Letter to the editor: Handicap parking not for everyone

Handicap parking not for everyone

I am concerned that people don’t seem to understand what handicap parking means.

We recently traveled to Clovis from Muleshoe for some errands and shopping.

I drive a one-ton van with a hydraulic patient lift. I have a sign on the door stating that 10 feet of access is needed to load and unload. I also have handicap license plates.

My husband cannot walk at all. I use a patient lift at home to move him from the bed to the wheelchair.

We parked in a handicap spot that had horizontal stripes by the lift door. When we finished in the store, a pickup had parked on the striped area. It did not have handicap plates or a hang tag. Besides that, the striped area isn’t a parking spot.

On the other side of my vehicle was another pickup, which also did not have handicap plates or hang tag. It was parked so close to me that I couldn’t get in the van.

I wrote a note and left it on the first pickup’s windshield. Before I could write a second note, two young women with a baby came out and got in the other pickup. When I asked if they knew that was a handicap area they just laughed.

I wound up having to back into the traffic lane to load my husband in the vehicle.

It is a shame people cannot respect each other enough to obey the law. They should have to be in my husband’s place for just a few days.