[Apparelyzed]

The government wants to make it more difficult to abuse the blue badge system for disabled drivers.

One persons blue badge was copied more than 5000 times after they had died!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/p...bwm=1&asb=1

Simon

[wheels5894]

Yes, I've heard of this before on quite a few occasions. It does seem to be London area that is most affected though which is handy for those further away from there.

I have some doubts about a more secure badge. It seems to me that is one person can make a hologrammed or whatever badge so can someone else and with the money at stake they will. [Almost certainly National Identity Cards will be forged too!] I am also dubious of the idea of having a database simply because the government doesn't have a good track record for technology.

However, I have often thought that the badges ought to be run through DVLA for reasons of making sure that those who apply for badges also report their medical problems and their driving is reviewed. After all, if a badge is given to someone with a significant heart problem I don't think I would like them to be driving before a proper review. Of course, the though of such a review might reduce the number of applicants for the badges, However the main point here is that police can get a quick vehicle check from DVLA and if they held the Blue Badge status too cars could be checked on the hoof' so to speak.

The only snag would be the problem of car registrations. now at present one can use the badge in any car one chooses but the badge would have to be registered against a particular car or perhaps 2. I think for most people 2 cars would do.

How about that for a scheme?

[Alin Steglinski]

wheels5894, on Sep 5 2007, 07:24 AM, said:

Yes, I've heard of this before on quite a few occasions. It does seem to be London area that is most affected though which is handy for those further away from there.

I have some doubts about a more secure badge. It seems to me that is one person can make a hologrammed or whatever badge so can someone else and with the money at stake they will. [Almost certainly National Identity Cards will be forged too!] I am also dubious of the idea of having a database simply because the government doesn't have a good track record for technology.

However, I have often thought that the badges ought to be run through DVLA for reasons of making sure that those who apply for badges also report their medical problems and their driving is reviewed. After all, if a badge is given to someone with a significant heart problem I don't think I would like them to be driving before a proper review. Of course, the though of such a review might reduce the number of applicants for the badges, However the main point here is that police can get a quick vehicle check from DVLA and if they held the Blue Badge status too cars could be checked on the hoof' so to speak.

The only snag would be the problem of car registrations. now at present one can use the badge in any car one chooses but the badge would have to be registered against a particular car or perhaps 2. I think for most people 2 cars would do.

How about that for a scheme?

i got an idea... hows about the badges being holographic and having features like money in the united states anti counterfeit thingies

[wheels5894]

Alin,

I've said it already! If ne person can make something then so can another. Look at the brlilliant forgeries of paper money of the years. Even credit cards have been cloned. The only way is for something about the person or card held elsewhere, perhaps on a database, so that it can be checked that the user is the real user.

[russ1]

There's a simple solution - put the photo on the front of the badge so everyone and anyone can check the badge is being used by the person it's meant for. I'm at a complete loss as to why there's any objection to this obvious solution.

Restricting use to one or two cars is no use at all, I use mine quite a lot in friends cars when I go out and they drive.

[wheels5894]

Yes, I see your point there, Russ. The problem is it would be quite easy to modify a badge by changing the photo. The idea I had was that something only the badge holder might know to be on computer so apolice officer of traffic warden could challenge someone with a blue badge and quickly check the person knew the data held o computer. A bit hard to get round that one.

[Apparelyzed]

There are a few methods you could use:

Microdot overlay holography over photographs.

Encrypted bar codes which could be scanned through the window by authorities.

Print technology which prevents copying.

Simon

[graphic]

I wish they'd make blue badges harder to get in the first place. I'd rather see a system more like the D.L.A. test (as much as I don't like it) or a letter from a consultant rather than the recommendation of a G.P.. This might go someway to ensuring that only those who are really entitled to one get one which, in turn, might make the general public less dismissal of them.

[wheels5894]

Quite right, Graphic, the badges need to go to those who need them and not to anyone who wants one. The standard to get one ought to be the test for the Mobility Component of DLA - not hard for us to get that!

