The American Spectator : E-Z Money

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E-Z Money

By Eric Peters on 3.1.11 @ 6:07AM

Your cash is no good — on the roads, that is.

(Page 2 of 2)

Submit, obey.

According to Valenti, more than 250,000 people have been detained by FDOT and its corporate henchmen at Faneiul, Inc., merely for trying to use American currency to pay a toll. Or rather, for declining to carry the “easy pass” electronic transponder.

In this upended version of America, people just trying to go about their business — whether by plane or car — are to be forced to submit to an ever-increasing array of humiliations and perpetual monitoring.

It’s not just that the government wants to “reduce operating costs,” as claimed by FDOT and Faneuil, Inc. It’s that they want to have the ability to identify and track every car on the road, for purposes that will become apparent as time goes by. The insurance cartels have been drooling like Pavlov’s dogs for years at the prospect of being able to know, in real time, just exactly how fast you’re driving — and (super chubby here) debit you every single time you “speed” or otherwise give them an excuse to jack up your rates. Meanwhile, the state will take its cut — withdrawing the funds from your account automatically. Due process, schmoshes. If we want your money, we’ll take your money.

Can’t you hear it? Speeding is illegal — and unsafe. We want to make our roads safer. This technology will save lives.

It’s been done with red light cameras — already a billion-dollar industry. Bet your bippie it will be done here too.

Meanwhile, what about this “legal tender” business? Is money no longer money? Perhaps Valenti will see an opportunity to press the question. We already know our Fed Funny Money is just that — scraps of increasingly worthless paper.

Maybe it’s time to make it official.

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About the Author

Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (64) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Stuart Koehl| 3.1.11 @ 6:51AM

Actually, I like E-Z Pass a lot. It has reduced congestion at toll booths up and down the I-95 corridor, as well as on a host of toll roads and bridges between Richmond and New York. I'm also not at all opposed to toll roads in general, or the privatization of highways. But it's silly to eliminate cash transactions when roads are used by people from out of area who may not have access to, or any need to subscribe to, E-Z Pass or an interoperable system.

Mel Torme| 3.1.11 @ 9:31AM

.... or don't want to be tracked throughout their daily lives like a Moose on "Wild Kingdom". Pretty soon it will also be a dart in your ass too, shot by a modern day Marlin Perkins.

Derek Leaberry| 3.1.11 @ 1:56PM

EZ Pass actually works pretty well in Maryland. Drivers, however, have the option to pay cash. I use EZ Pass 5 times a week during my commute. What I don't like about driving in Maryland near the bridges is that Maryland Transportation police are more active than most (bored probably) and love to pull over folks. Beware- they expand their jurisdiction often five miles past the bridges in either direction, usually to get themselves some speeding tickets.

John Navratil| 3.1.11 @ 3:19PM

Mr. Keohl,

Why do we need an E-Z pass when the license scanning technology is already there? It's a $15 RFID tag in Texas, but I can add my parent's Louisiana license tags temporarily when they come to town. They don't get the E-Z tag discount designed to discourage people from using cash, but the most certainly do NOT need the tag.

Doctor_X| 3.1.11 @ 7:12AM

I have an E-Zpass for my state, however we have a CHOICE to use the pass or pay cash. I wonder will my Northern State E-Zpass work in Florida? What if I drive to Florida for a vacation? I guess I’ll be denied the use of the Turnpike unless I buy a Florida E-Zpass. Way to go! Make it hard for the tourist!

MoeBlotz| 3.1.11 @ 10:14AM

E-Z Pass is a network subscribed by various toll agencies around the country. Once you establish an account,your transponder works in the entire network.

PaulyD| 3.1.11 @ 7:32AM

Eric,

"We will not comply."

If you want to avoid the speed tracking here is one way to spoof the system:

Each vehicle's transponder is associated with the vehicle's license plate. If you have more than one vehicle, do not affix the transponders to the windshield. Carry two transponders (one stored in a steel box on the floor by the passenger seat next to you). As you pass through one toll, put one transponder on the dashboard while the other is in the steel box. As you approach the next toll, swap them out. The ez pass toll will simply charge you for two different vehicles, and the speed between toll booths cannot be legally correlated, based on the transponders alone.

