This is an open letter to all of you using your deceased Aunt Rose’s accessible parking placard. As it says right on the placard, you must also be carrying a current, valid disabled person ID card.
I also see some people jogging out of the gym and bouncing up into their Escalade in the accessible parking spot. Yes, all disabilities are not visible, but you people are kidding no one.
The bad news for all of you is that the Motor Vehicle Commission changed the law effective Aug. 1, 2013, so that all persons using placards or plates must be medically re-certified every three years as continuing to have a serious medical condition. The MVC website specifies these conditions. Being overweight or having an occasional “bad back” is not listed, since these affect 60 to 80 percent of the population at some time.
The medical doctor must also enclose a current prescription with a diagnostic code. When the new paperwork is submitted to the MVC, they will issue a new disabled person ID card and a new placard or plate, which will be in a different format.
Also, the police should start asking people using the accessible parking spots for their current disabled person ID card. Those who are truly disabled will be glad that someone is checking for the poachers. Kathleen McNellis
Middletown