ABC7Chicago.com: Suburban police crack down on handicap parking abuse
In Orland Park, Illinois

 By Karen Meyer

September 15, 2005 -

Accessible parking privileges are for those authorized to have parking placards or disability license plates. However, people are still abusing disability parking privileges. A southwest suburban police department is aggressively fighting these abuses.

Over the years, the Illinois Secretary of State has pushed for increased fines and penalties for disability parking abusers. Law enforcement is trying to be more proactive.

Last year, Orland Park Police Department confiscated over 450 parking placards. Their efforts were awarded by Secretary of State Jesse White.

"We're proud of the fact that Orland Park has been relentless in their efforts to make sure that people who don't belong in a particular parking space should not be there," said Secretary of State Jesse White.

Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy says they started tracking down abusers two years ago.

"The stories that kept coming in, the anecdotal stories of the great abuse that was going on, using handicap placard and they convinced me that we needed to do more than just the routine patrol where we would just get them from time to time and they convinced me that it was time to step up," said Tim McCarthy.

They felt the $100 fine was not enough.

"It was just stopping people and as a result we raised it to a minimum of $200 fine and it can go as high as $500," said White.

An increased in statewide fines and penalties will go into effect January 1st, 2006.

"If you park in a place that you're not supposed to park in then you could get fined $250 fine up from $100 to $250 and then some of the spots can add on $100 fine so then it could be $350," said White.

People who illegally manufacture or alter plates or placards the fine is higher.

"The individual gets fined $1,000 for the first offense $10,000 for the offense and, of course, they could lose the placard itself, the authorized person could lose the placard itself and they could lose license as well," said White.

The increase in fines and penalties should cut down on disability parking abuse.

"We have been working on this all the time and in the next couple of months we're going to have another heavy enforcement period to go above and beyond of what we doing now," said McCarthy.

More information about disability parking placards and license plates program: Website: www.cyberdriveillinois.org
Phone Number: 800-252-2904