Yes,

Almost running you over was a crappy thing, and a simple apology would have gone a long way. But if the person who the handicapped sticker is issued to, is in the car (and we don't know if that was issued to the driver or the passener), then there is absolutely nothing wrong with parking in the handicapped spot. Simply because people in the neighborhood are the primary users of those spots, doesn't mean they own them.

Granted, there are handicapped people who do not *look* handicapped. Nonetheless:

- There are a *lot* of bullshit-handicapped out there. Without my glasses, I am probably legally blind. With them I see nearly 20/20. Wanna bet I could find some doctor to declare me handicapped?

- I disagree with E. Steven. If you have a handicapped permit for your vehicle, but the handicapped person is not with you, it is *wrong* to park in a handicapped space.

From what I've seen in my part of the country (Texas), there need to be both fewer permits and fewer handicapped parking spots. Some businesses have 15 or 20 spots marked off, and they are used primarily be used by people whose only "handicap" is being obese.

I'm all for calling out a person's rude behavior, but this seemed like an excessive amount of energy put towards this person who if she is as bad as you describe won't care even slightly.

As far as the handicap spot, that one is harder. I have a handicap pass and use it only on the days that I'm in serious pain or stiff. Other days, especially if there is limited parking, I leave it for those I feel need it more than me. I have been questioned for having a pass and told one woman who questioned me as I was getting out of my car to mind her business and call the cops if she thought I was a fraud. After she saw me walk, she apologized, but too late. Not all handicaps are visible. Was the driver in Amy's instance handicapped or was it the supposed blind person? I don't know.

Still, a lot of energy. And ticketing a stranger and deciding what they should do as punishment is presumptuous. Now you're the judge and jury? I don't know. Usually I applaud you calling people out. This case, while justified, I think you went a little overboard.

That was absolutely brilliant, Amy! I am truly impressed (and motivated)!

Applause! Applause!

I am too polite and reserved to confront people like that, so I appreciate those who do.

I believe that if most people carried a loaded pistol when out in public, it would have a salutary effect on courtesy. The unenlightened, Pre-Progressive era, when it was common for adults to carry a small pistol for self defense, also happened to be a time when common courtesy was the rule rather than the exception.

Too many people drive like self centered me monkeys. It is people like the "handicapped" Prius pilot in your story who make me wish I could borrow or rent a supersize pickup truck and accidentally crush their car while they are in shopping.

I lost count years ago of the number of bullshit "Handicapped" parkers I have seen. I am all for handicapped parking spaces, a great idea, an example of properly executed government compassion, but they need a hotline so people could call or text in license numbers of abusers. I see a sizable number of people, it has to be in the 1 in 3 range, who think the stalls are for people with handicapped people in their family, as opposed to in their car.

didn't you know that driving a prius absolves you of sin?

Those damn Prius’ are so quite they really sneak up on you. I think the newer ones have some kind of sound making devise to give you somewhat of a warning.

There's a lovely old story by Jack Ritchie: For All the Rude People.

I read it in an Alfred Hitchcock collection, so you may guess it's just a tad dark, and it might be outdated but the message stays fresh.

"didn't you know that driving a prius absolves you of sin?"

It is actually their deep concern for higher things that creates the absolution. When one is enlightened, and thinks correct thoughts, and toils daily to save that which needs saving, and is, if I may steal a phrase, the change we have been waiting for, there simply isn't time for things the unwashed waste their energy on, like yielding for pedestrians or parking 200 feet from the store.

The hybrid car is very much a fashion statement. Honda brought out their Prius competitor in the form of a hybrid Civic. It made sense; by using the same bodywork as their gasoline powered car it saved money and likely was easier on the environment because they didn't need an extra body panel stamping line. It didn't sell well. They ended up creating a car that can only be described as a Honda Prius, which sells much better. Apparently, it wasn't enough to save the Earth with a hybrid, you had to make sure everyone knew you were saving the Earth.

http://automobiles.honda.com/insight-hybrid/

GM needs to restyle the Suburban and make it a hybrid. Lefties would love them, twice as much area for sanctimonious bumper stickers; a chance to feel superior and travel in style, looking down on the little people in their little cars. They could put in the standard GM fake wood trim and leather-like plastic upholstery and advertise it as, "no rainforest hardwoods or animals were harmed making this vehicle", and charge more than the going price for a real wood & leather interior. Call it the Gaia trim package.

Old Guy:

The Insight predates the Prius.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight#First_generation_.281999.E2.80.932006.29

The big difference was Honda quit losing money on it (just a little too soon), and discontinued it. Toyota (being run by one family is good sometimes) kept losing money on the Prius, building the name and credibility in the hipster community. When gas prices skyrocketed, that helped, and the Insight was re-introduced in a far less efficient form.

Toyota took the long-term view, Honda the short.

