The blue permanent handicap placard and the red temporary placard have been a part of the transportation landscape for years. They were created to allow people with disabilities that made it hard for them to walk to have better mobility and a better quality of life.

According to Michigan law, in order to obtain a permanent placard, “you must have a disability that is not expected to improve … A qualifying disability is defined as blindness or any condition that significantly limits a person’s ability to walk, or that requires a wheelchair, walker, crutch or other assistive device.”

With this definition comes the problem. A doctor has to come into the picture and verify the condition that warrants the handicap pass.

For 99.9 percent of the medical profession, this is not an issue.

Assume Mary, a sophomore, has a severe degenerative disease that will never improve and makes it impossible for her to walk any distance. Mary can drive, but walking is severely limited, and so is her life. Her doctor is ready and willing to provide Mary with the documentation to allow her a permanent placard.

Eric, on the other hand, is an incoming freshman who wants to bring his 2012 Camaro to campus when he arrives in the fall. He’s been tooling around in the yellow beast all summer, and he is not willing to store it until he comes home from campus.

Eric played soccer and ran track and is considered by his coaches to be an ideal athletic specimen. Eric also has an uncle who is both a doctor and a man who has a little problem with authority. Eric’s uncle thinks he can do almost anything, especially if he feels it is in his or a friend’s best interest.

Eric goes to his uncle and tells him his woes of leaving the Camaro behind, and Uncle Bob gives him the documentation to get a permanent handicap placard because of his “bad knees.”

Eric then comes to campus and flaunts both the Camaro and the “I can park anywhere” pass. While doing so, he drives to intramural practice and tries his best to clock in five miles a day running.

People on his floor tire of his attitude and ask the Department of Police and Public Safety, or DPPS, about the placard. A quick check verifies Eric has all the paperwork to have the permanent sticker, and DPPS backs away saying, “There is nothing we can do because he has a doctor’s approval.”

Is there any recourse for the fellow students?

None. It is just another instance where corrupt, unethical people get away with bad behavior.

But that is not the whole problem. Eric and his uncle are simply jerks. They will continue to get away with things forever by manipulating the law. They are poster boys for unethical behavior.

But what of Mary, who has an absolute right to that permanent handicap placard?

She has to see the sidelong glances from people wondering if she really deserves the placard. She has to listen to snide comments when she parks in a handicap-accessible parking space. She has to bear the pain that goes with bullylike behavior of other motorists.

Jerks such as Eric and Dr. Bob don’t care, but Mary suffers.

We have a means by which people who actually need accommodations in parking can gain vital mobility. It is absolutely necessary. What we also have is a small minority of worthless characters who flaunt the breaking of the law.

So perhaps it is time to not just go after the individual who uses the permanent handicap placards unethically, but maybe we should go after the Dr. Bobs who feel that laws do not apply to them or their families.

Perhaps it is time to stiffen the penalties to include medical personnel who ferment this behavior, and pull a few medical licenses.

Perhaps being unable to practice medicine for a few years might get a few doctors thinking about their behavior.

Perhaps it might make more of us think about Mary’s needs without being sidelined by Eric’s behavior.

Craig Gunn is a guest columnist at The State News and an academic specialist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Reach him at gunn@egr.msu.edu.