Handicapped drivers

[cheri1122]

A few days ago, I transferred a load to another driver, who had a handicapped placard hanging from the rearview mirror. In the interest of full disclosure: the driver is the owner I began expediting driving with. She used a handicapped tag then too, (which belonged to her mother, she said, when I noticed the name on it wasn't hers), and I didn't like it, because she would hang it when at the mall, or a restaurant, etc. She said it was due to a back injury caused by freight sliding forward, when she was sleeping on the floor of a van that someone else was driving. (I was a wee bit sceptical, because if it were me, I'd refuse to have a van without a bulkhead wall after that, but my job was to shut up & drive. And secure all freight, as she found it difficult to get in & out of the cargo area). The tag I saw during the transfer was a new one, though, so she may have gotten her own.
This, along with several references to expediting being a potential job for people with "health problems", makes me wonder - how do the customers feel, seeing a handicapped tag on the expedite van? Is this a job for handicapped people? Or am I being a self-righteous snob, because I don't have any problems getting in & out, or securing the load?
Preciate the feedback.....

 

[greg334]

Well I know of two customers who would not like to see a handicap sticker anywhere on the van and one of them will not allow the van on the premises. I won’t mention the customer but tell you that it has to do with their perception of the ability of the driver to help load and unload. They don’t want to take a chance with something happening on their property if there is a slip or fall.

I would really think that being handicapped in any way (limiting mobility, sight etc…) would be a CDL stopper. I thought that you had to be able to perform certain tasks to do the job, like securing freight and steering. Maybe I am a snob too?

With that said, when I just got my license, I was my Grandmother’s chauffeur. She ended up getting her handicap sticker so she could walk to the store from the car. Mind you that she could barely walk. We always dealt with the idiot who didn’t have the sticker in their name parking in the handicap spot. A few times it was young kids who thought they could get away with it, but she always had me call the cops (who always seemed to be around the corner) and insist on them handing out a ticket. I know that if the sticker is not issued to you directly in the state of Michigan and the person who it is registered to is not present, they can give a pretty good ticket and some cities even take it. Oh the city of Southfield and a few others have senior citizens as volunteers for handicap parking enforcement and they can be nasty.

I find it odd that many people who have them don’t really need them and what puzzles me is how some get them, I mean I know of a few doctors (Arab doctors) who hand the script out for any patient who asks. The funny thing is that the SOS office a few doors down decided to investigate and the Arabs got really upset and said it was discrimination.

 

[fastman_1]

I was Born with Birth Defects and have a Handicap Placard Doesn't keep me from doing my Job and Never be Turned away from a Customer.Your Just mad cause I get the Prime Parking Spots...(Just Kidding)









































Owner/Operator since 1979
Expediter since 1997
B Unit Semi Retired
Somedays are Diamonds and Somedays are Stones

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Have no probs with drivers having a handicap. My problem is with there being handicap parking spots in a truckstop. With the shortage of places to park, why have areas we can't use when tired? I'm trying to think of actual handicaps a trucker could have, that would deem it necessary to have a permit, yet not disqualify him/her from driving in the first place. Can't think of any LEGIT conditions. Please correct me if I'm a pig.

The way I see it, handicap drivers are just as likely to fall asleep at the wheel as any other. Therefore, why the special treatment when it comes time to pull that truck over and get some zzzs? Not that it matters anyways, as the handicap spots are taken when the lot gets full. I hope they don't justify it by saying they're for RVs, as it's not a friggen RV lot! Travel plaza, auto/truck plaza, family crap stop, whatever. First and foremost, it's a TRUCK STOP! So, please spare me the PCBS and let me in on what I'm missing.

Oh... one other thing. A man who has a hard time walking cause he's 600 lbs does not rate a handicap sticker on his truck, IMO. Neither does someone who is too old to walk without crutches. In a car? Maybe. But a truck is a bit different.

 

[redytrk]

< My problem is with there being handicap parking spots in a truckstop.

Don`t blame the truckstop.They are just complying with the "American`s With Disabilities Act"(your government at work).

Your complaint should go to your congressman.

 

[Gener8]

It is my understanding that the truck stops are officially changing the handicap parking areas to be relocated..The new spots will be at the fuel islands. The people that park there are seriuosly handicapped.

 

[LDB]

This thread got posted at the right time. Apparently the whining fee has been suspended. No jabs at anyone, just a way to comment on the missing whining fee.

I have no problem with anyone having the hang tag or plates provided they legitimately deserve them. I have no problem with them doing the job if they are doing the job. I do have a problem when I see the grandkids using the car and taking the space or even when they drop the legit person at the door and then don't go park in regular parking. That deserves a 6 month loss of license as far as I'm concerned.

Leo Bricker, owner trucks 4958, 5447
OOIDA 677319
73's K5LDB
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[highway star]

I've seen people who have visible handicaps doing this job and I have no problem as long as they can be safe behind the wheel. The problem I have are the people like the guy I went through orientation at TST with. He stayed at the same motel I did and we left at the same time in the morning. When we got outside, he got in his van parked in the reserved spot. He had the permit on the mirror and no visible problem at all. He said it was for his wife, who I pointed out was'nt there. He said it did'nt matter because "those spots are always empty anyway."

