Freunderlwirtschaft?

No disabled parking space for woman with walking difficulties

Sabine Hitzenberger needs a disabled parking space directly in front of her house. Instead, she was given a reversible space with a stopping and parking ban.(Bild: Doris_SEEBACHER)

Instead of a disabled parking space, a woman with walking difficulties in Baden (Lower Austria) is given a turning space in front of her house - including a ban on stopping and parking. Necessary services such as a physiotherapist or gardener now have to park far away with their equipment. 

Sabine Hitzenberger moved to Baden from Upper Austria with her husband and son in 2011. In 2014, she was diagnosed with a degenerative, incurable disease. She can still drive her car independently. However, getting in and out of the car is already quite difficult for her, which is why she applied to the state for a disabled parking space directly in front of the house.

Application rejected
This was initially approved, but then rejected again. Instead, a turning area was ordered in front of her house, with an additional stopping and parking ban. Physiotherapists, gardeners and other tradesmen, who Hitzenberger needs on an ongoing basis due to her illness, can now no longer stop in front of her house and have to walk longer distances with heavy equipment.

Six similar incidents already
"If they stop anyway, they immediately get a report from neighbors," explains Hitzenberger. There have already been six such incidents within 14 days. Parking spaces, on the other hand, were in front of the house opposite. "However, they are regularly filled with the neighbor's fleet of vehicles," says Hitzenberger.

We are completely powerless in this matter, because it is a matter of pure free-for-all.

Sabine Hitzenberger, Badner Bürgerin

During a site inspection last year, she tried to point out the precarious parking situation and the narrowness of the street. She also fears that an ambulance could be blocked in the event of a medical emergency - her son has a heart condition. However, Hitzenberger fell on deaf ears with all the authorities and the mayor of Pfaffstätt, Christoph Kainz - the alleyway in front of her house is the municipal boundary between Baden and the neighboring village. 

Kainz says: "There was a negotiation with the district authority and both municipalities regarding the minimum width of the lane. It was determined that the width of the lane would not be undercut."