If you open Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and see a picture of your car with the hashtag #OkupasMotorized, don't complain if you get a ticket for not respecting parking for people with disabilities. Because you deserve it.

If, on the contrary, you are on the other side of the coin, that is, you have a disability, the point of view may be that the person who has taken the parking that corresponds to you rethinks their behavior for the next one. Moreover, the awareness of an anonymous person may have been read and awakened in the car. “Thank you for putting us in our place. Are you going to leave us your legs?” the message says.

Juan Larreta created in 2019 the popular initiative Motorized Okupas to denounce and raise awareness. In order to upload to social networks a photograph of the misuse of the existing parking spaces in Navarra for people with disabilities daily, always with the license plate covered.

Gradually, more and more people started to take pictures and put posters on cars. In recent times, the images uploaded directly by the citizens are more than the ones passed on to them. In total, over 31,500 photos have been published with the #OkupasMotorized hastial.

Four years later, Larreta sees that the initiative has taken its own path and decides to move a little further. “I will stop uploading a photo every day, but I will continue making talks and awareness-raising campaigns if necessary,” he said in his interview with Argia.

Last Sunday, Larreta received special recognition in the Parliament of Navarre for his work for people with reduced mobility. The President of the Parliament of Navarra, Unai Hualde, acknowledged “the task of raising awareness of the importance of respecting the parking spaces reserved for people with reduced mobility, until the creation of a citizen movement that has spread to other cities and communities of the State”.

Hualde added that on many occasions “civil society goes ahead of the institutions” and later valued the working group created between the Government of Navarra, the municipalities, the Navarra commission of people with disabilities CERMIN and Motorized Okupas. “This has enabled the implementation of a new parking card system for disabled people, a unified model that facilitates the work of the administration.”

In this sense, Larreta is “happy” for having fulfilled the objectives he set at the origin of the initiative: “On the one hand, traol has become famous and has already begun to be used outside Navarra. On the other hand, the Foral Government has unified disability cards.”

UNIFICATION OF DRIVING CARDS

Until November 2022, the cards were managed by the municipalities, due to various problems, as Larreta explained: “There was no unity in the distribution criteria or in the form of the cards. Some were done manually. Can we imagine with the traditional handwritten driving license? This made the trap much easier.”

Taking advantage of the situation, “a minority” committed many frauds that harmed the collective: “Some people gave their card to their friends or relatives. In Pamplona, for example, each day he retired two permits when the police detected any irregularities at the time of parking or disappearance.” According to Larreta, the denunciation of these practices has given “legitimacy” to Motorized Okupas.

The Foral Government has set the deadline for renewing the card until 24 March. “From then on they will set up a multi-purpose database, such as knowing the number of cards per area, identifying parking needs and facilitating mobility,” said the people’s initiative creator.

“Ultimately, reducing the use of vehicles will make cities more and more enjoyable, but those with mobility difficulties want to get to the centre at the same time. New measures of conscience can help find that balance.”