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Disabled parking labeled a problem

Disabled Parking violations are an issue that VSU traffic and parking enforcement deal with on a continual basis.

According to Sergeant Carolyn Glock of the VSU Police Department, although the problem does occur here on the VSU campus, it is minimal.

Parking violations include disabled parking fraud, making use of a disabled hang tag or permit registered in someone else’s name and parking in spaces allotted for the disabled without a registered disabled permit or tag.

Sergeant Glock said VSU provides just enough parking to accommodate those individuals who are registered for disabled parking.

According to Anthony Bryant, assistant director of VSU Parking and Transportation, there were 42 disabled parking violations in the last month, 11 in the last week, and 1 to 3 violations daily.

“This is not something we take lightly,” said Sergeant Glock.

Sergeant Glock also stressed the consequences of disabled parking violations.

“If you park there, and are parked illegally, you will be cited whether that’s a VSU citation or a state issued citation which can be considerably more and also goes on your driver’s record,” said Sergeant Glock.

The VSU citation for illegally parking in disabled spaces is 105 dollars, while the citation for Lowndes County is typically 110 dollars.

According to the Georgia code, Title 40 Section 40-6-226, “It should be unlawful for any person to stop or park any vehicle in a parking place for persons with disabilities unless there is a display on the driver’s side of the dashboard or hung from the rearview mirror of the parked vehicle. A valid unexpired parking permit for persons disabled veterans or other disabled persons authorized under subsection.”

On campus, disabled parking violations are a bigger issue than disabled parking fraud.

“We have found that disabled drivers on VSU campus have legitimate passes registered in their names through the State of Georgia,” said Bryant.

VSU traffic and parking enforcement has discovered hang tags registered in a different driver’s name.

“In this scenario, citations are issued accordingly to verify legitimacy,” said Bryant.

“The customer is made aware that they are not permitted to utilize disabled spaces on VSU campus if that permit doesn’t match or if the disabled person is not driving or being escorted in that vehicle.”

But according to Sarah Bloss, a graduate assistant for the Access Office, there is a growing issue with handicapped parking.

In certain areas like Hopper Circle, students have either parked in a handicapped spot, to get their mail or have used someone else’s tag on occasion. Bloss is planning on reaching out to students to inform them on the issue.

Sergeant Glock hopes that students will respect for parking regulations in the future.

“Everybody wants to have a parking space, we understand that, but please respect others.”

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One comment

  1. If only someone would listen to me… I honestly have solutions, whether partial or complete, for absolutely every problem on campus. For this one, the simplest and first step is to ticket the cars, tow the cars, and have people on patrol more often. Day and night I see people at Centennial Lot park their cars in the handicap spaces and walk to their rooms, all are CLEARLY not handicapped in any fashion, some have fraudulent tags, others do not, but they all do it. Nearly every night, intramural sports FILLS up every space in that lot. If the VSU PD or parking would come over there on any given night, they could get at the very least a few hundred dollars worth of tickets! And that is in one of the smallest lots on campus!

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