Cheers!

MoeBlotz| 3.1.11 @ 10:17AM

When one transponder shows no entry or exit,you will be smacked with a toll from the farthest point. Then you have to contact the issuing agency to tell them why you should only be charged between the points you actually travelled. You have not proposed a viable solution.

PaulyD| 3.1.11 @ 12:53PM

Yes, you're right, it wouldn't work on some toll roads. It would work on the Dulles Toll road that I regularly travel because there are no entry toll booths at certain locations. It is only a partial solution, but I'm trying to come up with creative and clever means of resistance. I'm looking for other ideas if anyone has them.

John Navratil| 3.1.11 @ 3:27PM

MoeBlotz,

You are correct that different toll roads require different schemes.

Driving from Paris to Lyon in 1984, the timed entry/exit was occasionally used to impose speeding fines. However there were, and still are, restaurants along the toll road. I simply got on the road before having breakfast, then stopped at a restaurant along the way. The total time for the trip was unchanged, but the average speed where it was being measured did.

Mark Shepler| 3.1.11 @ 10:29AM

Sounds like a helluva lotta trouble to avoid what...exactly? A possible speeding ticket? Is the issue whether an unoffending citizen can drive the roads without continually "showing his papers" or break legitimate traffic laws with impunity?

But read the my post below. Transponders are only part of the new equation. In Dade county, that would be our most populous county with some of the busiest toll roads by the way, they are now photoing every non-Sunpass car and mailing toll invoices. There are no more booths.

We cannot defeat or roll back technology. We must defeat the mentality that gov't is our over-master whose primary mission is to control us.

Old Soldier| 3.1.11 @ 8:12AM

I refuse to get an E-Z Pass. Nope, never.

I loved driving military vehicles on toll roads. Go ahead, scan my non-existent license plate and send Uncle Sam a bill - I'm not stopping.

JP| 3.1.11 @ 8:40AM

The turnpikes remind me of the stories I read as a child of the Rhine River during the Middle Ages. If one wishes to know why there so many castles were built on the Rhine, the answer is simple: tolls. The poor barge men had to pay tolls every few miles or so. Otherwise, thier goods would be confiscated and sold off. The petty noble men and shysters got rich in no time.

Now travel to Chitown. When I used to commute from Indiana to Milwaukee I needed $25 in quarters (or an Ipass) just to get through Chicago. Funny, how the roads are even in worse shape than most poor counties in Michigan; they are always congested, and idle highway workers close half the lanes down for non-work. Someone is getting rich. Look no further than Rahm and his buddies.

tdiinva| 3.1.11 @ 8:55AM

What a bunch of parnoid nonsense. E-Z pass is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It reduces traffic congestion and fuel consumption. It eliminates the need to scramble around for loose change to pay at the booth. If you don't like it then take the back roads instead. They are way more scenic and fun to drive anyway.

I think it's time for the American Spectator to find a new automobile writer. Mr. Peters has grown to old and cranky

grant1863| 3.1.11 @ 11:25AM

I think Mr. Peters is making point about our paper money and choice not whether EZ Pass is a good thing. Thank goodness the Polk Expressway still takes paper money. When it doesn't I will find another route and good on 'em for suing.

tdiinva| 3.1.11 @ 11:56AM

Read more carefully. He believes that this is a deep dark plot by the state to monitor us and give us speeding tickets. Mr. Peters columns of late have been cranky and whiney about things he doesn't like.

John Navratil| 3.1.11 @ 3:29PM

And with a policy of permanent retention of data, look forward to the records being subpoenaed for all sorts of things. It's already happening.

tdiinva| 3.1.11 @ 4:08PM

Well when you are visiting your girlfriend/mistress/escort stay off the toll roads!

Stan Redmond| 3.1.11 @ 11:09PM

"nothing to worry about if you're not doing anything illegal?"

The state of Oregon has proposed many times to require GPS tracking systems on all automobiles. Of course they won't be tracking where you go and we all know how safe computer data is. So nothing to worry about. We can trust our government to do the right thing.

tdiinva| 3.2.11 @ 8:14AM

GPS is not E-Z pass and the proposal was for taxing by the mile and not the gallon. That can be done by sending the odometer reading to the state withoug a location attached.

