Since 2006, the number of Israelis with a disabled vehicle permit has increased by 262%, while the population has increased by only 30.6% during this period. The jump in the number of disabled signs causes a shortage of parking spaces for the disabled.
A disabled card (or as it is officially called a disabled card) is a certificate designed to allow people with disabilities to park in parking lots designated for the disabled, which should allow better accessibility to various destinations. In addition, the disabled tag also grants additional parking rights such as exemption from payment in public parking, the right to park in red and white in certain cases and a significant discount on the license fee.
According to the Disabled Parking Law, those entitled to parking are disabled people who need a car as a means of transportation because of their disabled legs, blind people, people with limited walking and who need a wheelchair, or a person whose degree of disability reaches at least 60% and whose movement on the roads without a car could undermine their health. The use of the disabled parking tag is only allowed when the disabled person is driving the vehicle himself or traveling in the vehicle with an escort.
According to a report by the Knesset Research Institute from last February, at the beginning of 2022 the number of people with a disabled badge increased by 262% compared to 2006 and by 122% compared to 2012. This is despite the fact that the population between 2006-2022 increased by only 30.6%. The number of recipients of a general disability benefit from the National Insurance Institute increased in those years by 51.1% and the number of those entitled to a mobility benefit from the National Insurance Institute increased by 77%. The inflation in the number of disabled badges issued and the number of vehicles registered as having a disabled badge, as well as problems with enforcement against those who park in disabled parking lots without appropriate tag, cause increasing parking difficulties for the disabled in parking lots marked for the disabled, the report states.
At Calcalist’s request, the Ministry of Transportation shared the latest data on the number of vehicles associated with a disabled badge, from which it appears that as of the beginning of August there are 339,461 persons entitled to a disabled badge in Israel (an increase of 359% compared to 2006). Of these, 34,595 are inactive, 137,283 are associated with one vehicle and 167,219 are associated with two vehicles. This means that today in Israel there are 471,721 different vehicles to which a disabled tag is associated.
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The inflation in the number of disability certificates hurts first and foremost the disabled themselves. “As the number of disabled cards increases, and it increases at a crazy rate, a situation arises that when disabled people arrive at disabled parking spaces, they find that the parking spaces are already full,” Yuval Wagner, founder and chairman of the Israel Accessibility Association, told Calcalist. “Because of the increase in the number of disabled cards issued to those who don’t really need them, the people who really need disabled parking are hurting themselves. The Ministry of Transportation must make sure to hand out a disabled badge only to those who really need it.”
The amount of disabled badges has increased to such an extent that as of January 2022, 12.8% of private vehicles in Israel had a disabled badge, and this rate is only increasing. As of the end of 2021, 17% of all Israeli residents, which is 1.6 million people, are defined as people with disabilities. Of these, the proportion of disabled people with a parking tag is 21.2%, which is 3.57% of the general population.
In recent years there has been a huge increase in the number of people entitled to a disabled badge. In 2017, approximately 22,000 disabled badges were issued, in 2018 the number increased to approximately 26,000, in 2019, 31,000 were issued and in 2021, 32,000 disabled badges were issued. Although between 2017 and 2020 there was a 45% increase in the number of badges issued, the largest jump in numbers occurred in the last two years: in 2021 the Ministry of Transportation issued approximately 71 thousand new disabled badges, and by August 2022 this year approximately 50 thousand new parking tags were issued.
The Ministry of Transportation does not know how many vehicles with a disabled tag there were each year, but only the number of new tags that were issued. According to the ministry, they do not have historical data regarding the number of people entitled to a disabled badge each year. According to the Ministry of Transportation, “the data history about disabled tags is kept at the Ministry of Transportation according to the number of new eligibles added each year, and not according to the number of active vehicles associated with a disabled tag. Some of the disabled tags are limited in their validity, so it is not possible to calculate backwards, from the total of new eligibles each year, the The total number of eligible persons of that year”.
Eligibility for a disabled badge is granted by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Welfare and the National Insurance Institute. The licensing authority at the Ministry of Transportation is the one that examines the requests for a disabled badge in accordance with the eligibility determined by the other ministries. The Ministry of Transportation says that they do not know how to explain with certainty the sharp increase in the number of disabled badges that has occurred in the last two years, and claim that these days they are examining whether this is due to a past policy of the ministry or a change in the policy of the other ministries that grant the entitlement. However, the Ministry of Transportation estimates that there is something to do with the fact that in 2021 the possibility of submitting a request for a disabled badge online was launched. According to the ministry, as a result of the change, the submission procedure has been significantly eased, as well as the possibility of unlimited re-submission. As of today, more than 70% of the requests submitted to the Ministry of Transportation are made online.
The service for examining applications for disabled tags is operated by Pemi Premium, a long-time provider of various medical services to government offices, and among other things, a lawsuit of NIS 47 million is pending against the company by the Ministry of Education alleging overpricing of medical services in schools. In the original tender won by the company in 2016, a medical examination and an application for a disabled parking tag were priced at NIS 9.91 excluding VAT. The company receives about NIS 2.7 million for these services from the Ministry of Transportation every year. Calcalist learned that the Ministry of Transportation paid NIS 9.91 in The latter waived the authority to examine the applications and transfer it to the National Insurance.
Another phenomenon that may contribute to the sharp increase in the number of disabled badges issued is services provided by the private market. Anyone who searches the Internet for the words “disabled tag/sign” will receive a flood of advertisements that promise “this is how they will take care of checking your eligibility for a disabled license for life” or “the professional company in Israel for handling the eligibility for a disabled license for a car”. According to Yuval Wagner, “These companies tell you what to submit, and if they don’t approve you, they issue a letter from a lawyer – then the Ministry of Transportation folds because they don’t want to go to court.” It is not impossible that the fact that the submission is online and can be sent repeatedly without limitation contributed to the success of these services.
The Ministry of Transportation stated: “The issue is under professional review these days.”