Continuous Violations of Disabled Parking Zones

Number of Illegal Parking Reports on the Rise
"Lack of Social Empathy to Blame"

Temporary parking lot at Heungdeok Baseball Stadium located in Cheongju, Chungbuk. This parking lot was created by Cheongju City with a budget of 400 million won to alleviate the area's parking shortage and indiscriminate illegal parking. However, the area in front of the disabled-only parking spaces near the entrance is always full of illegally parked cars. Mr. Lee, who has been consistently reporting illegal cases to the Safety Report Center since the parking lot was established, said, "I have been reporting for two years, but there has been no improvement at all," adding, "There is also an open parking lot nearby, but it seems people illegally park because they are too lazy to go there."

The behavior of parking in or obstructing disabled-only parking spaces continues unabated.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 26th, the number of illegal parking reports in disabled-only parking spaces last year totaled 724,924 cases. This is about an 8% increase compared to the previous year and marks the first time the number has exceeded 700,000 since records began. The numbers have increased annually: 495,461 cases in 2021, 561,846 in 2022, and 666,194 in 2023.

Heungdeok Baseball Stadium vacant lot temporary parking lot located in Cheongju City, Chungcheongbuk-do. Illegally parked vehicles are lined up right in front of the banner to prevent illegal parking in the disabled-only zone. Provided by reader

The Ministry of Health and Welfare's records of fines imposed for violations in disabled-only parking spaces also show around 400,000 cases annually: 370,350 in 2021, 408,923 in 2022, and 446,933 in 2023. By the end of August last year, 311,083 cases had been recorded. In 2023, the total amount of fines paid by individuals for illegal parking in disabled-only parking spaces reached 49.933 billion won.

Violations related to disabled parking permits, which are issued only to disabled persons, are also frequent. These include cases where the permit’s validity period has expired but is concealed and still used, or parking in disabled-only spaces without a disabled person in the vehicle. According to Seoul City, 984 fines were issued in 2023 for permit violations in disabled-only parking spaces.

As illegal parking in disabled-only parking spaces fails to be eradicated, some local governments are seeking their own solutions. Yangcheon District in Seoul introduced a system using Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to automatically recognize license plates of vehicles entering disabled-only parking spaces. When a non-disabled vehicle enters, a warning light flashes and an alert broadcast is made. Thanks to this, out of 13,149 non-disabled vehicles that received smart sensor warnings last year, 13,047 voluntarily turned around.

Experts argue that social consideration for disabled-only parking spaces is necessary. Professor Jegal Hyunsuk of the Department of Social Welfare at Hanshin University said, "The increase in illegal parking in disabled-only parking spaces is the result of a severe lack of education on social empathy in our society," adding, "Because there is no social effort, there is a lack of parking spaces, and individualism kicks in when people are busy, making their own situation more important."