John Navratil| 3.2.11 @ 8:31AM

No problem if I sit at the end of your driveways making notes of you comings and goings, it it?

Darin| 3.1.11 @ 1:50PM

The point is you HAVE NO CHOICE. As good as something may be, you should have the freedom to choose not to do it.

Take this the next logical step. It can easily be proven that distracted drivers are a major cause of accidents and traffic deaths. Therefore, all car makers must immediately stop installing radios, CD players, MP3 adaptors, etc. Any driver caught carrying a device will face a stiff fine. Doing this would make driving far safer.

The forced use of EZ Pass is no different. If you don't like it don't drive a car (wear your headphones while someone else drives).

tdiinva| 3.1.11 @ 4:10PM

Nonsequitor. They can do that with or without your E-Z pass.

nonsense| 3.1.11 @ 8:59AM

We visit the US every year for six weeks and explore different places each time. We ran into this problem many times and the car hire companies pass it on to us with their usual profit. We have advised friends not to hire cars and not to spend too much time in the US driving, it is better to go for a few days and come home. Better to stay in places which have good public transportation, which will favour big cities. We were billed some hefty charges for road tolls which would not accept cash. The thought of being held by police is to terrorifying to comtemplate. Did it dawn on anyone that this idiotic idea could kill tourism?

Old Soldier| 3.1.11 @ 9:07AM

1. I live in NJ. While I don't have to pay tolls for my daily commute, when I travel I often do. I have never seen a toll-road that doesn't take cash. If I found myslef on such a road, I would seriously consider removing my license plates until I was off.

2. Use Mapquest or other programs ahead of time to plan your travel - they tell you which are toll roads.

3. American cops have removed themselves from the toll collection business. They have better things to do. This is a for-profit exercise and has nothing to do with law enforcement.

Denver Todd| 3.1.11 @ 9:07AM

In the Denver area, our toll roads are now cashless, but the EZ pass is not the only way to pay; if you don't have a transponder, you are sent a bill based on the address connected with your license plate. It is called license plate tolling. As you see, technology exists to track movement based simply on license plates.

Petronius| 3.1.11 @ 9:56AM

There are states where I just will not go and others where I won't drive my own vehicle. I hope Faneiul gets sued off the face of the earth, and people stay off of toll roads everywhere. Budget your time accordingly and take the back roads. The latest party piece around here is the passage of another seat belt law in secret. There are enough of us in Missouri to prevent the General Assembly from shackling us, but not in a handful of liberal counties where they do it behind our backs and then refuse to say how they voted to boot. This country is full of Carrie Nation wannabes and is in dire need of an enema.

Viewer52| 3.1.11 @ 10:05AM

I'm not quite sure I understand? You keep mentioning EZpass. But the Florida Turnpike Authority uses SunPass. SunPass, like the other related ETC systems in Florida, is currently not compatible with E-ZPass or other ETC systems outside of Florida. Non-Florida ETC transponders (including E-ZPass) will not work in Florida tollbooths. But in the article you refer to EZ pass? Florida's Turnpike recently began a project to convert the 47 mile Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike, to all-electronic tolling. Motorists must have a SunPass or enroll in the "Toll-by-Plate" program. Toll-by-Plate will use cameras and send a bill to the registered owner of the vehicle. Yes they won't take cash, but it seems like another option, besides a transponder exists. And it seems that so far it is only on a portion of the turnpike. I could be wrong though.

