Information from the County Attorney's Office
By Steven J. Franzen, Campbell County Attorney
Most of us have probably experienced a sense of aggravation when we go to a store or restaurant and see people who appear to be specimens of good health parking in the handicap spots close to the store or restaurant. Many of those individuals are not handicap and do not have a handicap sticker or they may be abusing the use of the sticker that belongs to someone else. The Kentucky General Assembly has addressed this problem and it may be helpful to review the substantial penalties that can be imposed for a violation of the handicap parking laws.
The fine for parking illegally in a parking space designated for those with disabilities is now 10 times more than it used to be. The fine is now $250.00 per occurrence. When you add in the new traffic court cost, a defendant is looking at total fines of approximately $400.00. Those are certainly substantial penalties that should make people think twice before parking illegally in handicap spots.
The handicap parking laws state that 90% of the fines collected are forwarded to the state’s Personal Care Assistance Program. The remaining 10% is distributed equally among all local law enforcement agencies in the County where the violation occurred.
Handicapped parking permits can be obtained on a temporary or permanent basis. To obtain a temporary handicap parking permit, an application form needs to be filed at the County Clerk’s Office for a small fee for an initial 3 month period which can be renewed for an additional 3 months. Proof of the disability must be provided through a statement from a licensed physician that an applicant is a person whose mobility, flexibility, coordination, respiration, or perceptiveness is significantly reduced by a temporary disability. Upon submitting an application, the required fee and proof of permanent disability, a permanent handicap parking permit can also be obtained from the County Clerk.
The disability parking placard must be placed so that it can be viewed from the front or rear of the vehicle, preferably by hanging on the rear view mirror. It is illegal to display a placard when the person with the disability is not in the vehicle.
I hope this information is interesting and helpful. If you have any topics you would like to have covered in this column, please contact my office by e-mail at campbellcoatty@gmail.com, by phone at 491-7700 or by regular mail addressed to 319 York Street, Newport, Kentucky 41071.