Regulations surround your day-to-day activities and if you do not understand your neighborhood rules, as determined by the United States government, you will rapidly fall. When talking about handicap or disabled parking permits, Rhode Island has implemented strategies to ensure your rights as a disabled person. The following outline will help you transition into a permit holder for Rhode Island.

What Your Requirements are Needed

Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the country, but the Division of Motor Vehicles pack a strategic punch for disabled parking placards. Don’t be discouraged, though, because you will be eligible if you are:

  • Not able to have help walking by brace, crutch, cane, wheelchair, prosthetic mechanism, or a person
  • Legitimately blind
  • Identified as a Class III or Class IV cardiac disease
  • Not able to breathe in normal air due to a serious lung disease
  • Dependent upon a portable oxygen tank

You will need access to a computer to download and print the application for new disability parking placards. Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles only accept applications via postal service, so include all necessary fees and your individual documents. For you to fully complete your application, you will need to have your health care provider assess your conditions and sign the second page of your application.

What Class Your Disability Placards Provide

Rhode Island offers unique levels for disability placard holders; temporary, permanent, and long-term. Each stage has different conditional timeframes, depending upon your disability. You want to know each of these terms to better assist your needs.

  • Temporary parking placards are issued to you if you are disabled from two to six months
  • Long-term parking placards are issued to you if your needs are from one to three years
  • Permanent parking placard are available to those of you whose needs exceed three years and longer

Only your healthcare provider is authorized to fill out your conditions, determine your classification of parking placard, and sign the application; you will fill out and sign the first page. No one, except a Power of Attorney will be allowed to fill and sign on your behalf.

Disabled Veteran’s Parking Placards and Plates

If you are a veteran, disabled 100% due to performing your service, in the line of defense or otherwise, you are eligible to receive a disabled parking placard and license plate. You will not be charged for either of these services but will have to fill out a disability parking placard for disabled veterans. Only the Veterans administration is permitted to attach a verified letter of your disability.

Who is Authorized to Park in Rhode Island’s Accessibility Spaces?

If you are a placard or plate holder from another state, you do not have to apply for a new Rhode Island parking placard, you may use the handicap spaces available. If you applied for a disability parking placard in Rhode Island, you must be a resident of the state.

Part of Rhode Island’s laws regarding disabled persons state that if you are a permit holder, using a metered parking space, you do not pay charges.

What Measures You Need to Take?

Once you receive your parking placards in the mail, when you use them be sure it shows your expiration date through the windshield of your vehicle while hanging in your rearview mirror. Use caution to avoid unnecessary fines and remove your placard from your rearview mirror if you are driving.

You will be charged a fine and punished with a misdemeanor if you are found to have fraudulently obtained a disability parking placard. The fines can be assessed in excess of $1,000 with the possibility or up to a year in jail, so be honest on your application and do not deceive the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles.

How Do You Renew and Replace Disability Parking Placards?

Fortunately for you, renewing your parking placards is easy since you have already submitted an application before. To renew your temporary and long-term parking permits, you will have to reapply by submitting a new application and renewed medical certificate from your health care provider. Permanent parking permit renewal forms will be sent to you through the mail several weeks before the expiration of your original parking placard, then after submission you will receive a new sticker with a new expiration date.

What to do When You Need Replacement Disability Parking Placards

Replacing your cards because they are lost, stolen, or damaged requires a few more steps and should only be done if it is absolutely necessary.

  • If your parking placard is stolen, you must immediately file a police report with your local police department. You will need your report along with a copy of your Driver’s License to offer to your local Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles.
  • If your parking placard is lost, you must fill out and mail a copy of an Affidavit for Lost Parking Placard to the DMV.
  • If your parking placard is damaged, easily take your damaged card in person to your DMV branch in exchange for a new parking permit.

How Do You Find Rhode Island DMV Locations?

Rhode Island is one of the few states that you should not submit an application for disability parking placards in person. There are locations of the Rhode Island DMV scattered in every county, even though it’s a tiny state. You must mail your endorsed documents, application, and medical certification to:

Division of Motor Vehicles
Disability Parking Placards Office
600 New London Avenue
Cranston, Rhode Island 02920

How to Gather Your Thoughts

After you review the outline, find all of the appropriate documentation, obtain your medical certification and submit to the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles, you’ll need to wait a month for your application to process. A month wait time, is common and less time than most other states, remain patient through the process. If you find yourself in a loop, revert back to this summary of the practices you need to take.