Mark Shepler| 3.1.11 @ 10:06AM

I began using Florida's Sunpass transponder around 1999 since time I drove an average of 40,000 business miles annually primarily on the Turnpike or I-95. I found it a great time and money saver especially once they starting reducing the tolls for Sunpass users and widening the lanes so we can maintain speed. I set my online Sunpass account to automatically debit a checking account a certain amount to "replenish" the transponder once it's down to $10. At year-end I can print a toll report for tax purposes. I still use my original issue unit and I have not had to log-in to my account in a couple of years. The whole set-up is literally maintenance free.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why any regular user of our toll roads would want to sit at toll booths, one of those little lotteries of life, along with cashier and fast food lines, I never seem to win. Invariably, while hustling to an appointment, I'd get behind the third-worlder who claims he has no money, really has no English and most of all couldn't care less for the procedural niceties of modern, first-world life. And too, I completely understand how the state wants to reduce the costs of operating the toll road system, particulary in this day of bloated state payrolls whose legions even now are marching in state capitals to protect their sinecures. Paying a semi-literate, insolent prole to hand out punch tickets and make change on the taxpayer's dime is 1930s road management technology and patronage.

But Mr. Peters has a point and his concerns of where this is headed are valid. What began as efficiency measures can surely and easily be directed towards control although I'd say we're not quite there, yet. I'm not sure about filling out paperwork and giving information for I've not stopped at a booth in ten years. I know beginning last week FDOT is running PSAs on AM radio describing how manned booths have now been eliminated in southern Dade county (Miami area) and those who have no Sunpass will receive a convenient bill in the mail plus a little vig for Big Brother's trouble. I can understand how they identify the car by photoing the tag but how to know they've got the right driver? I guess that's the vehicle's registered owner's problem. As for monitoring speed in real-time they already have that capability or nearly so. A story appeared in our papers about a year or two ago telling how a driver had received a speeding ticket while traveling from S. Florida to Orlando. No big deal, happens all the time except this guy wasn't caught by FHP. The story was news because the Sunpass system had calculated his average speed from entry point to exit point at around 90-100mph if memory serves. They were probably waiting for this guy's over the top case to make an example of. It was a first but also the last such story I recall hearing so I don't know if it was a test case and portent of the future or is now routine.

Which brings me to my main point. Mr. Peter's contention that paying cash will negate these trends is misguided. They will not. Camera's at every toll plaza lane, Sunpass, cameras every couple miles on the road, speed detection techology and who knows what else to come and all tied into central computers? All of this technology can be turned to their use even if they indulge his desire to enjoy the old fashioned driving experience at taxpayer's expense. With modern computers there is no reason why they cannot photo your plate upon entry and exit, calculate the speed and mail out a ticket if it's over the limit even if you think you remained "anonymous" by paying cash at a manned booth. The PSAs say this is precisely how they intend to collect tolls in Dade county henceforth- photoing every non Sunpass using car's entry and exit, so what is to prevent them from taking the next, logical step of enforcing infractions while they're at it in the future? Indeed, the system probably already makes the computations and they're just waiting until some time passes, drivers become accustomed to the new system and then will drop the hammer. Staged implementation also avoids the accusation that enforcement was the goal all along, as well.

No, Mr. Peters, though your point that gov't intrusiveness into little matters leads invariably to much larger instrustions is important, the answer to overreaching gov't lies not in commanding the tides of technology to cease their rise. It is in limiting gov't and restoring to it a proper sense of its role. I know, I know. Given that Florida's Turnpike was supposed to cease as a toll road about 10 or 15 years ago, after the construction bonds were paid, but remains as a revenue source to the state, reining in gov't is no less a daunting task. But arguing against their technology is not the answer, we must defeat it on principle in the all matters great and small.

Sheila| 3.1.11 @ 12:02PM

Thank you, Mark Shepler, for one of the most thoughtful comments (let alone columns) at AS in quite some time. I, too, relish the convenience of an E-Z pass (here in Texas) and would be loathe to return to the days of waiting in line behind all the illegals so a semi-literate black can take my money (I already had to do just that after taking my children to an annual doctor's appointment in a medical complex with only expensive parking garages). I am embarrassed to admit that I hadn't really considered the potential for government control my E-Z pass represented until I read this column. Your point about the sensors and cameras in particular and about technology in general is an excellent one. Of course, we must defeat (well, rhetorically "we must; in reality the battle was lost long ago) government intrusion. However, if arguing against technology is not the answer, how do you respond to the plethora of public cameras in places like Londonistan today? I was last there in the early 80s, and cannot imagine visiting now where my every move is photographed and monitored, probably by some semi-literate third world cretin - who lost her job when the toll booths were eliminated!

