soon as possible and improve the signage so that nobody would park again “by oversight” on a disabled parking place.

The company L. had already 2 years ago removed a curb and raised the walkway after I pointed that out to them.

Very customer oriented, a very commendable company in this regard.

By the way, visually impaired are entitled to park on disabled parking places, but they are usually not the driver.

Link: Old, but unbeatable!!!
Pedestrians are parking on a disabled parking place!!!
They get involuntary help in leaving the car by Theo West (RTL, German TV).

Translator BL

Eigude Shame XVIII

星期三, 七月 20th, 2011

Today some innovative ideas of my city Frankfurt/Main!!!

Gully cover

in road construction usually are built kindly with “slots” in travel direction. In this case so that the wheeler can drive into the slots with his front tyres and doesn’t roll away when he is waiting for the lift. Unfortunately it was forgotten to illuminate the “waiting gully”, but this will certainly be realized in the next few days.

We wheelers are happy about every piece of cobble stone. It is better for us than some medication. The jolting supports the digestion at its best.

Thus especially commendable is this

“New Disabled Parking Place”

It was designed according to the latest findings from the handicap area. Please note the joints between the stones which probably were not closed on purpose so that the wheelchair doesn’t roll away when getting out of the car. After getting out you keep “standing” safely next to the car. The different heights of the stones facilitate the car-floor-transfer, because the wheelchair is standing ergonomically on 3 wheels. Especially commendable is that the curbs are on grade neither to the street nor to the pavement, so that curb jumping can be practiced.

The width of the joints exactly match the size of the wheelchair tyres, somebody really took great efforts.

Thank you road traffic department Frankfurt, I am proud of you!!!

Translator BL

Eigude Shame XVII

星期五, 四月 29th, 2011

Yesterday I had to fill the holes in my purse, I was in need for cash.

Because ATMs are extremely inconvenient for quadriplegics, I don’t get the bucks out of the machine with my fingers, my wife fortunately takes over.

In front of the bank, supermarket and bakery recently a spacious parking lot was built with additionally 4 disabled parking places.

I dared to park on one of those 4 parking places, although I remained sitting in the car and thus could have used a regular parking place.

On the disabled parking place next to mine there was this poser car with high-gloss polished alloy rims.
A bit unusual for us foot-lame people, but you never know…

Along came a girl in her early twenties with a shopping trolley and started to load her groceries in the trunk of that car – which didn’t match her at all.

I approached her in a friendly manner that I didn’t like “that” at all.

She replied that she would be paying for it…
I interpreted it in that way that she wouldn’t have difficulties to pay the parking tickets.

Should we introduce 35 € parkometers for extra large parking places???

I told her that this would not be the reason, and we wheelchair users would need the space for getting in and out of the car.

She replied:

• She couldn’t park!

• We men couldn’t understand this!

• Her husband wouldn’t let her drive the car,

• only for the groceries!

My comment:

Practice, practice, practice…

Translator BL

Chock Part VII

星期四, 四月 21st, 2011

I am happy about every available disabled parking place, especially if it is rather wide and possibly not on a busy street.
Have a look at this commendable

Disabled Parking Place

in the courtyard of a motorcycle accessories store.
Somebody really gave thought about it.
It is probably paved on purpose with

special composite stones

for wheelers so that the wheelchair won’t roll away while getting out of the car.

The little catch in it is just that in the moment you sit in your wheelchair after getting out of the car the wheelchair is not rolling at all anymore because the wheelchair tyres “stand” perfectly in the joints between the composite stones.

I like such immobiliser systems!!!

Translator BL