My earlier suggestion would this in reverse though. All I wanted t do was have a reference sent to DVLA of each application so that Driver's medical branch could review the driving of the applicant. Given the walking ability of some old people I have seen, that ought to remove some drivers from the roads. It would probably become self-limiting as time went by and people heard of others losing their licence. They would just not apply to keep their licence.

A quick aside - I heard a doctor talking on radio. Here father, she said, had been given a blue badge because of his angina. She said she would not have done that but instead told him to get walking as apparently walking is what is the recommended treatment, as well as medication!

[wheeliebear75]

I'm all for the photo idea. I may not feel flattered by my DMV picture but at least it would make it next to impossible to forge but even harder to fake that you are that person. FYI guys in the US the DMV has both your name and state ID # but also what the serial # on the bottom of your plaque is in their computers. I very much agree that the plaques must be getting too easy to get. And yeah I've seen some people hop out of their car and run in the store like it was nothing. I also know that my friend's sister gets looks all the time because she looks healthy. She keeps her nails painted a dark red (to hide the bluish tinge they would show) and her cardiologist has said if she exerts herself she could literally give herself a heart attack, Danice feels bad about possibly making some "like me" loose out on going to the store but not much she can do she does need the closest spot available. I think what they should do is make some color coding; blue is already for disabled (duh) and red means temp. Why not make yellow be for temporary, white for elderly (but not physically disabled), we keep our blue and elderly who are ALSO physically disabled (this will keep the spots with hash marks for those of us who need wheelchairs), and use red for those with SEVERE breathing and heart problems, and for those who do not meet the new guidelines park in a regular spot like everyone else.

[Alin Steglinski]

wheeliebear75, on Sep 6 2007, 10:35 PM, said:

I'm all for the photo idea. I may not feel flattered by my DMV picture but at least it would make it next to impossible to forge but even harder to fake that you are that person. FYI guys in the US the DMV has both your name and state ID # but also what the serial # on the bottom of your plaque is in their computers. I very much agree that the plaques must be getting too easy to get. And yeah I've seen some people hop out of their car and run in the store like it was nothing. I also know that my friend's sister gets looks all the time because she looks healthy. She keeps her nails painted a dark red (to hide the bluish tinge they would show) and her cardiologist has said if she exerts herself she could literally give herself a heart attack, Danice feels bad about possibly making some "like me" loose out on going to the store but not much she can do she does need the closest spot available. I think what they should do is make some color coding; blue is already for disabled (duh) and red means temp. Why not make yellow be for temporary, white for elderly (but not physically disabled), we keep our blue and elderly who are ALSO physically disabled (this will keep the spots with hash marks for those of us who need wheelchairs), and use red for those with SEVERE breathing and heart problems, and for those who do not meet the new guidelines park in a regular spot like everyone else.

hashed spots are ONLY for people with wheelchairs NO EXCEPTIONS, then right after the hashed spots there could be "priority spots" those would be for people with breathing heart and elderly.

[wheeliebear75]

Alin Steglinski, on Sep 7 2007, 03:39 AM, said:

wheeliebear75, on Sep 6 2007, 10:35 PM, said:

I'm all for the photo idea. I may not feel flattered by my DMV picture but at least it would make it next to impossible to forge but even harder to fake that you are that person. FYI guys in the US the DMV has both your name and state ID # but also what the serial # on the bottom of your plaque is in their computers. I very much agree that the plaques must be getting too easy to get. And yeah I've seen some people hop out of their car and run in the store like it was nothing. I also know that my friend's sister gets looks all the time because she looks healthy. She keeps her nails painted a dark red (to hide the bluish tinge they would show) and her cardiologist has said if she exerts herself she could literally give herself a heart attack, Danice feels bad about possibly making some "like me" loose out on going to the store but not much she can do she does need the closest spot available. I think what they should do is make some color coding; blue is already for disabled (duh) and red means temp. Why not make yellow be for temporary, white for elderly (but not physically disabled), we keep our blue and elderly who are ALSO physically disabled (this will keep the spots with hash marks for those of us who need wheelchairs), and use red for those with SEVERE breathing and heart problems, and for those who do not meet the new guidelines park in a regular spot like everyone else.

hashed spots are ONLY for people with wheelchairs NO EXCEPTIONS, then right after the hashed spots there could be "priority spots" those would be for people with breathing heart and elderly.