Mark Shepler| 3.1.11 @ 1:27PM

Hey Sheila,
Well, of course, we must be on guard against the state's intrusive use of technology because it has its own logic that almost compels one to go to the next step. For example, since the technology seems to exist, why wouldn't the ubiquitous use of automatic average speed calculations of ALL cars and subsequent fining of owners not be a good thing? After all, it would drastically reduce enforcement costs and the unpleasant interaction between authorities and public (no more speed traps), free up those law enforcement assets, bring total "fairness" to the process (no more alledged "profiling" or other arbitrary dynamics), reduce danger to all and the injuries, fatalities, grief and expense of fewer accidents and, as a happy purely coincidental by-product, increase revenue to the state. Sounds like a win, win, win to me...if you want to live in 24/7 survellience, totalitarian society. But I'd wager these are precisely the considerations to the state, its indefatigable do-gooders and power grabbers and has long been on their to-do list one step at a time. Of course, it won't stop the real law breakers from speeding or aggressive driving who are also driving without licenses, insurance, stolen tags or cars, and all the other prerequisites to driving legally.

The only way I can describe what I mean is to compare it to guns but in reverse. Liberals argue that guns cause violence, that absent the weapon violence and murder would go away. They even call it "gun violence". Of course, we know this is nonsense and that the gun is but a tool and will be used according to the motives of its user. All technology is similarly neutral. It can be used for good or ill. Sunpass is a great example. In its current state it's a great leap forward in driving convenience and efficiency but take it a little too far, in fact just a little farther than it is now, and it becomes a tool of control and oppression. And now it is we conservatives who argue the technology is the problem not the motives of its user.

I'm really not at odds with Mr. Peters. We are making the same essential point that eliminating the cash option is but another step forward in herding all drivers into a surveilled and controlled environment. I just happen to enjoy the current stage of the technology. But I didn't use the term Big Brother for no reason. He is not incorrect but given that we're talking about a very small percentage of road surface I'm not sure it's quite the harbinger of a dystopian future it may appear nor do I think the state could ever extend it everywhere. Not here, not in the USA.

But that optimism presupposes we retain the upper hand over our gov'ts, something the Brits or Europeans have never truly had as we do. That is the crucial point we're coming to face more and more these days in a host of seemingly unrelated ways. Sunpass, survellience cameras, goons in Madison, bankrupt states, personal health insurance mandates and all the rest of the signs of the times are all connected. Do they work for us or do we work for them? Do the people obey them without question or do they obey the people? Are we here to serve the state or does the state serve us? Are we to remain, as a great leader once asked in his "Time to Choose" speech, "a nation that has a government" or will we slouch into "a government that has a nation"?

And, BTW, I get just as easily hot under the collar by the old WHITE foks from Yonkers, Pittsburgh or even those with "Don't Mess with TX" stickers holding up the left lane or making some other boneheaded play because when they moved here they figured the rules were different from watching too many tv shows or something. :)

John Navratil| 3.1.11 @ 3:36PM

Mr. Shepler,

I take great exception to your statement: "Of course, it won't stop the real law breakers from speeding or aggressive driving who are also driving without licenses, insurance, stolen tags or cars, and all the other prerequisites to driving legally."

As Hahn Solo asked, "Who are you calling scruffy-looking?"

I am one of the 70% of drivers who speed sometimes or regularly, and I have a license and insurance and a properly licensed vehicle which I purchased. I also live in the speed-trap capital of America. Those "toll takers" don't need any more help.

Mark Shepler| 3.2.11 @ 7:38AM

Hey John, errrr, sorry, didn't mean to put you on edge. Yeah, I speed too at times. I agree with a column in AS from a few years ago, by Peters I think, where he makes the case that speed limits are arbitrary limits set when cars were much inferior to today's engineering marvels and our modern roads could easily handle higher limits and thus should.

