by Tdarcos » Mon Jul 13, 2015 7:53 pm
This is about notes I left.
Well, there were two notes, one anonymous, one with my name, address, and phone number.
The first was when I was backing out of a car repair place into the parking lot about 10pm, then turned and drove off. I thought I heard something so I drove back and sure enough there was a bump on the front of a car right near the place where I had exited the garage, so I first got on my cell phone and called Geico to tell them to cover me. Then I left a note on the windshield saying I thought I might have hit his (or her) car.
I did the right thing after all. If I did hit them, they never contacted me, and it's been, oh, at least 15 years.
Second was when I first started having problems walking, had to use a cane, and was in pain a lot when I did walk, so I called up the Arlington County Public Works department and asked them if they could put a handicapped-only parking space on the street near where I live (since, obviously, I had a handicap permit) so I wouldn't have to walk very far.
The county was very nice and it was up in a week, fully marked by a "handicap parking only" sign on a post at the start and end of the space. Now, this was nice, it was right in front of my house, very convenient for a man who suffers from knee pain when walking, but, unfortunately, it took away a parking space on the street. So, for the next month, whenever someone parked there, the first thing we did was look to see if they had handicap tags or a handicap placard hanging from the rear-view mirror, If they did, fine, they have just as much right to park there as I do. If they didn't, we wanted to be fair, so one of us would put a polite note on the windshield letting them know that the space was now reserved for handicapped users, since they might not have been paying attention and not realized it had been changed.
After a month, if anyone else parked in "my" space and they didn't have an HC plate or placard, I or my sister would get the vehicle make, color, and their license plate number and call the non-emergency number for Arlington County police to report it. Just like it says on the sign, it's a $500 fine for illegally parking in a handicap space.
The county probably made thousands of dollars in fines over the years from people who weren't looking.
This is about notes I left.
Well, there were two notes, one anonymous, one with my name, address, and phone number.
The first was when I was backing out of a car repair place into the parking lot about 10pm, then turned and drove off. I thought I heard something so I drove back and sure enough there was a bump on the front of a car right near the place where I had exited the garage, so I first got on my cell phone and called Geico to tell them to cover me. Then I left a note on the windshield saying I thought I might have hit his (or her) car.
I did the right thing after all. If I did hit them, they never contacted me, and it's been, oh, at least 15 years.
Second was when I first started having problems walking, had to use a cane, and was in pain a lot when I did walk, so I called up the Arlington County Public Works department and asked them if they could put a handicapped-only parking space on the street near where I live (since, obviously, I had a handicap permit) so I wouldn't have to walk very far.
The county was very nice and it was up in a week, fully marked by a "handicap parking only" sign on a post at the start and end of the space. Now, this was nice, it was right in front of my house, very convenient for a man who suffers from knee pain when walking, but, unfortunately, it took away a parking space on the street. So, for the next month, whenever someone parked there, the first thing we did was look to see if they had handicap tags or a handicap placard hanging from the rear-view mirror, If they did, fine, they have just as much right to park there as I do. If they didn't, we wanted to be fair, so one of us would put a polite note on the windshield letting them know that the space was now reserved for handicapped users, since they might not have been paying attention and not realized it had been changed.
After a month, if anyone else parked in "my" space and they didn't have an HC plate or placard, I or my sister would get the vehicle make, color, and their license plate number and call the non-emergency number for Arlington County police to report it. Just like it says on the sign, it's a $500 fine for illegally parking in a handicap space.
The county probably made thousands of dollars in fines over the years from people who weren't looking.