On a similar note, I have to laugh at the people at the mall, Wal-mart, ect., that will spend a great deal of time hovering around waiting for that prime spot to open up. I will park in the back 40 and be in the building before they ever get out of their car. When they finally get that premo spot, they will be so squeezed in they can hardly get the door open.

 

[dawggone]

There is one handicap I can think of. Blockage in the legs. Peripheral Vascular Disease. I know I have it. I could not walk more than ten feet without pain and crying sometimes. I just got home from the hospital this morning. Had two stents placed in the upper femur artery and now I can walk again. I didn't have a handicap sticker but I asure could of have used one. Think about the smoking. That is what caused mine. I am wearing a patch now and I do not want to smoke. Will be able to get back to work in a couple of days. Be safe out there.

Jim

 

[redytrk]

For several years I was the primary care giver for my father a double amputee,and this of course qualified him for the handicap privileges.

I cant tell you how many times spots in reserved spaces were taken by cars with no permits or no visible impairment.

I always wanted to park blocking them in,but dad would have none of that.

Any time we drove dads car, without him along, never even thought of using those spaces,even though the permit was allways hanging from the mirror.

((In loving memory of Dad(Walter,Teamster 25 yrs.) 1913-1995))

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Dawgone... I thank you for proving me wrong. I could see you having a sticker AND be DOT qualified. Hope you're doing well now.

I'm just trying to clarify the need for handicapped spaces in truck stops vs. car parking lots. I doubt there are many truckers who need them, yet I usually see 4 spots with the little blue wheelchair.

 

[Jack Jackson]

When we were shopping around for a custom sleeper in 2002, one sleeper builder showed us a sleeper he was building for a handicaped driver and his wife. The man had no legs below the knee, and the sleeper was fitted with a lift to get his wheel chair in and out of the truck. I was once again humbled by another driver who could suck it up and do the job without complaining.

 

[louixo]

When I go to a mall or any other place, I don´t care how far I have to walk to enter. I´m glad I have the mobility. If some lowlife that doesn´t need to, scams a way into a handicapped spot, they are already handicapped by a bad attitude and/or laziness, and I hope the police ticket them and they pay a heavy fine. As far as people with handicaps driving a truck...I think they have a perfect right to do it, and I´m sure they find their own level of what they can handle. At least they´re out there trying, and that´s thumbs up in my book. They´re not sitting around whining, and I think that´s to be applauded.

 

[redytrk]

>When we were shopping around for a custom sleeper in 2002,
>one sleeper builder showed us a sleeper he was building for
>a handicaped driver and his wife. The man had no legs below
>the knee, and the sleeper was fitted with a lift to get his
>wheel chair in and out of the truck. I was once again
>humbled by another driver who could suck it up and do the
>job without complaining.

This is probably the same fellow who showed off his rig at the EO Expo in Detroit a few years back.What a great young man.

I agree he and others like him deserve the utmost respect. No whining and crying. Instead of "Poor me...Life sucks" its look at what I can do.

 

[fastman_1]

My Problem as you call it I was born with a Club Foot I walk with a cane sometimes While I drive a Cargo Van now I Started my Career in 1979 With a International 4070 Cabover and didn't Switch to a van till 1997. Still had my CDL Till 2002.









































Owner/Operator since 1979
Expediter since 1997
B Unit Semi Retired
Somedays are Diamonds and Somedays are Stones

 

[JeffJensen]

Redytrk,

You're probably thinking of Clayton King from Freedom Express in Tennessee. He made an appearance at one of the first Expo's.

The last I heard, Clayton had come in off the road and was working in the office of his mother's fleet operation. My info could be wrong, I need to update.

Anyway, here's the story from five years ago:

http://www.expeditersonline.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/1/50

Jeff Jensen

 

[BanditMan]

Double thanks, Jeff...

first, for posting the link so folks who have joined the site in the past five years could view it without searching the archives;

and second, for doing the story in the first place - it was a good, relavent piece of journalism then, and still is today.

It's so easy to complain about our own problems, when all we need to do is step back and put ourselves in someone else's shoes to appreciate just how fortunate we are. It also goes to show that for many folks with challenges, nothing is impossible, even satisfying DOT and CDL requirements.

 

[cheri1122]

I've been known, when observing a person of average or better agility parking in a handicapped space, to leave a Post-it note on the windshield, saying: "Ignorance IS a handicap, but it's not what the sign meant!" Like Louixo, and many others, I'm sure, I park a long walk away, & feel grateful that I don't need that spot.
But, the issue I posted on has to do with the idea that expediting, in a van, is a career choice for people with health or mobility issues. Or obesity & laziness issues, as the case may be - the perception seems to be that driving is all that's required. And if you get your regular family doctor to do the medical papers for the CDL, he probably thinks the same thing. But securing the cargo requires the ability to get in & out of the cargo area, which some people haven't the agility to do. I can't recall this simple fact being mentioned to wannabes, and they should be aware of it, I believe.
I was just wondering whether there are any carrier policies on the use of a handicapped parking tag.