I think you must have been going so fast you missed my point, obscure as it may very well have been. :) I'm not agitating for more enforcement. I was simply carrying forth the gun control analogy in that such laws are really aimed at the generally law abiding, not the true criminals we fear. By definition, a thug on his way to a drive-by isn't concerned with all the legalities of ownership and possession of his weapon that preceded his date with destiny. Similarly, all the 1984 traffic enforcement measures are meant to cow, control and fleece those of us who want to and try to live within the law, not the criminal class prowling our streets.

Ned| 3.1.11 @ 10:38AM

Washington state has the transponder system for express lane use in the Seattle area, but come this spring they are expanding the money-grab.

There are currently two bridges across Lake Washington, I-90 and SR-520. Effective this spring ALL traffic across SR-520 will incur a toll charge. The excuse for this is to raise funds to repair and rebuild the floating bridge carrying 520. (When they rebuilt I-90 in the 1990's, they managed to SINK the damn bridge, and had to build a completely new one. Since the state EPA was largely at fault, no blame was ever identified.)

Washington already has one of the two or three highest fuel taxes in the country, ostensibly to pay for road work and the transportation system. 95% of the money in that fund comes from gasoline taxes. Since Washington is a screaming-leftist bed of Democrat nut-bags, 60% of the money is spent on boondoggle light rail, and similar frauds, instead of maintaining and improving the road system that we rely on. Another very nice bit of slight-of-hand with our money.

This new rip-off won't directly effect me right now, because I commute on I-90. I already have plans to retire within a year, sell my house, and take my +$2M net worth ANYWHERE but Washington. If the thieves in Olympia attempt, as I expect, to expand the rip-off to include I-90, thereby making it impossible to cross the lake without paying them, the first day of that new toll will be the day after the day I quit.

Ned| 3.1.11 @ 10:44AM

Here's a little thought for some entrepreneur out there: you've no doubt seen the privacy glass that is available for bathroom windows that is clear glass until a small electrical current is run through it, whereupon the glass turns translucent. How tough would it be to make a license plate cover out of that stuff, with a switch on the dashboard... as you approach the toll cameras, 'click' and you are anonymous. It will take the boffins years to figure out why there are more and more cars out there with blanks where the license number should be. Then they'll have to come up with a law against the covers, and then the cops will have to catch you using it... in the meantime, a big middle finger to the thieves every time you pass...

Old Soldier| 3.1.11 @ 11:37AM

I was thinking of a James Bond style rotating license plate...

Mark Shepler| 3.1.11 @ 2:02PM

There may actually be something akin to your idea that is much simpler and cheap. I'm told those tinted plastic tag covers obscure a photo of tag...

JohnPatrick| 3.3.11 @ 9:20PM

In MN it is illegal to place any type of cover - clear or otherwise - over a plate.. They give $100 fines for it. This after I spent about $50 to buy clear protective covers to keep the plates new and easy to read!

James Blare | 3.1.11 @ 11:08AM

Pelligrino| 3.2.11 @ 2:26AM

Mr. Blare, correct. The Chicagoland toll system was to go away a long time ago.

It hasn't. Every motorist is being ripped off.

And the road quality is -- as you say -- horrendous.

I have no idea why a "free America" has toll roads.

It is embarassing to read of all these toll roads/highways in America.

(Isn't this what we're already paying for in a myriad of various state taxes that never subside?)

JohnPatrick| 3.3.11 @ 9:22PM

Gotta keep the union workers in their new trucks and their vacation homes paid for before their $100K pensions kick in.

SF_Exile| 3.1.11 @ 11:58AM

Well, this vile situation might be coming to Golden Gate Bridge very soon. Although I have a transponder, I do wonder what's going to happen to those unprepared tourists coming south on 101 and expecting their greenbacks to the do the job. And, what about the local who might decide on a whim to hop in the car and head for wine country? Will they have a transponder? What about services like ZipCar?

I was living in Boston when the EZ-Pass was rolled out along the Mass Turnpike. As with everything else done there, it was bungled badly. Commuters found themselves with outrageous bills, tickets and fines for allegedly skipped tolls and other misfires. It took YEARS for the Turnpike Authority to acknowledge their mistakes. That, more than 'monitor-creep' was the reason so many Boston area commuters revolted.

