Disabled drivers okayed to park on sidewalks

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
The city of Tel Aviv will allow vehicles belonging to disabled drivers to park on sidewalks in a compromise agreement hammered out with the Access Israel disabled welfare organization, reports www.local.co.il. The organization had appealed to the Court for Procedural Matters against the city's policy of fining and towing away vehicles, even those marked with disabled stickers, for parking on sidewalks. According to the report, the city began cracking down on vehicles parking on sidewalks in October 2006, despite a chronic lack of alternative parking areas for disabled drivers. Since then the organization has received "numerous" complaints from disabled drivers who have received fines or who have had their cars towed away, and it appealed to the court against the policy. The report said that "after many discussions" the two sides finally reached a compromise agreement, which was approved by the court last week. Under the agreement, vehicles bearing disabled stickers will be allowed to park on the sidewalks as long as they do not block traffic movement and as long they leave enough space for pedestrians, baby carriages and wheelchairs to move around them.