Drop the Law Books, Use Common Sense!

A recent media story in Toronto about a parking enforcement car parked in a handicapped parking spot has gotten a lot of attention in the past couple of days. A Toronto resident snapped the picture at a Tim Horton's restaurant because I suppose it was out of the ordinary to see such an act. Actually, people parking in marked disabled spots is a common occurrence in Toronto whether the car hasn't got a permit or the 'clearly not handicapped' driver of the car borrowed the vehicle and abused the permit (perhaps they felt that the permit was 'paid for anyway').

The argument in favor of the parking enforcement officer was that they did not break the law because, in order for a spot to be authorized, it must have a valid sign above the painted parking spot. Otherwise it is not authorized and anybody can park there. Or, in more technical terms, "it isn't enforceable".

Enforceable or not, a painted parking spot should be left for those who need it, sign or no sign. 

So, who painted it? According to the media, the restaurant claims it is 'by the book', but parking enforcement does not agree. What we have here is a failure to communicate (one of the best quotes from the movie Cool Hand Luke).

So, who is right and who is wrong? Who is going to ticket who? Who is going to get reprimanded and who is going to court? WHO CARES?

With a little bit of common sense, this whole situation could have been avoided. The parking enforcement officer should have had the foresight to realize that any marked spot should have been accessible to those who need it as a courtesy, if nothing more, and parking in such a spot may result in a snapshot from a passer-by in our no-so-private world of portable, digital recording devices.  It should be considered highly probable that a local resident might snap such a picture.

One more note - I'm pretty sure most citizens don't know that a handicap parking spot needs both a painting and a sign to be enforceable and I wonder how many people have sent their undefended infraction payment in the mail when a parking enforcement officer tagged their car by mistake when a sign wasn't present.

When we start thinking ahead about all the possible outcomes of an action and the probabilities of such outcomes, we will be living in a less hostile society indeed.