A toll road has recently been finished in Orange County, Hwy 73, which branches off the 5 and runs parallel west of the 405 through the Laguna Hills and into Irvine. There was no one else when I drove on it! The pavement looked as fresh as the day it was laid. We did not see one toll booth, although I think the exit ramps allowed a driver to self-pay with cash/credit if they didn't have a transponder. My husband, a born and bred SoCal kid, was horrified that a toll road had wormed its way into Orange County.

JayDick| 3.1.11 @ 12:03PM

Figure out how much extra it costs to collect tolls in cash, then charge those using cash the extra amount. Everyone's happy, no?

I like EZPass. I think all expressways should be toll roads using EZPass. That way, users of the highways would pay for them directly. I would also favor letting private companies own and/or operate such highways, using EZPass to collect the tolls.

Ray Kremer| 3.1.11 @ 12:23PM

Illinois's solution so far is to double the price if you are paying cash.

I think for once the cost savings justification is the true one and a very good one, while the "big brother" paranoia possibilities that could happen are just a side effect of the technology. Yeah, it doesn't mean they never will start doing that big brother stuff, but for now I think they are happy to just eliminate most or all of the toll booth workers.

Novathecat| 3.1.11 @ 1:04PM

What are travelers from other states supposed to do when encountering transponder only roads? Will we need to have 3 or 4 different transponders in our cars for interstate road trips?

JayDick| 3.1.11 @ 4:45PM

This is one of the few instances where the Feds could play a useful role. They could set standards and coordinate these systems so they are all interchangeable and could transfer funds among them.

Joe D.| 3.1.11 @ 1:18PM

Where is the great ACLU on this one. Are they too busy with Christians to help. Is this not an evation of privacy that most people could get behind, just like the stupid cameras (the money stealing scam the governments came up with).

JShizzle| 3.1.11 @ 3:04PM

I happily use the i-Zoom(what a cool name! er not) which is Indiana's version. Just to correct this article, you CAN use cash to pay for your tolls....which is the reason I have the iZoom. There are simply too many stupid people that can't figure out how to use an automated cash machine. Sorry, but there's no nice way to say it. I was a hold out on the iZoom until that fateful day where I literally waited 30 minutes to pay for my 12 mile trip. I drove straight to my local CVS who sold the units and have never looked back. Maybe it's one big conspiracy, and now it is easier for the Black Helicopters to follow me on my way to a concert in Chicago...but who cares? They can "track me" with a cell phone anyways. Bunch of paranoid nonsense in my mind. But, to each his own.

John Navratil| 3.1.11 @ 3:52PM

JShizzle,

Perhaps it is paranoid nonsense, but there are too many stories of some furtive sort tying databases together to find discrepancies to make me feel comfortable. If this data is needed for billing, fine. Use it and throw it away after 90 days.

Negro X| 3.1.11 @ 7:47PM

More government control, tracking your movements and you sheeple happliy comply.

Bruce Fabrik| 3.1.11 @ 8:30PM

You can't read, can you? US bills say they're legal tender, not "the only possible form of tender that must and shall be accepted in all situations to the exclusion of any and all other forms of payment." The legal tender verbiage is just to remove any doubt that the bills are real money. Yes, and something tells me that I don't want to be stuck behind you at a tollgate while you fumble for your bag o' quarters and miss the basket five or six times.

The Bruce| 3.1.11 @ 11:41PM

For those that refuse to use EZ-Pay, for fear of big brother watching you, I assume you carry lots of cash on you for gas stops, food, and convenience store stops.

Those debit/credit card transactions follow you around the country too, not to mention the cell phone. Seriously, EZ-Pass paranoia is a bit much.

PolishKnight| 3.1.11 @ 11:48PM

All of you are missing the silver lining to this cloud:

Don't leftists want to sell big government to people by promising them GOOD stuff?

Giving Joe and Jane six-pack voters bills in the mail directed to them personally is NOT the way to endear them to big government! Promising 'free' healthcare and then sending them a bill via some general hidden tax increase is the way to go.

In Virginia, they tried to implement 1000 dollar traffic tickets to local Virginia motorists. Total. Political. Insanity. And many Republicans signed off on it! It was repealed and some of them lost their seats!

