Nearly 500 people caught misusing disabled-parking placards, most at LA County Fair, DMV finds

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KABC) -- Investigators with the California Department of Motor Vehicles caught nearly 500 people misusing disabled-person parking placards just in the month of September, and most of them were at the Los Angeles County Fair.

The DMV stated in a press release that 14 enforcement operations by the Disabled Parking Placard Enforcement team lead to 491 people being accused.

The majority of the offenses took place during five enforcement operations held at the L.A. County Fair that resulted in 443 citations.

The alleged offenders had their placard taken away and face fines that range from $250 to $1,000.

Since July 1 of this year, DMV investigators verified 5,422 disabled-person parking placards and found 640 of them being misused.

The DMV holds as many as 24 enforcement operations each month throughout the state. The operations are intended to help reduce disabled-person parking placard abuse.

"We ask you to save the space for those individuals who legitimately need a disabled person parking placard that is issued specifically for their use," said DMV Director Jean Shiomoto in a press release.