Parking privileges for pregnant women

[shootingstar]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...onews#comments

Proposal in NYC.

I've never heard it before. But I've never paid attention because I've never been pregnant.

However, at a construction site with decent parking lot, one pregnant woman (her first baby) requested that she park right against the main administrative building. I mean less than 10 ft. from the 2 step staircase with porch to get into our building.

She got the privilege or safety measure?? Actually she had to move car later in a few months, because a huge 6 ft. deep hole was being dug right in front of the building..(actually in front of my office) A bike ramp was being built.

How does this jive with my mother who had several children, pregnant at different times and had to do most of the housework anyway with my father away working full-time? And we were either in school or too young to help her do certain tasks? She did call upon her own children to do certain stuff --that were child appropriate tasks. We had a 2 storey house with basement.

I'm lost..

[PamNY]

I'd be surprised if this turns out to be very important.

For one thing, the no parking zones are usually already full of illegally parked cars. Second, some of them are marked "no parking" for very good reasons such as fire hydrant. How would that be worked out?

I think it's just some politician trying to get attention. Personally, I am opposed to anything that encourages use of cars in Manhattan.

Comparing the experience of prior generations doesn't matter much. My grandmother had eleven children and a farm during the depression. I doubt if she would want her life to be the the model for future mothers.

[marni]

when did being prenant become a condition of illness and disability? I always believed that being pregnant was one of the more ultimate statements of being healthy. I also believe that being pregnant is not a condition of stupidity so why can't these ladies figure out that a bit of walking is good for them and that they should problem solve instead of whine?

Veteran of three home births with midwives in Europe and being up and about at least some of the time within 48 hours, with babies bundled in a sling against me because so was everyone else. It all depends on what you model on. All of my kids rode in a backpack at three months when they were wiggling too much for a sling, and when they were old enough to sit up steadily, they rode in a seat on my bike handlebar or in an umbrella stroller as I walked or rode public transport.

Maybe I'm just being grumpy-

[jessmarimba]

I haven't noticed here. But it wasn't uncommon to see parking spots for expectant mothers when I lived in Richmond.

marni, I see your point, but I'd rather see pregnant women get close parking spots than people like my neighbor, who has a handicap parking pass simply because of her weight issues.

[Koronin]

I know a couple of malls in the Charlotte, NC area have a couple spots for pregnant women right next to the handicap ones. But those are the only places I've ever seen them at.

[hebe]

The biggest problem I had parking when pregnant was not walking from the car to the store/office whatever as opening the car door far enough to get out without hitting the next car I would park at the end of a row or next to a chevronned space where possible. We have tiny parking spaces here and I was carrying an extra 30lbs. The only exception was one of work's remote offices where I regularly had to park a 15minute walk away, then walk in uphill with a wheeled laptop case. The office manager took pity on me and offered me an unused disabled space, which I was hugely grateful for.

It annoys me more when people with no children park in the parent and baby spaces because they can't be bothered walking. Those spaces are wider for a reason, and it's not for big cars.

[Crankin]

Unless you are having some sort of physical issue caused by the pregnancy, it's just not necessary.
When I was 9 months pregnant with DS #1, I went to a local school on a Saturday, to sign up to join the JCC. As I was walking from my car to the entrance, I noticed another pregnant woman and her husband going the same way. I remember being fascinated and sort of horrified that when this couple got to the curb, they stopped, and the husband had to "assist" the woman in stepping up the curb onto the sidewalk. She couldn't lift her foot/leg.
It turned out that our babies were born on the same day. There was nothing "wrong" with her, except she let pregnancy become an excuse not to move.

[limewave]

While I was pregnant, I never felt the need to use an "Expectant Mother" parking space. They aren't very common here, but I've seen them around.

HOWEVER, when I had really young children and was toting around car seats, purse, diaper bags, etc. I could have used a "Mother with small children" parking place. I thought that on many, many, occasions.

[shootingstar]

It annoys me more when people with no children park in the parent and baby spaces because they can't be bothered walking.

This makes me realize what I don't pay attention because I don't drive nor own a car. I haven't seen that type of parking signage ..not in a common way or anywhere where I've frequented certain shopping areas regularily.

I've been in a taxi twice this year. It will probably be the last car ride for next few months.

[PamNY]

This law wouldn't reserve a specific spot for pregnant women. It would simply give them a placard that allowed parking in "no standing" or "no parking zones." For the most part, it would be parallel parking on the street.

There are already a lot of special parking placards; I marvel at how often "emergency blood delivery" is required on blocks nowhere near a hospital.

I do look out for pregnant women and parents with small children on the subway, and will gladly give up my seat to help them.

Much as I hate cars, I can understand why someone in late pregnancy might avoid the subway. Some stations are deep and there are multiple flights of stairs.

[hebe]

It annoys me more when people with no children park in the parent and baby spaces because they can't be bothered walking.

This makes me realize what I don't pay attention because I don't drive nor own a car. I haven't seen that type of parking signage ..not in a common way or anywhere where I've frequented certain shopping areas regularily. <polite snip>

Mother and child signage is very common here at supermarkets and shopping centres, I guess families spend a lot, and it's just another way of attracting the shoppers. One near here has spaces for "Parent and child, up to 12 years" which I find rather on the generous side - I certainly don't expect to be using those spaces once small girl is at school. The main benefit to them, for me, is not the proximity to the store but that fact that there is more space to get my daughter in and out of her car-seat safely, which normally requires having the passenger side door wide open. Dedicated larger spaces just make it a little easier.

[OakLeaf]

Some stations are deep and there are multiple flights of stairs.

And they can be crowded. Can't speak from experience, but I've heard that your balance tends to be way off during pregnancy, and it sure makes sense that it would be. I wouldn't want to put myself at risk of being inadvertently pushed.

[Catrin]

It has become a pretty common sight in Indianapolis to see parking spots for pregnant women and mothers with toddlers. Typically I've noticed this at grocery stores and pharmacies, not elsewhere.

[Grog]

I think it can be pretty judgmental to say that some pregnant women are using their pregnancy as an excuse to not exercise while in fact not knowing the details of a specific person. I am very certain that it's common, but I also know a few women who were quite incapacitated at some point of their pregnancy and in particular had a really hard time walking. Just because one woman's pregnancy was smooth until the end doesn't mean it's the same for everyone. I don't see pregnancy as a disease or anything, but it's also not quite business as usual for a lot of people.

Case in point, I was at a talk by Mia Birk last week. Mia Birk, the bike activist and planner who wrote the book Joyride, is the pretty amazing woman who conducted most of the transformation of Portland into a cycling-friendly city. In the Q&A period, someone asked her about common interests (from a political point of view) between people with disabilities and cyclists when it comes to public transportation infrastructure. In her response, she mentioned that in the last month of one of her pregnancies she was very, very miserable, had a really hard time walking, and all of a sudden totally understood why bus stops were located every other block, not every 4th block. You can hardly accuse Mia Birk of making excuses not to exercise, but I'm pretty sure that she would gladly have been dropped off at the door of any store rather than walk from the confines of the parking lot (dodging crazy parking-spot seekers in the process) during that miserable month.

[Crankin]

I'm sorry if I sounded judgmental. Everything wasn't perfect in my pregnancies, but I never felt incapacitated. I think I look at it from the perspective of someone who would have been very happy to walk somewhere, instead of being on "house arrest" due to premature labor with my second child. I went from being at the gym, doing aerobics one day, to in the hospital the next.