As Lincoln put it: The best way to repeal a bad law is to enforce it zealously. Artificially low speed limits will generate public resentment about the speed limits overall. The real solution is to raise the limits to something reasonable to match healthy traffic.

Regarding red light and speed cameras. DC has plenty of them and they're doing a great job to kill any interest in people motoring into those cities beyond on-the-mall tourism. In Northern Virginia on a weekend, you can see a whole bunch of DC "taxation without representation" license plates in the parking lots of local stores seeking lower sales tax deals and "safe" driving!

John Gray| 3.2.11 @ 2:12AM

There is a deeper point than cash vs transponder. It is if toll roads should even exist. Why we should scrap ALL toll roads:
1. Transponder or not, the gas tax is far more efficient
2. Citizen abuse: raising gas taxes are unpopular, so what often happens is for politicians to raise tolls disproportionately on the smaller number of people who can't avoid them to gain votes from people who can. Literal highway robbery. Oh and the idea that tolls will be taken down when the roads are "paid" for: run that one by people in the northeast and wait for the laughs.
3. Safety: Going from 70mph to zero and back, along with multi-lane merges makes one of the best methods for producing accidents. Check out the accident distribution on say, the Garden State parkway and notice the clustering about tollbooths.
4. 4th amendment issues: dealt with nicely in this article. No such problems when you pay your gas tax.
5. Political jobs mill: toll road "workers"--whether white or blue-collar--rival the TSA in pure government hackery. It's yet another temptation for pols looking to distribute job goodies that we can do without.
6. Related to point #2: reduction in property values. In extreme cases: I'm thinking NJ or MA turnpikes, properties that are located near and thus are dependent on toll roads in the end suffer relative to those that are around ordinary highways. Tolls costs of $200-300 per month make people think about living near these roads in the same way as people relocating to high-tax states, i.e., they don't.

Pelligrino| 3.2.11 @ 2:37AM

Wrong issue.

The issue should be why does the toll system exist at all?

It is organized robbery.

And you're an idiot to just pay it like some daffy duck.

Let's add this issue to how to shove fists at our idiot politicans.

No more toll roads. Dismantle the existing ones.

There is no freedom at all in this country.

(You are already taxed aplenty for the transportation projects within your state.)

Pelligrino| 3.2.11 @ 2:50PM

Toll roads with the machines, booths, special lanes, special entrances and exits, lights, message boards, employees 24/7, etc., etc. are...

...just a jobs program. They are making a job out of nothing.

Maybe a two lane road near you has 19,400 vehicles pass over it every Monday - Friday work day. Why not "toll" it? It is a potential source of revenue for your municipality or county, right?

Maybe we should attach an electronic device to every motor vehicle. If that motor vehicle (using GSP technology) moves more than 50 miles in a day, well, ring up another cost to you as the citizen/consumer/driver, right?

The toll money you lose every year is not going to excellent road upkeep.

And you are already taxed to the max.

Amber | 3.2.11 @ 9:18AM

Mr. Peters -
Indiana does not force drivers to use an electronic tolling device. We have always offered cash lanes, automatic payment machines or dedicated electronic tolling lanes.
Furthermore, I can't speak for Florida, but our E-ZPass-compatible devices (i-Zoom) can not and will never be able to track vehicles' speeds or locations. I don't know where you heard otherwise, but that whole section you've written on Indiana is simply incorrect.
Thanks,
Amber Kettring
Indiana Toll Road Public Relations

Senior in MA| 3.3.11 @ 6:04PM

As a senior who does very little driving, I almost NEVER use a toll road and have absolutely no use for a transponder. Why would I want one -- just so Big Brother can spy on me??? NEVER ! ! !

人気のキャッシング | 3.3.11 @ 11:26PM

There are many excellent companys.

taxista| 3.5.11 @ 6:38PM

The Illinois Tollway charges double for paying with cash the rate I-Pass users are charged. This really amounts to a tourist tax. I live in another state and when visiting family in Chicago, I have no choice but to pay the extra charge.

Creative Recreation | 8.11.11 @ 2:37AM

is good

العاب بنات | 4.11.12 @ 6:12PM

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