Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
Cat, you can almost completely eliminate this sort of encounter if you acquire an handicap hangtag for your dashboard rear view mirror. In our state, all that is required to get one is a note from the doctor (in this case DA's doctor) stating that she needs handicap assistance. The note is then taken to the county department of motor vehicles to the office that handles car registrations and they will issue the tag.
The tags have expiration dates in our state but they are good for several years before they have to be renewed and our state does not charge for them.
This then allows us to park in the handicap-designated spaces, as long as the tag is put on the rear view mirror on the dash.
We prefer the hangtag over a license plate because we can move it from one of our vehicles to the other, depending on which one we are driving.
Cat I have a handicap placard and it hangs from the rear view mirror. It can be used in any vehicle I am traveling in. I don't drive, so I keep it in Spikes car. He drives me everywhere. A handicap placard or whatever each state uses, is recognized in all 50 states and throughout Canada. All you need is a letter from her doctors office on their letterhead and fill out the application. Call the RMV in your state and they will mail the application to you. Explain who it is for and why. When I traveled to California, Tennessee and Georgia for several trips, I took it with me. The RMV will automatically mail a new one just prior to when your present one is due to expire. DA may have to go to have her picture taken.
In this state it is unlawful for anyone to use my placard if I am not in the car. My SIL got caught one time and a policeman asked to see me in person. When he couldn't produce me coming from a store, the officer confiscated my placard and notified RMV. If my daughter hadn't been an employee of the RMV, I could have been in big trouble and lost my placard for one year.
I don't know about the state you live in, but here in Mass, your car can be towed if you park in a handicap place with no placard or other system your state may use. And you have to make a court appearance and pay a substantial fine.
Get on this today. You may want to travel with your parents and DA during their visit to show them the sites. Or I will sell you to the gypsies.