I have a friend who had the 1 gen Insight, and it was a superb car if you just need to transport yourself somewhere. He then got a Civic, which was far more usable for other things, but far less efficient, as well.

Amy:

I'd like to tell you you're being unreasonable with the Prius sterotypes, presuming her entitlement and rudeness were related to the Prius.

But, uh, I know too man Prius drivers.

Fun note, I drove the Prius prototype back in early '99. They were taking it around to tech companies to get the buzz up, and letting people drive it around the parking lot. (I was the last in line and actually got to take it on the road. VERY NIFTY. Lots of pickup, drove great.

But the prototype... was an Echo. Same chassis/frame, just different sticker.
Me: Wow, what's the fuel economy?
Toyota guy: 60/40.
me: How much will they cost?
Toyota: $25k.
Me: Wait, what's the FE on a Echo?
T: 28/38
Me: and they cost how much?
T: $14k

Me (to myself): Gee, I can buy a LOT of gas with $12k. (At the time, $1.30/gal)

I'm sure we aren't the first, but my husband has been referring to the Prius as the Pious since the first time we heard of it, and it just seems to keep getting more and more appropriate.

I'm sure I posted my little handicapped-parking space story here before, about the woman in the brand new Caddy who parked in a handicapped space at the mall? I was with my bro and one of his friends, and they walked all around the new Caddy, looking this way and that at it. The blonde in the driver's seat was primping a little before she got out of the car, obviously pleased with herself. As she got out of the car, my bro's friend turned to him and said "Oh I get it - it's a mental handicap!" The woman heard him, and turned a bright shade of red, but kept on walking towards the mall.

Bitch. I hate people like her.

The original Insight was not a big seller, it was more like a large field trial for advanced technology than a production car. I am sure it lost money with an aluminum space frame and plastic body.

Their first real production hybrid was a Civic sedan that was similar to the Prius in size and comparably priced that did not sell well because there was no visible indication of the owner's environmental sainthood.

So she dropped off a blind person and then parked in 2 handicapped spot? Did she have to escort the blind person? If no then yeah she's fucking bitch. However if she had a blind person waiting on the street for her on the street that may or may not have other disabilities then you fucked the bunny here. Blindness especially later in life can have all sorts of funny results, panic disorders are a big one. She may have been rude nearly running over but grabbing the handicapped spots might actually be legit. Both obviously not so much.

BTW if you have wheels especially motorized ones how come you get the handicapped spots. This obviously applies to the morbidly obese with scooters not legit paras like the gentlemen you mention. Them getting placards gals me more than most other misuse of handicapped parking. First I pay for the food that made them this way, then the scooter, then the car they need for it, then their SSI disability payments. The least they could do is drive the damn scooter and leave me the closer spot.

Very stupid and most likely a crime.

In CA, handicapped placards now contain a bar code to identify the placard holder. The placard follows the individual. Its against the law for someone else to use it if the placard holder isn't there.

Its scary to be a pedestrian, especially in Beverly Hills. Too many distracted luxury SUV drivers speeding while texting -- they can't all be neurosurgeons racing to the OR. I always, always use the crosswalk, wait for the walk signal and make eye contact with the @#$% before stepping off the curb. Just making sure my heirs get full value.

best, a

If you want to cut down on handicapped parking abuse, then stop giving handicapped people free parking where everyone else has to pay. Just because you are handicapped doesn't mean you are poverty stricken. Many non-handicapped that are poverty stricken have to pay for parking.

The Prius' popularity is in large part due to its unique look. If it looked like a Camry, it wouldn't be nearly as popular.

Over on the freakonomics Web site, this issue was studied:

"The question they really wanted to answer was this: how much value do people who lean green place on being seen leaning green? The Sextons found that the Prius’s “green halo” was quite valuable — and, the greener the neighborhood, the more valuable the Prius is."

It's not enough to worship at the Church of the Environmental Movement, you must be seen doing so.

If you want to cut down on handicapped parking abuse, then stop giving handicapped people free parking where everyone else has to pay.

Yes. Have a second different color Handicapped Parking sign for those people who are too poor to pay for parking but can somehow still afford an automobile. I am guessing that is a very small group if it were sensibly administered.

I see a lot of late model cars and vans parked in Handicapped spaces. If you can afford a large nice vehicle, you can afford to pay to park it.

An idea: have a photo of the handicapped person on the placard. My father used to think nothing of using my mom's placard to get a close parking spot and walk into a store on two good legs.

Ugh, the Pruis. I am a crossing guard and the other day a guy driving one of these silent killers ran the stop sign at my corner. It really pisses me off. First it is a school zone and second if you insist on driving a silent car you have an even HIGHER standard of driving behavior to meet. Of course, as others have said, being green means never having to say you are sorry.

