DMV Cracks Down On Handicap Placard Scofflaws

SAN JOSE - The man driving a VTA paratransit Prius parked in a blue disabled spot on San Fernando Street late Wednesday morning and then went inside a downtown restaurant to pick up lunch.

But there were no passengers inside the vehicle, which is used to transport people with disabilities, putting him in violation of state law.

Undercover DMV investigators approached the driver as he walked out of Peanuts Deluxe Cafe carrying a couple of to-go lunchboxes and pointed out he was breaking the law. He was apologetic for parking in the disabled-only spot but was issued a citation.

Reading this on your phone? Stay up to date with our new, free mobile app. Get it from the Apple app store or the Google Play store. He was one of eight people found violating the laws regarding disabled parking placards. Blue-colored parking spaces for the disabled during a six-hour operation by the DMV. During that span, they approached every vehicle parked in an area of downtown San Jose with a placard in a metered zone or in a blue spot.

Several of the drivers who were approached by investigators were in compliance, including Sakie Scott, a San Jose State employee who had a disabled person parking placard and parked in a metered space along San Fernando Street. State law allows those with a handicapped placard to park in a blue spot without paying.

Scott applauded the DMV’s enforcement effort.

“I know people abuse the system,” Scott said. “I’m glad they’re doing it. People that really need to use that privilege and they go to park, and other people are taking advantage of it.”

The enforcement operation, focused around a four-block radius near San Jose City Hall and San Jose State, was part of a larger, statewide effort to crack down on people who use handicap placards to avoid paying parking meters or obtain more convenient parking. Between fiscal 2013 and 2016, the DMV has conducted 270 enforcement operations and handed out 2,019 citations.

Violators can be cited with an infraction or misdemeanor, which carry fines ranging from $250 to $1,000.

One of the first drivers to receive a citation was a 20-something San Jose State student who told investigators he parked in a disabled-only space using his dad’s placard. The student, who identified himself to the media as Mike, said he did not know he was not allowed to use the placard on his own. He expressed remorse for parking in the handicapped zone, which was located right in front of a university entrance.

“I didn’t know,” said Mike, who added that his dad has cancer. “They didn’t tell me at DMV when they give me the placard. I didn’t know he had to be present.”

“We do hear that quite frequently, ‘I didn’t know,’ ” said Wendy Espinoza, a DMV supervising investigator. “Ignorance of a law is not an excuse.”

Espinoza added that rules surrounding the placards are on the application.

A person who is handicapped must be at the wheel or a passenger when a disabled placard is used to park in a blue spot. The disabled person may be dropped off before the car is parked.

When DMV investigators issue a citation, they also confiscate the placard, and the registered owner must reapply. A violation is a misdemeanor. Goes on a person’s driving record.

There are about 2.4 million placards issued statewide, and DMV investigators say they have seen some placards for sale on eBay.

“We want to make sure people with mobility issues do have spaces when they need them,” Espinoza said.

The man driving the Valley Transportation Authority paratransit vehicle, which is used to transport people with disabilities who are unable to independently use bus and light rail, parked in a blue parking spot on San Fernando Street.

Stacey Hendler Ross, a spokeswoman for VTA, said the transit agency contracts its paratransit drivers with MV Transportation. Hendler Ross said the driver “was completely in the wrong” for parking in a disabled-only spot.

“VTA will be putting out a strong notice to MV Transportation to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Hendler Ross said.

The citation - an infraction in cases such as his - was given to the driver, not MV Transportation or the VTA, according to Jaime Garza, a DMV spokesman.

The driver got into the car without speaking to reporters.

“He was positive,” Garza said of the VTA driver’s interaction with DMV investigators. “He was very cooperative. He admitted that he made a mistake.