Actually the "hash" is not a parking space at all and it is illegal for ANYBODY to park there. People who have "the right" to use a disabled plaque but do not use a wheelchair are legally allowed to park in any designated handicap space. This is where a lot of us have a problem......we need those extra 4ft to get from car to chair and vis versa. This is exactly why a lot of us would like to see the designated parking system undergo an overhaul and have some appropriate changes made.

I think everyone should make sure that they are familiar with EVERY rule and benefit of the plaque, it comes on a paper you get with the plaque and are supposed to keep in the glove box (we keep a COPY in ours so if we ever had our car stolen I'd have the original + then it doesn't matter if it gets messed up).

And in case it was not clear enough from my 1st post what I meant by talking about "in the DMV computers" is that cops can access the DMV data base from their cruisers; and if the # from a plaque comes up stolen or just not matching the state ID# of the person claiming it is theirs........they would get caught cause the police cross reference the #s and see that they don't match......but you'd have to get enough cops to have enough free time on their hands to check.

[gsp23]

At some stores around me the best parking I have found is the handicap spots right in front of the door dont have the hashed marks and thats for the people that can walk the shorter distances like heart patients, etc. or for what I call "fake cripples" cause they just want to be close to the door. Then the spots with the hash marks are in the very front spots of the rows but they are a few rows away from the front door. Fake cripples dont take those spots as often cause they can find a closer spot sometimes by parking further down the main isle than taking the front spot a few isles over. The people that just need the close spots then can take them without taking the ones with the hash marks by them.

I know in the US anyways they can just type in the number on the placard and pull up the name of the person. I have a friend that in high school he used to use his dads placard all the time and one time a cop stopped him and brought up the info and asked to see his ID. He or course didnt have an ID that matched the placard and he got a ticket... unfortunatly there is nobody around to actually enforce this 99% of the time which is another big problem.

[Cheshire]

As far as the enforcing of placards in the US, here in western NC I've asked the police about it. They told me they generally don't "waste time" on things like that, even if an offence is being actively reported (why I was asking in the first place).

Personally, I try to take a normal spot NEXT to the handicap...I can walk short distances but fatigue quickly, and need to be able to open the car door pretty wide to get my lanky self outta the car. (I miss the days of "sliding" in.)
In my city, the handicap spots are either with hash marks or nonexistant.

[whizzaround]

i agree with the photos on the front, then anyone can check if the person it belongs to got out of the car, i dont agree with it being registered to a couple of cars, i must use at least 10 cars on a regular basis! not to mention the others i go out in occasionally, it would be like telling you choose two friends and they are the only ones you can travel with!!
there are blue badge security holders on www.bluebadgeprotector.co.uk, not cheap though they cost £22.50 plus p+p and you cant use them if you use a disc lock on your steering wheel, so do you secure the car or the bluebadge?

[lune14]

I don't really see how a photo actually helps when NO ONE of authority is EVER there to call the user (or abuser) up on it. I don't know if it's national procedure here in the states but I remember when Oregon DMV changed placard info to show an expiration month/day to match the birth date of the card holder. That was to avoid people using someone else's placard.... good idea, right? Well yes but ONLY if someone is there to ask for ID. I've been in a chair 27 years and have never once seen a motorist questioned in this manner.

A really great idea I saw implemented was a "Citizen's Patrol". A local shopping mall had a group of volunteer disabled citizens working with the local Police Dept and these volunteers patrolled the parking grounds and were authorized to issue citations to cars not displaying a disabled placard. It was great and no problems ever arose from it however the P.D. ended the program saying it was 'costing them money'. ??????? I have no idea how but a great many people were outraged and the program was never reintroduced.