Stop Abuse of OKU Parking by Doing THESE

You'd have to be living under a coconut shell for the past few days if you have not yet seen or heard of the woman who wielded a steering lock while screaming hysterically at a council officer, because her vehicle had been clamped for parking at an OKU (Disabled Person) parking spot.

Well, if you want to watch the video, here it is, but do turn down the volume first—it gets quite high pitched: -



Clearly, she is very able-bodied and has a healthy pair of lungs. Even though there was an OKU sticker on the vehicle, it actually belonged to her husband, who was not with her when she parked her car there. In the video, she insisted that she was buying food for her disabled husband, which she thinks, for some reason, gives her the right to park at the OKU designated spot.

Malay Mail reported that she refused to budge from the car when a tow truck arrived to tow the car away, until her husband arrived and persuaded her to leave. The police will be investigating her for criminal investigation, although we think it will come to naught; she certainly has been vilified enough by netizens over the past few days, and that must be lesson enough.

In this case, enforcement was being carried out but it was—and always is—drivers' self-centredness and blatant disregard for the needs of disabled people that make them think it's okay to park in OKU spots. This has gotten us thinking of how we can knock some sense and empathy into these people's heads, and of course the Internet offered up brilliant ideas, besides the usual sarcastic note under the windshield wiper. These three are our favourites: -

1) Public Humiliation

We saw this back in 2015 and it still makes us chuckle. A group of vigilantes covered the car in post-it notes, with a disabled person icon made out in white ones. The driver received a ticket and as he ripped off the post-it notes, onlookers cheered at his very public punishment.

2) Haunting Reminder

Some places in Russia are using holographic technology to remind drivers of why there are specially designated spots for disabled persons. Cameras detect whether the vehicle pulling into the spot has the disabled sticker, and if absent, projects a talking image to chide and hopefully shame the driver into better driving behaviour.

3) Step into their...er...Wheelchair

A wheelchair protest took place in Lisbon, whereby organisers and volunteers "parked" wheelchairs in regular parking spots; on the chairs were notes with the usual excuses that able-bodied people would give for parking in a disabled space, such as "I'll only be a minute", "No one needs it right now" and "Just getting coffee".

Let's remember that as inconvenient as it is for us to find an empty parking space sometimes, remember that it's many times harder for the disabled and they have to face these challenges every single day.