ILLINOIS DISABILITY-PARKING ABUSES NEED FIX

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office gets an average of 150 complaints a month about misuse of disability plates and placards, hopes to do something to cut down on the number of abuses.

Illinois has issued more than 500,000 placards that disabled people can hang on their rearview mirrors to park in spots reserved for the disabled, but not all the people using them have disabilities. Under White's plan, the tags would be marked clearly by expiration dates along with the user's birth year and gender, and that would make it easier for police to determine if they are being misused.

We've all seen unauthorized vehicles parked in spots reserved for those with disabilities, but when non-disabled motorists fraudulently use or change information on the tags so they can park closer to the places they are going, something really needs to be done. If the $100,000 White plans to spend on new placards beginning in January achieves that end, it will be money well spent.