Rolling success for wheelchair whistle-blower campaign
Ari Seirlis, the CEO of QASA, said that the campaign has been well received and supported, however, there were still a number of people in Durban North and uMhlanga who were found to be abusing the wheelchair parking bays.
FED up with the reckless abuse of wheelchair parking bays, the QuadPara Association of South Africa (QASA) launched a social media whistle-blowing campaign last year.
This project allows members of the public to report those abusing wheelchair parking bays by snapping and sending photos of the offence to a WhatsApp group.
Speaking to a sister newspaper last week, Ari Seirlis, the CEO of QASA, said that the campaign has been well received and supported.
“This has been a very interesting project, allowing the public to take a photograph of a vehicle that is misusing the wheelchair parking facility and send it to us. We have been pleasantly surprised with the number of whistle-blowers who there are out there,” he said.
The objective of the campaign, said Seirlis, is to sensitise offenders to the real purpose of the wheelchair parking facilities. “We call on the public to recognise that wheelchair parking facilities are for wheelchair users only. It is critical that we have the width of the parking bay so that we can enter and exit our wheelchairs. We also call on shopping centres and developments to consider expanding the number of wheelchair parking facilities to cater for this constituency,” he added.
According to Seirlis, there is a relative amount of abuse that stems from the Highway areas. However, he stated that the campaign has without a doubt had an impact on the community.
“We have very little response from the individual offenders, however there is always a response from a corporate if it is one of their vehicles misusing the facility. Occasionally we receive the ‘I was only two minutes’ story, but generally the offenders are apologetic and understand the purpose of these facilities thereafter. Occasionally, and unfortunately, there has been confrontation between the whistle-blower and the offender, but the general public is always on the side of the whistle-blower,” he added.
To alert QASA, send a message to the QASA WhatsApp line on 073 853 9675.
