Report: Many Drivers Abusing Handicap Placards, Parking For Free
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A new report details how a growing number of drivers are cheating the system and parking for free all day at Chicago's metered spaces.
As WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports, in a follow-up to a Sunday report, the Chicago Sun-Times says for every 13 passenger vehicles in Cook County, one has a handicap placard.
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In total, nearly 205,000 Cook County residents have the placards, and in many cases, they are being used by able-bodied drivers, the Sun-Times reports.
The newspaper had retired Chicago Police Lt. Robert Angone stake out several areas in the South Loop and other parts of the city and watch for abuse. He found 82 incidences of people who appeared to be able-bodied parking their cars for free using the placards.
They were found around the Loop, near the Cook County Criminal Courthouse at 26th Street and California Avenue, and other locations, the Sun-Times reported. In the compact area bounded by Van Buren Street, Roosevelt Road, Desplaines Street and Canal Street, up to 60 cars were parked for free with handicap placards each day in September and October, the Sun-Times reported.
One 21-year-old intern with Northern Trust Corp. repeatedly parked her car on Canal Street using her grandmother's placard, although her grandmother was never with her, the Sun-Times reported.
