Marina Vujačić, executive director of the Association of Disabled Youth, says that parking spaces for people with disabilities are often usurped by employees of state companies, ministries, as well as citizens.
"We often see police cars, official vehicles of the Government, that is, its institutions, diplomatic plates...", Vujačić told "Vijesta".
An additional and sometimes bigger problem, she pointed out, is parking on sidewalks and at pedestrian crossings where there are lowered curbs, because in these situations sometimes disabled pedestrians, users of wheelchairs and other aids are completely blocked and prevented from moving.
"Parking spaces for people with disabilities are most often usurped in larger parking lots, i.e. in front of shopping centers or in a narrower part of the city in the immediate vicinity of more important buildings," stated Vujačić.
She pointed out that awareness is changing to a certain extent, but also that the problem is in not caring for others.
"I believe that citizens often know that by parking in a marked parking spot they are committing a violation, but they do not think about the significance of their act and are not afraid of being punished. It is no coincidence that the parking spaces closest to the entrance are designated for people with disabilities. Those parking spaces are wider than others precisely so that people with disabilities can manipulate them, usually with aids, because there is sometimes not enough space for them to get out of the car in a standard parking lot," said Vujačić.
She said that after the implementation of several UMHCG campaigns and the continuous writing of certain media about this problem, the situation in practice can only be changed by a penal policy that must not leave anyone behind.
"According to the regulations, five percent of parking spaces in parking lots should be reserved for people with disabilities, but a bigger problem is the fact that some municipalities do not have a parking service and that people with disabilities still cannot get a sticker," said Vujačić.
Also, a bigger problem than the number of parking spaces is sometimes the fact that even where there are markings, there are signs of an older date, that is, they have faded and the outlines of the yellow line are almost unrecognizable.
"It happened that several times we reported illegally parked cars in front of the building where the UMHCG is located, and that the "spider" could not lift that vehicle due to the width of the tires," Vujačić said.
Part of the money from the fines to go to people with disabilities
In some countries in the West, there is a practice that organizations of persons with disabilities are authorized by competent institutions to write reports, i.e. issue misdemeanor orders, and that a certain percentage of fines is paid as support to the organization.
"Such authorizations additionally motivate organizations and their representatives to do that work and can certainly represent a way of employing people with disabilities. We proposed it to the Communal Police at one of the meetings. However, we did not come across an understanding and we will definitely start this initiative again through official means", said Vujačić.
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