There is a $500.00 fine that I will not be paying. If in Norman, parking in an “Accessible Parking” without a handicapped placcard will result in a ticket. I have an infamous placcard. I get to keep my $500.00.
While it’s common to see drivers skating by with handicapped placcards from their rear view mirrors, that can warrant a ticket too. I don’t drive with mine up, as I read what’s on the back of my placcard. Anything that can obstruct your view is cause for a ticket, however it does depend on the officer pulling you over.
I wasn’t pulled over by an officer. I wasn’t pulled over at all. I was stopped in an OU parking lot. I was halted, as a woman stood and held both hands up like she was locked in a glass cage. My car went from three miles an hour to zero, wondering what I could have done. I paused as she cutoff my car.
I watched her eyes hit the placcard on my dash. I not only saw her eyes move to it, but her hand as well. She stood, pointing, in the middle of the OU parkinglot at my placcard.
She took a short breath before yelling at me. I was yelled at by a campus facilities management employee. I was barated by a campus employee.
“I DIDN’T SEE THAT YOU’RE PHYSICALLY DISABLED,” she yelled at my car as she stared into my eyes.
I, for the first time since my first word, was silent. Not a single word came to mind. She pointed and yelled at me as if we were on a playground, and I couldn’t say anything.
She waved me on to keep driving.
In silence, I drove to the “Accessible Parking” section of the parking lot. My car seemed silent as well. The radio had stopped, just as my heart had. It was still silent in my mind when I reached for my placcard off my dash. I felt my shirt lift as I raised my hand to my rearview mirror. The flimsy plastic in my hand felt as if I knew Sisyphus’s burden.