The Prius' popularity is in large part due to its unique look. If it looked like a Camry, it wouldn't be nearly as popular.

There is a hybrid Camray, and I have only seen a few in an ultra Blue neighborhood knee deep in Prius.(Priuses? Prii?) Few of my Leftie neighbors are willing to shell out an extra $3500 to get a 40% reduction is city fuel consumption and 10% highway, but they will pay the same premium to get a compact car that says, "I'm greener than thou".

"I believe that if most people carried a loaded pistol when out in public, it would have a salutary effect on courtesy. The unenlightened, Pre-Progressive era, when it was common for adults to carry a small pistol for self defense, also happened to be a time when common courtesy was the rule rather than the exception."

This was a coincidence, not causality.

Heinlein's "armed society" is polite because the mythology of the gun is absent, not because guns create an atmosphere of fear.

In short - if you do not have a crime problem, you cannot have a "gun problem". Modern activists miss this all the time in their eagerness to be seen doing something.

-----

Meanwhile:

Anybody got the word on how we're going to deal with millions of scrapped hybrid batteries yet?

Not all disabilities are obvious. I got a placard with my last pregnancy because my pelvis literally pulled apart around month 7, and walking was agony. No, I didn't go limping around and moaning either, I have my pride. I just walked, in a lot of pain and slowly. God pity the person who chose to selfrighteously mouth off to me about my parking spot. I probably would have actually killed them.

But yes, a lot use them who shouldn't. It's just dicey deciding you are the enforcer. You could really offend someone who needs it and who shouldn't have to explain their disability to you. I mean really-"are you disabled?" is right up there with "how did you conceive your twins" for unbelievable nosiness and rudeness of a personal nature that can't possibly be your business.

Somebody's gonna be pissed, no matter what you do. I used to run errands for my grandmother (still kicking at 90), and when she wasn't with me, I of course parked in non-handicapped spots. Was scolded one day by an annoyed woman who felt that because I drove a car with a handicapped tag, I should park in a handicapped spot, rather than take up one of the spots that were for everyone's use.

I notice in Lopez's column that a number of offenders are city employees. SEIU strikes again.

I think you had standing here, Amy, I"m just saying in general it's best to err on the side of allowing the assholes, here.

I was in the sauna with my best twinmom friend at the gym yesterday. We were chatting and another sauna-er ended up asking her how she got her twins. I adore her answer-"standing up in the shower. It was so good it worked twice that night!". I mean, really people! Asking about conception?!?!

End rant.

I did this once, the guy I did it to tried to have me arrested for "impersonating an officer". He was some kind of "Law and Order" show armchair legal beagle. The look on the Cops faces was priceless as he ranted at them about my "Invasion of his personal space" and "infringing his rights as a non-visibly disabled person". He claimed severe depression was his disability. I just shrugged and asked the Cop closest to me if I had to stick around, he said no, so I left.
These people have no shame, you can't use this tactic on them because all it does is feed into their "I'm a victim" mentality.
Altho it was fun to watch, and did make me laugh.

radwaste:
"Anybody got the word on how we're going to deal with millions of scrapped hybrid batteries yet?"

Demonize "Big Electron" in a few years and lambast them for their profit-mindedness with no cares for the long-term effects of their products. Insist on pie-in-the-sky violations of physics, human nature, ignore what the people speaking insisted on...

At least if the past is any indication.

No offense Amy but it seems like you just wasted a lot of your time and energy on someone who won't care.

There used to be a neighbor in a friend's neighborhood who would post notes on cars bitching that they shouldn't park on the curb because it can cause wrecks. Parking on the curb was totally legal. I wasn't interested in some anonymous jackasses opionion; so I just kept on parking where I normally did and threw away any future notes without reading them.

I don't get too creeped out by anonymous notes either. If someones not brave enough to confront you personally, then they're certainly not brave enough to attempt to harm you.

Courtesy began to die the day that dueling was outlawed.

The possibility that someone might be outraged enough that they could legally shove 3 feet of steel into one's sternum is quite enough to keep all but the most cantankerous assholes polite.

As someone else once said:

Some people are only alive because it is illegal to kill them.

Sorry, but I think Amy had a splash of crazy sauce in her coffee that day.

"And I did confront her personally and then came back to leave her a note. After visibly photographing her plate while she was in the car. I'm guessing she was creeped out."

I wasn't referring to you personally. I know you confronted her. I was just making a statement about the futility of anonymous notes in general. When I posted that I only did a quick scan of your note, but after looking again I see that you identified yourself. My mistake.

Courtesy began to die the day that dueling was outlawed.

Dueling pistols encourage gentlemen to behave like gentlemen.

The most courteous and polite environment I ever encounter is the firing range. Everyone there has a loaded gun and knows how to use it, and in an amazing coincidence, everyone is polite and courteous.