Question: My question is about the Hawaii handicap parking placard. My friends think you can use it in California. My understanding is you can use it in other states except California. In California you need to apply for a temporary placard, good for 90 days, to park in a handicap parking space. It entitles you to free metered parking also. Who is right?
Answer: Your friends, although the temporary permit you describe is available and its use is encouraged, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
“Yes, visitors can use their valid disabled person parking placard here in California. However, the person to whom the placard is issued should bring accompanying documentation that shows the disabled placard has been issued to them,” Jaime Garza, a California DMV spokesman, told Kokua Line via email Tuesday.
The California DMV “conducts as many as 24 enforcement operations (a month) throughout the state to make sure placards are being legally used by the people to whom they are assigned,” he said. “In California, our investigators will compare the assignment number on the placard, accompanying registration card and an identification to ensure they all match.”
California does issue a 90-day parking placard for nonresidents with a permanent disability who are visiting the state. “I would recommend that if a person plans to be in California for an extended period of time, they should consider applying,” he said.
There is no fee for this permit, which is called the travel DP parking placard. To be eligible, the visitor must already hold a valid (unexpired) disability parking placard or license plate or disabled veteran license plate, according to the application.
Find a link to the application at 808ne.ws/caldis, on the California DMV website. (On the website and application, DP means disabled person and DV means disabled veteran.)
California’s DMV has stepped up enforcement against misuse of disability parking placards, and clarified during a 2017 enforcement action that valid out-of-state placards are acceptable, according to news reports at the time. Conflicting, earlier information remains widely available online, however, perhaps leading to your mistaken belief.
As Garza said, vigorous enforcement in California continues. In February, 106 people in 18 California cities were cited for misusing a disability parking placard. Offenders had their placards confiscated and faced fines ranging from $250 to $1,000. A total of 1,587 drivers were contacted that month to verify their disability parking placards.
You are correct that an unexpired disability parking permit issued in Hawaii is generally accepted in other U.S. states.
Auwe
Auwe to the people who place leaflets and cards under windshield wipers of cars, car after car after car, creating the potential for litter. And a second auwe to drivers who remove the written material and toss it in the gutter, thus creating litter. — E.K.
Mahalo
Belated thanks to the three men in a white pickup truck who came to my aid on Presidents Day, when my car went dead in the Wilson Tunnel town-bound. I was trying to call for help, but my phone wouldn’t work in the tunnel. They were angels to rescue me. They pushed me out of the tunnel to the side of the road and left only after I assured them I would call for a tow truck. Then two police officers appeared and guided me and my car to the area between the two tunnels so I would be out of the way of traffic. Thank you all for helping me when I was in this dangerous situation. You saved my life! — Grateful senior
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
