More Ohio motorists getting handicapped-parking placards

Ohio is issuing about twice as many handicapped-parking placards as a decade ago, an increase that reflects the state's aging population.

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles issued more than 320,000 placards last year that give drivers or passengers permission to use specially marked spaces on city streets and in public lots. That's more than the state issued in 2001 and 2002 combined.

Almost 1.2 million Ohio residents - 10 percent of the state's population - held valid placards in 2010.

Other than issuing temporary tags in a different color, though, and noting in computer records when a tag-holder has died, there's little done to ensure handicapped-parking placards are used only by the people who need them.

California's Department of Motor Vehicles began a crackdown this spring and estimated that as many as one-third of the people displaying placards at any time on public streets were using them illegally.

California allows people with handicapped-parking placards to park for free at on-street meters. Columbus and Ohio don't extend that courtesy, and city and state officials say they don't recall any special efforts to step up enforcement of handicapped-parking rules.

Kay Grier, executive director of the Ohio Statewide Independent Living Council, wishes someone would.

She said she sees little enforcement to make sure a handicapped-parking placard is even on a car, let alone whether the placard is valid and being used by the person to whom it was issued.

"It's one of my pet peeves," she said. "I don't know if it's just not important to them or what."

As the city entered its budget crisis in 2008, City Council members raised fines on 59 different traffic violations, including illegal use of handicapped-parking spaces.

Officials sought to increase the fine from $250 to $350, but council members pushed it up to $500 instead, the maximum allowed under state law.

That move was less about raising money, they said, than about cracking down on an egregious violation.

After a 30 percent increase in tickets issued during the first year of the new penalty in 2009, though, the city is issuing roughly the same number of tickets for handicapped-parking violations. There were 1,021 tickets issued in 2008 and 1,082 in 2010.

Geoff Dutton, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, said the state changed how it issued handicapped-parking permits in 1999 to include shorter durations for temporary placards.

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More Ohio motorists getting handicapped-parking placards
More Ohio motorists getting handicapped-parking placards

Almost 1.2 million Ohio residents - 10 percent of the state's population - held valid placards in 2010. Other than issuing temporary tags in a different color, though, and noting in computer records when a tag-holder has died, there's little done to



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Free Online Mechanic » Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles- They Won't ...

Sometimes, research means heading to the library to look up what others have written on a particular subject. Sometimes, it means interviewing people to hear the truth firsthand. Other times, it means accessing information catalogued by others. But in some cases, just because the information is catalogued doesn’t mean that you can access that catalog at will.

Consider, for example, someone who knows a license plate number and wants to find out who owns the vehicle associated with that number. They might take the license plate number to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, expecting the BMV to help lookup the license plate number. Unfortunately this reverse license plate search will be a waste of time,because the Ohio BMV is not able to release that information to the public.

After being turned away from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, most people ask their local police department for help obtaining information. They might even try asking a police department in one of the large cities, such as Cleveland or Columbus for help. But, all police departments are legally prevented from giving out sensitive information to people without the proper clearance or authority. Since neither the BMV nor the police department can give you the information you need, you need to find a different method of conducting your search. The public institutions cannot help you, but private companies can.

As long as private databases obtain their data legally, they are allowed to maintain their databases. Because of this, these databases mat have exactly the information that you are looking for, and they are also allowed to divulge this information to third parties. The laws that apply to the police and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles don’t apply to these private database companies.

Of course each license plate search is different. You may find that the license plate number or VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) you are looking is in the database, but a free preliminary search in a database will help you be sure. A simple license plate number can be just the piece of information that leads you to the results you are looking for.

If you are looking for a way to use a license plate number to extract more information about a vehicle or a person, then a private database company is definitely the place to go. Unlike the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, you won’t be forced to stay on hold or in line for hours only to be told that they can’t help you.


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Journal of the Senate of the State of Ohio

Journal of the Senate of the State of Ohio

... maliciously obliterate, deface or destroy, any of the public records of this State. ... in Belmont county, to the Ohio and Erie Canals, by Freeport, ...

Cyclopedia of criminal law

Cyclopedia of criminal law

In Ohio it has been held that a tax duplicate is not a public record. Smith v. State, 18 Ohio St. 420. Forgery of the records of a justice of the peace by ...

Annual report of the American Historical Association

Annual report of the American Historical Association

... Underbill, and Cole papers and public records ; Obituaries; Life members. ... Contents : Record of proceedings ; Early Methodism In Ohio — its ...

The American and English encyclopedia of law

The American and English encyclopedia of law

Sufficiency of Public Records.— I n determining the sufficiency of public ... McBride, 34 Ohio St. 338. Nor should their proceedings be attacked in detail, ...

Ohio history

Ohio history

Dr. Frank O. Hart, of West Unity, Ohio, then addressed the Society upon " Prehistoric ... They have left no records of their lives save in a few surviving ...

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