By now, most of us have broken one or more of our New Year's resolutions. Here's one to add, keep, and respect, Handicapped Parking.

Most of us obey this designation. We do so for good reason, it's the right thing to do. Further, there are penalties for violation, a $100 fine and disdain for those who violate this courtesy toward the impaired.

We've all witnessed violators. Some are understandable and perhaps, under extenuating circumstances, even excusable.

Here's are examples in ascending order of coarseness, impropriety, and insensitivity.

First, consider a young mother with a toddler and a babe in arms. She's driven to the grocery store in the rain. There are three handicapped slots open. She takes one.

She volunteered for her condition, an option she assumed. Yet, she is indeed burdened and some will excuse her action. It remains, however a violation. If sensitive, she probably feels a bit guilty.

Next consider a man with a vanity license plate which translates into "Bobcat Fan" who parks in a handicapped slot while his wife (I assume) goes into Albertson's. His vehicle is running and he's talking on the car phone. I tap on his window and point to the sign-and am ignored. I step in front of his car, note his license plate, and dial the police dispatcher. Fortunately for him, the woman returns to the car while I'm giving the information, and he leaves.

The next case is fodder for urban folklore. It was told to me as true in the mid 80s while I was in Dallas. A highly upscale grocery, Simon David, Inc. just opened in an expensive neighborhood.

A woman with "big hair" arrived in a new red Porsche Carerra. She parked diagonally across two handicapped places. When she exited her machine, a man confronted her, pointing out her transgression of civility and decently. She huffily defended her action with the assertion that she wanted to avoid door dents or shopping cart scuffs on her Porsche, her advertisement of success.

She entered the store and the man took a large ring of keys and raked them from the front driver's side fender to the tail light, leaving a visible scar as testimony to her transgression.

The most egregious act occurred in Bozeman. A new office complex was developed near the University. The city's approval required one handicapped place for each building. The places were marked on the blacktop but the required signs were not installed. An owner of one of the buildings used the designated slot as his own. But he had no physical deformity.

One of his employees was severely handicapped. I saw him park on the street and fall on the ice while struggling toward the building. It took three months and repeated calls to the city planning office to rectify the omission of signs. Ultimately, they were installed with the penalty clearly marked. Of course, he stopped violating. Incentives matter.

There are three categories of infirmity, which merit the tag granting the right to park in a handicapped space. First, one may be born with a handicap. Second, a person may suffer an accident or be wounded in war. Third, and most of us will face this, old age often brings infirmities. All three deserve special considerations.

All modernized nations confront the need to adjust to an aging population. As Peter Drucker recently noted: "…the dominant factor in the next society will be …the rapid growth in the older population….". This implies an increase in demand, and justification, for more handicapped spaces.

In Colorado, Porter County Sheriff Dave Reynolds wants to make sure that handicapped parking spaces remain open for those that need them. That's why he has put together the Porter County Sheriff's Disabled Parking Police Program.

Reynolds has recruited 20 Porter County residents who have taken training in writing tickets to those who illegally park in handicapped parking spaces. Volunteers will roam the county enforcing the handicapped parking rules. They are commissioned to cite able-bodied drivers who park in handicapped spaces.

We need not wait for this politically prescience policy to be enacted here. Many of us have cell phones and our dispatchers are quite accommodating when responding to reports of violations.

It's really a matter of penalizing boorish, insensitive behavior. Montanans are overwhelmingly "nice folks" and hence considerate. This is one of the enduring treasures of our Treasure State. Let's preserve it by respecting "Handicapped Parking". This is a New Year's resolution to keep.