T&L Episode 3: Show Notes

Handicapped Parking

• Scope (Missouri)
• Benefits
• Problems
• Stairs, Landings, Ledges, Curbs
• Ramps (Placement, Missing)
• Door Width (36″+)
• ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and Grandfathering
• Abuses
• Teenagers at the Mall
• Evil Eyes of the Elderly
• Ramps and Crosshatches
• Vehicle Spacing
• Confrontations
• Enforcement
• Legalities

301.141.  1.  Fraudulent procurement or use of disabled-person license plates or windshield placards shall be a class B misdemeanor.

2.  Any physician or other health care practitioner authorized to issue a physician’s statement or certificate to enable persons to obtain disabled license plates or windshield hanging placards pursuant to section 301.142 who issues, signs, or furnishes such statement or certificate to any person who does not meet one or more of the conditions set forth in subsection 1 of section 301.142, if there is no basis for the diagnosis given, or who issues, signs, or furnishes such statement for a condition, the diagnosis of which is outside the scope of such health care provider’s license, is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

301.142.  1.  As used in sections 301.141 to 301.143, the following terms mean:

(4)  “Physically disabled”, a natural person who is blind, as defined in section 8.700, RSMo, or a natural person with medical disabilities which prohibits, limits, or severely impairs one’s ability to ambulate or walk, as determined by a licensed physician or other authorized health care practitioner as follows:

(a)  The person cannot ambulate or walk fifty or less feet without stopping to rest due to a severe and disabling arthritic, neurological, orthopedic condition, or other severe and disabling condition; or

(b)  The person cannot ambulate or walk without the use of, or assistance from, a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair, or other assistive device; or

(c)  Is restricted by a respiratory or other disease to such an extent that the person’s forced respiratory expiratory volume for one second, when measured by spirometry, is less than one liter, or the arterial oxygen tension is less than sixty mm/hg on room air at rest; or

(d)  Uses portable oxygen; or

(e)  Has a cardiac condition to the extent that the person’s functional limitations are classified in severity as class III or class IV according to standards set by the American Heart Association; or

(f)  A person’s age, in and of itself, shall not be a factor in determining whether such person is physically disabled or is otherwise entitled to disabled license plates and/or disabled windshield hanging placards within the meaning of sections 301.141 to 301.143;

15.  At the time the disabled plates or windshield hanging placards are issued, the director shall issue a registration certificate which shall include the applicant’s name, address, and other identifying information as prescribed by the director, or if issued to an agency, such agency’s name and address.  This certificate shall further contain the disabled license plate number or, for windshield hanging placards, the registration or identifying number stamped on the placard.  The validated registration receipt given to the applicant shall serve as the registration certificate.

14.  The placard shall be renewable only by the person or entity to which the placard was originally issued.  Any placard issued pursuant to this section shall only be used when the physically disabled occupant for whom the disabled plate or placard was issued is in the motor vehicle at the time of parking or when a physically disabled person is being delivered or collected.  A disabled license plate and/or a removable windshield hanging placard are not transferable and may not be used by any other person whether disabled or not.

27.  Fraudulent application, renewal, issuance, procurement or use of disabled person license plates or windshield placards shall be a class A misdemeanor.  It is a class B misdemeanor for a physician, chiropractor, podiatrist or optometrist to certify that an individual or family member is qualified for a license plate or windshield placard based on a disability, the diagnosis of which is outside their scope of practice or if there is no basis for the diagnosis.

301.143.

4.  Any person who parks in a space reserved for physically disabled persons and is not displaying distinguishing license plates or a card is guilty of an infraction and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than three hundred dollars.

6.  Any person who, without authorization, uses a distinguishing license plate or card issued pursuant to section 301.071 or 301.142 to park in a parking space reserved under authority of this section shall be guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

Class I. Patients with cardiac disease but without resulting limitation of  physical activity. Ordinary physical activity does not cause undue fatigue, palpitation, dyspnea or anginal pain.

Class II. Patients with cardiac disease resulting in slight limitation of physical activity. They are comfortable at rest.  Ordinary physical activity results in fatigue, palpitation, dyspnea or  anginal pain.

Class III. Patients with cardiac disease resulting  in marked limitation of physical activity. They are comfortable at rest. Less than ordinary activity causes fatigue, palpitation, dyspnea or anginal pain.

Class IV. Patients with cardiac disease resulting in inability to carry on any physical activity without discomfort.  Symptoms of heart failure or the anginal syndrome may be present even at rest.  If any physical activity is undertaken, discomfort increases.

Class A Misdemeanor:  Up to $1000 fine and 6-12 months in prison

Class B Misdemeanor:  Up to $500 fine and 30 days to 6 months in prison