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Gray card holders have surged in one year, and more than 30% of groups have criticized relaxation measures to exacerbate the abuse of disabled parking spaces

2022-06-16T06:09:50.034Z


Early last year, the Transport Department opened on-street parking spaces for persons with disabilities (Blue Cards) to vehicle drivers who hold a Parking Certificate for Persons with Disabilities (Gray Cards) for the use of disabled persons. As soon as the news came out, there was a lot of discussion. hurt


Early last year, the Transport Department opened on-street parking spaces for persons with disabilities (Blue Cards) to vehicle drivers who hold a Parking Certificate for Persons with Disabilities (Gray Cards) for the use of disabled persons.

As soon as the news came out, there was a lot of discussion.

The Youth Driving Association said that after the implementation of the relevant arrangements, it has received more than 1,000 complaints and comments, and conducted an investigation in April this year. It was found that more than 80% of disabled drivers had witnessed the abuse of disabled parking spaces.

They have also written to the Transport Department three times to report the problem after the introduction of the relevant arrangements, but no positive response has been received so far.


The Youth Driving Association stated that it found that more than 80% of the disabled drivers had witnessed the misuse of disabled parking spaces. They wrote to the Transport Department three times to report the problem, but so far they have not received a positive response.

(Photo by Zeng Fengting)

From April 14 to May 2 this year, the Youth Driving Association conducted a questionnaire survey on the impact of opening parking spaces for disabled persons to gray-licensed vehicles on disabled drivers. A total of 279 questionnaires were collected.

Among them, 70% of the disabled drivers said that before the relevant measures were implemented, they had a higher chance to park in the disabled parking spaces, and after the implementation of the measures, nearly 90% of the disabled drivers said that it was difficult to park at the same positions.

Over 90% of the respondents said that the abuse of grey card vehicles is very serious

Eighty-five percent of the interviewed disabled drivers even said that they had witnessed a grey card vehicle parked or pulled out of a disabled parking space without a disabled person on board.

More than 90% of the respondents indicated that the abuse of grey card vehicles is very serious, and more than 80% of the respondents were forced to reduce social activities due to the difficulty in parking the parking spaces for the disabled.

They all hope that the relevant measures will be withdrawn, and consultations and discussions will be resumed.

The survey also revealed that the abuse and occupation of parking spaces have seriously affected the daily life of disabled drivers.

Chung Kam-shu, chairman of the Disabled Driving Association, pointed out that since the introduction of the relevant measures, the number of grey card holders has surged by 36%, reaching 2,470 as of April this year.

However, the grey card application threshold is much looser than that of the blue card. It only needs to be signed by a registered private doctor or physiotherapist to prove that there are persons with disabilities in the vehicle with limited mobility to apply.

Chung believes that the definition of disability and disability are not the same, but the blue card can only be obtained after being assessed and tested by the Hospital Authority and strictly reviewed by the Transport Department.

This just shows that the application threshold for gray cards is low, and it is prone to abuse and abuse of parking spaces.

Zhong Jinshu also mentioned that before the implementation of the relevant measures, there was no consultation with disabled drivers.

They also wrote to the Transport Department three times in the past year and met with representatives of relevant departments with the assistance of Legislative Council members to reflect the actual situation, but so far they have not responded positively.

Urge the government to set up a working group to discuss win-win solutions

Lin Guohan, vice-chairman of the Disabled Driving Association, pointed out that there are restrictions on the use of gray cards. When picking up disabled persons with lower limbs and physical disabilities, they can use the parking spaces for disabled persons on the roadside. When entering or leaving the parking space, the vehicle must be carrying a person with a disability as specified on the application form.

However, one year after the implementation of the measure, many gray card holders often abuse the dedicated parking spaces without picking up such people. For example, in Yau Tsim Mong district where there are few parking spaces, there are even those who cannot find a parking space at all. In this case, "they think they can use it if they have proof, but they don't understand it at all."

In addition, they believe that there are also difficulties in prosecution. Lin pointed out that after reporting the case, many of the vehicles have already left, so it is difficult to provide evidence, and the police cannot enforce the law on the spot.

He mentioned that in some cases, the old gray certificates were used by tricks, such as blocking the expiry date and continuing to occupy the relevant parking spaces.

The Disabled Driving Association hopes that the authorities will conduct a comprehensive and open review of the current administrative instructions to address the current situation of indiscriminate parking and indiscriminate issuance of gray cards.

Early last year, the Transport Department opened on-street parking spaces for persons with disabilities (Blue Cards) to vehicle drivers who hold a Parking Certificate for Persons with Disabilities (Gray Cards) for the use of disabled persons.

(Photo by Zeng Fengting)

There are only 38 parking spaces dedicated to the disabled on the street in the Eastern District. District councilor: “Grey card” cars have been occupied for a long time. The Sports Association for the Disabled has established an athlete coach training fund to subsidize the representative of the Hong Kong team who has been trained as a coaching group. Lo is the practice object

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Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-06-16

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