Citizen patrols raise awareness about misuse of disabled parking spots

A volunteer from Defphys Sans Limite handed out one of many courtesy tickets to those misusing disabled parking spots in Montreal. SOURCE: MOELLE

Access to parking spaces reserved for the disabled is still a problem, to the extent that citizens' patrols are now handing out "courtesy tickets" to offenders.

The initiative is part of the campaign to respect disabled people's spots (Personnes handicapées: respectons leurs places de stationnement, in partnership with a number of Quebec municipalities and police forces.

Although there have already been awareness-raising campaigns of this kind, sometimes resulting in real fines being issued at a cost of $380, the work needs to continue, said Anabelle Grenon Fortin, a community rights organizer with the group MÉMO (Moëlle épinière et motricité Québec), in an interview on Monday.

"It's an issue that has never been resolved. On a day-to-day basis, people with reduced mobility have to deal with this reality -- drivers or passengers -- so they arrive in the parking spaces reserved for them, and then there are already people parked there, or the parking lots are unsuitable, meaning that they are too small for their vehicle or they are covered in snow. So they can't get there," she explained.

Fortin pointed out that such spaces are neither a privilege nor a whim, and that people with reduced mobility need them to get around, work, study, shop for groceries and go to appointments.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 5, 2023.