Here is my view from T-Hoe, parked in the fifth and final handicap space. That's the pharmacy door. It would be fine if I was just dashing into the pharmacy. Or if they actually had carts inside that door. But they don't. All the carts are down at the main entrance, including the beeper carts for riding. Maybe it's just me, but I would think that if a person needs a beeper cart for shopping, they are probably not comfortable parking this far away, and walking to get on one.
Can you see the main door? No? Perhaps you need some binoculars, it's so very far from this handicap space! It's way down past the STOP sign. That STOP sign is about halfway there.
There! That's a man going into the main door. I have taken this picture on a day when I got the CLOSEST handicap space! It's by the STOP sign. Those days are wonderful. Magnificent, really, if somebody has left a cart sitting there by the bench! Then I can use it for steadiness as I hike to the main entrance. Being careful, of course, not to tip over when I go around that pillar by the firewood. The sidewalk is not wide enough there to push a cart without getting two wheels off onto the blacktop. But you know, people need to see a display of firewood out front, so the sidewalk is blocked.
Inside, the checkout that's always open is the one located the farthest from the main door. Right by the pharmacy counter. Then you have to go back down to the main entrance to exit. Or, if you want to get some shady looks, you can take your receipt, and go up to the pharmacy doors to exit, if you can get that door pushed open while piloting your cart.
You can't really judge the downhill slant of the parking lot from my photos. Truth be told, there is one, maybe two, handicap parking spaces down in the lot, across from the main entrance. I don't know about you, but I feel safer walking a longer distance on relatively flat pavement that trying to hold onto a cart full of soda and groceries on a sloped section.
At the opposite end of the store is the deli. There's a door on that side of the building, like the pharmacy door. I think there's a handicap parking space over there, but as with the regular parking at that end, you have to walk through the rows of gas pumps to get to and from them to the building. Oh, and no carts down there, either.
I think the best solution here is to keep a small section of carts inside the pharmacy door. Then the elderlies and handicappers could enter there, make a round of the store doing their shopping, pay, and come back out that door.
But that's just me, trying to apply logic to a problem not many people care about.
Sadly, no one will appreciate that idea until they have a need for it themselves. We all think we are invincible when we are younger, until we wake up one day and realize we're not so nimble anymore. Bit by bit, as the body ages, we find there are more things that need to be approached differently. Too bad such a simple solution is so far reaching. Ranee (MN)
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking about that issue, after an interaction with a cashier. Young people never stop to think that they'll be old one day!
DeleteI don't think those in charge of where the handicap parking spaces are put even think of what it means to those needing to use them. I had a temporary handicap parking permit once after a foot operation. That was when my eyes were opened to people needing these spaces. I couldn't understand why they put the stalls to return shopping carts so far away from the handicap parking spaces.
ReplyDeleteThat's another problem with the two handicap spaces in the regular lot, closer to the main door. IF you can get your heavy cart to the car without it taking off and pulling you along, you can't just leave it on the hill after unloading it.
DeleteThe cart returns are midway down the parking rows. So more walking, then back to your car. Probably about the same distance as parking in the farthest handicap space. At least there, you can leave your cart up against the building, for the next elderly or handicapped parker to take to walk into the store.
A cane will help. Some.
ReplyDeleteI take a cane to the casino. It helps after the 90-minute ride, when my knees are stiffened up as I get out of the car. Sometimes I just carry it after I've loosened up. Sometimes I want to use it to stab people on the toes when they're in my way!
DeleteLogis is always lost on those who plan, design and develop. They need to get out into places like this and see what actually works for elderly and disabled as well as us normal folk. Maybe they should all visit a nursing home and take an older less-abled person on a day out which includes a day shopping and collecting medications. When they are old and infirm themselves they will realise.
ReplyDeleteI like this idea. Similar to checking out a classic novel at the library, the planners could "check out" an elderly or disabled person, and take them to try a couple of different scenarios for the handicap spaces location.
DeleteBoth Tommy and I need the handicapped parking, both have tags and placards. I sometimes wonder if the designers are thinking at all. I don't think a person has to be old or have a problem to figure out that the handicapped parking needs to be close to the door, on flat area, or any of the other ways of being more accessible! Besides, do they not have some sort of instructions as to how to design a parking lot. There must be guidelines somewhere they can read?
ReplyDeleteEven doctor's offices are woefully unhandy.
Surely there are guidelines. That said, there are a variety of handicap spaces and locations at the businesses I frequent. Casey's has one space, way at the end of the row, but there's a ramp built into the end of the sidewalk. You have to get out of the driver's side, and walk around the back of the car to get to the ramp, though.
Delete10Box has five spaces, closest to the door. All but one have that wide striped area between the spaces, where you could technically park another car. So no problem getting the car door all the way open here. These are the best spaces.
Save A Lot has two spaces, mid-building. Yet the doors are on the ends of the building. At least these two spaces are on level ground, and next to the cart return.
Orb K has one handicap space, close to the front door, with a built-in ramp up onto the sidewalk. I don't park in that one, because there's a regular space next to it on the left, a magnet for close-parkers that will block my door. I park in the regular space across the striped walkway to the ramp.
You never know what you're going to get...