Handicapped parking

One thing that has bothered me since I was a teenager or maybe before, is people who park in handicapped parking spots who aren't handicapped. Whether they have a permit or not, it doesn't matter. I remember one time when I went shopping at the mall when I lived in Los Angeles. I saw a person park in a handicapped space, jump out, and run into the mall. I checked the license plates and the rearview mirror for a placard, but saw none. I don't know how long this person was in the mall, but I do know that they took the only handicapped spot available. This disturbed me very much and I couldn't enjoy my shopping experience because of it. Not only is it inconsiderate and selfish, but it creates a hardship for those for whom the space was intended. I mean really, how hard is it for an able-bodied person to walk perhaps 100 extra feet? There have been many times when I have gone to the store or somewhere out in the public and there were no handicapped parking spaces available and we have to end up parking in the North 40. If there are not two parking spaces next to each other we have to block traffic to unload. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've gone to the store and have seen another wheelchair in the store. Yet, most of the time the handicapped parking spaces are full. Granted, there are people whose handicaps do not require wheelchairs. But, I don't believe these people should park in the same van accessible handicapped spaces as people in wheelchairs. I believe there should be a color-coded system where people who are confined to wheelchairs have priority in handicapped parking spaces available, namely van accessible parking spaces where wheelchairs can load and unload. And people with other handicaps such as emphysema, asthma, trouble walking etc. should have different color-coded parking spaces. For example, perhaps blue for wheelchairs with van accessibility, and maybe green for people with other handicaps. And maybe even a third color such as yellow to further distinguish the severity of the handicap. Many times as I'm unloading or loading I see young people jumping out of cars and going into the store after parking in handicapped spot. I think many of these are people illegally using someone else's placard. In the meantime, people with real handicaps have to park in the most distant parking spaces where there is room to load and unload a wheelchair. This has been a pet peeve of mine since long before I was in a wheelchair. That's my two cents.