• Learn the rules for handicap parking.handicapped sign image by sonya etchison from Fotolia.com
  
  To make driving and parking easier for handicapped individuals, most states have standard regulations regarding handicapped parking. In California, the state has regulations on the number of spaces to be allocated, the placement of the spaces and the measurements of the space.
  
  

Location of Spaces

• California law makes it mandatory for every lot or parking structure that provides public parking for clients, employees and/or guests to have spaces allocated for handicap parking. Furthermore, these spaces must be located on the shortest possible accessible route to the entrance of the building for which the parking structure is intended. When the structure is not for any particular building, the spaces shall be located within the shortest possible accessible route to a pedestrian entrance of the parking structure. If the building has multiple entrances, the spaces must be dispersed so that there are handicapped parking spaces near every entrance.
  
  

Number of Spaces

• The law contains standard requirement for the number of handicap parking spaces that must be available in any parking lot, which is dependent on the number of parking spaces in the lot. For instance, a parking structure with a total of 50 parking spaces must have at least 2 handicap parking spots. A lot with 500 spaces must have 9 reserved and modified for handicap parking. There are slight modifications to this rule, however. A medical outpatient facility is required to have 10 percent of its total parking spaces reserved for handicap parking. In a parking structure with less than five parking spaces, there must be at least one space large enough to accommodate a 5-foot loading and unloading area, though it does not have to be marked as a handicap space.
  
  

Space Measurements

• There are standard measurements for a handicap parking space in California. A single parking space must be 14 feet wide, and outlined to provide a 9-foot parking space and a 5-foot loading and unloading area. For multiple spaces, the 5-foot loading and unloading area may be shared by a 9-foot parking space on either side. There are more specific requirements and regulations on how to group the parking spaces and other factors.