Handicap Parking Sign Requirements

[steve281]

My question is about the handicap parking laws in Texas, specifically Montgomery County, more specifically City Oak Ridge North and even more specifically Oak Ridge North High school, part of the Conroe, TX school district! A mouthful I know but due to the nature of my question, and the fact a school district and a high school and it's property are involved, I need to be very, very specific with my question!

SO to begin with, Oak Ridge North High school (which is part of the Conroe School district) has several parking places designated for handicap parking, but this question mainly pertains to the ones directly in front of their band hall. First of all NO ONE, including the Oak Ridge North police department, as well as any of the Montgomery County police departments OR even the School district police will enforce the handicap parking rules at this school! People are constantly parking there, including staff, facility, students and parents, WITHOUT a placard or handicap plates. When I questioned the school district police, they said they could not enforce the law, even though the handicap parking places are very CLEARLY marked! Their reasoning was that even though they are marked, there is no "Fine" posted, and so they could not enforce the law! They also told several of us that the school district is like a min-city, and therefore they couldn't do anything unless the school district administration approved them to do it!

TO make matters even worse, the band director at the school then went out and had signs made that stated facility COULD park in the handicap spaces themselves, between the hours of 8AM adn 4PM. This was done to clearly overrule the very clearly marked handicap spaces!

SO, my questions are: Is it true the police can't enforce the handicap parking law only because no "fine" is posted, and even though the handicap spaces are clearly marked and designated?

Number two, can simply putting another sign up OVER the existing handicap signs suddenly make the available to non-handicap parking. The new signs don't cover the old sings, they are just posted above them!

Sorry this was so long, but this has become a very heated issue!

[aardvarc]

People are constantly parking there, including staff, facility, students and parents, WITHOUT a placard or handicap plates. When I questioned the school district police, they said they could not enforce the law, even though the handicap parking places are very CLEARLY marked! Their reasoning was that even though they are marked, there is no "Fine" posted, and so they could not enforce the law! They also told several of us that the school district is like a min-city, and therefore they couldn't do anything unless the school district administration approved them to do it!

That's correct - people (and schools, businesses, etc.) can't just throw up signs willy nilly and expect police to enforce them. If they want enforcement, they'll need to post signs and provide paint or other markings as required by law. If the signs and paint don't correspond to what the law requires (such as having the statute number and the fine amount displayed along with the "no parking" message), then the sign isn't worth the metal holding it up, as least as far as enforcement. It might deter some people who don't know better, but once enough people figure out that there is no enforcement, the signs might as well become invisible.

TO make matters even worse, the band director at the school then went out and had signs made that stated facility COULD park in the handicap spaces themselves, between the hours of 8AM adn 4PM. This was done to clearly overrule the very clearly marked handicap spaces!

Apparantly no one at the school understands how signs work. In any case, they're not enforceable by police.

SO, my questions are: Is it true the police can't enforce the handicap parking law only because no "fine" is posted, and even though the handicap spaces are clearly marked and designated?

Until they comply with what state law requires, which they don't, yes.

Number two, can simply putting another sign up OVER the existing handicap signs suddenly make the available to non-handicap parking. The new signs don't cover the old sings, they are just posted above them!

Yep. The school has the ability to label spaces on it's private property however it wants, and to allow their employees to do the same (or get away with doing the same). Since the spaces aren't OFFICIALLY handicapped parking spots, in the sense that they are not recognized as such by law enforcement, then anyone can put any sign there that they choose. Tomorrow it might be "Honor Society Only", or "red cars only", or, a creative sign made by a student that says "Idiot Teachers Only". A sign is only a sign. Signs governing parking places are only enforceable once they comply with requirements.

If the school wants them enforced, the school needs to make the modifications necessary. Since they haven't, one must presume that the school is happy enough for the signs to deter some people, even if some people who know they won't punished will continue to park there anyway.

[steve281]

THank you all for responding ... however ... one thing I left out and failed to put in my original question, is the the handicap spaces themselves not only have handicap signs, but even the space is painted for handicap parking and very clearly marked so ... the real question about the police enforcement was them telling us that in SPITE of the signs AND the spaces being painted and marked, they could not enforce the law solely BECAUSE, there were no actual "FINES" posted too!

[aardvarc]

That's right - because one of the elements that is REQUIRED for the signs, under TX law (it's actually more of an administrative code) is that the fine is part of the REQUIRED signage. There's no such thing as "close enough" - either the signs are fully compliant with how the law says they must be displayed, including exact verbiage, or they aren't. The EXACT specifications of what the signs must say, and how they must be constructed and deployed is governed by the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation under Section 5(i), Article 9102, Revised Statutes.

If the law requires 10 elements to be present, and only 9 are (such as leaving out the fine), it's not in compliance and police aren't going to enforce.

[Conwaywhere]

I have looked everywhere and can't seem to find the "Fine Text" as part of the signage requirements.

Here is the code as best I can find:

http://www.license.state.tx.us/ab/tas/abtas4a.htm#4.6
and it refers also to
http://www.license.state.tx.us/ab/tas/abtas4d.htm#4.30

unless there is a revision that's not posted to the Texas state website.

Any help would be much appreciated