My run-in with the Turnpike Authority

[Scott5114]

Have you ever had a negative experience with the turnpike authority? Toll collectors to be specific?

At the Chicago roadgeek meet last summer, we toured I-355. I noticed the ISTHA booths had a cute, tiny little stop sign on them, just beneath the upstream-facing window. Naturally I did the roadgeek thing and took a picture of it. Next thing I know the toll collector's screaming "NO PICTURES ON THE TOLLWAY!!!" at me and threatening to confiscate my camera. God forbid I sell ISTHA's tiny stop sign technology to the Iranians.

I still have the photo, too!


Since I really don't give a rat's ass about Illinois tollway politics, I decided to spite them by releasing it into the public domain. Please plaster that tiny stop sign on all your websites! 

[mightyace]

This kind of thing has been rampant in the railfan community every since 9/11.

Various police agencies, railroad police, etc. have tried to tell railfans that all photography of the trains or railroad facilities is illegal.

The latest thing going on is Amtrak has harassed photographers on station platforms even through they are considered public areas just like the tollway.

Doesn't anyone read the constitution anymore?

[deathtopumpkins]

Short answer: No. 

[J N Winkler]

Winkler vs. Turnpike Commission

Fortunately the substantive issues were later resolved, though I am still waiting for the Mon-Fayette plans.

[SSOWorld]

photography on transportation networks is not illegal.  People are just paranoid as hell because of the possibility that those who photograph are possibly plotting terror threats, stealing intellectual property, or taking pictures of them without permission.

[RoadWarrior56]

This thread reminds me of an incident that happened to me several years ago.  Back in the fall of '01, a few weeks after 9/11, I was out in the field looking at a roadway intersection, adjacent to an existing railroad crossing, as part of my job.

I had my camera and was taking pictures of the intersection and the crossing.  Some guy in a railroad truck came up to me and started to hassle me and ask me a bunch of questions about why I was photographing the railroad tracks.   

It ends up that he thought I might be a terrorist.  BTW, this railroad was a short line that had been abandoned years earlier by Norfolk Southern, with maybe a couple of trains per week, if that.  I really don't think this sleepy short line would a prime terrorist target.

[vdeane]

Unfortunate, since you're more likely to be hit by an asteroid than to die in a terrorist attack.

Doesn't anyone read the constitution anymore?

George W Bush was once quoted as saying "The constitution is just a g*****n piece of paper".

[bugo]

photography on transportation networks is not illegal.  People are just paranoid as hell because of the possibility that those who photograph are possibly plotting terror threats, stealing intellectual property, or taking pictures of them without permission.

Or they're just on power trips.

[bugo]

This thread reminds me of an incident that happened to me several years ago.  Back in the fall of '01, a few weeks after 9/11, I was out in the field looking at a roadway intersection, adjacent to an existing railroad crossing, as part of my job.

I had my camera and was taking pictures of the intersection and the crossing.  Some guy in a railroad truck came up to me and started to hassle me and ask me a bunch of questions about why I was photographing the railroad tracks.   

It ends up that he thought I might be a terrorist.  BTW, this railroad was a short line that had been abandoned years earlier by Norfolk Southern, with maybe a couple of trains per week, if that.  I really don't think this sleepy short line would a prime terrorist target.

Or a bridge out in the middle of nowhere that carries 20 cars a day.  I'm sure Osama bin Laden is sitting in his cave plotting to blow up a 100 year old wooden deck pin-connected truss on a dirt road in Colorado or Alabama.

[Duke87]

photography on transportation networks is not illegal.  People are just paranoid as hell because of the possibility that those who photograph are possibly plotting terror threats, stealing intellectual property, or taking pictures of them without permission.

Not helped by the fact that it's generally assumed that people normally only take pictures of other people and of touristy things. So whenever you pull out your camera and start snapping pictures of highways or such things it raises suspicion because no one can think of a non-malicious reason why you'd want a picture of it.

It's also a privacy issue, as google street view has highlighted. Some people freak out at anyone taking a picture of their property because they don't know what the photographer is going to do with it and the idea that it could end up plastered all over the internet creeps them out.

[PAHighways]

Have you ever had a negative experience with the turnpike authority? Toll collectors to be specific?

I can only recall one positive exchange with a PTC toll collector in almost two decades of driving.  That was getting thanked when I paid my toll for 66 in 2005.  I found one asleep, slumped over hanging out of the one booth at the California Toll Plaza on PA Turnpike 43 back in 2003.

I was grateful when E-ZPass came since it meant not having to deal with them anymore, and the inanimate traffic signals actually say "Thank You."

[Alps]

I'm supposed to have gotten photo permits for all of my Turnpike photos.  Not just tollbooth to tollbooth, but anything on their property at all.  The intent is really not supposed to be to stop the casual or even amateur photographer, just the pros.

[Dougtone]

In New York, the various bridge and tunnel authorities have either implemented new rules about photography, or have brought existing rules into the forefront about photgraphy after 9-11.  To my understanding, the MTA had a rule on the books outlawing photgraphy, but never really made mention about it.  After 9-11, signs were plastered at bridge and tunnel entrances declaring something along the lines of "No Photos or Videos on Bridges".  The Port Authority of NY & NJ implemented a similar rule after 9-11, and I believe they also have signs that declare this.  The New York State Bridge Authority, who operate the tolled bridges in the Hudson Valley, had also put a similar rule in the books, but it is possible that they may have repealed the bridge photography rules.

I have not had a run-in, since I try not to be so obvious about things, but I have read stories of people who have had run-ins regarding the photography rules.

[Alex]

Google Streetview must have been asked to take their images of the MTA bridges/tunnels down, because they were once posted, and now there are gaps in coverage.

Back in 1998, I videotaped from the front passenger seat, pretty much the entire length of the Lincoln Tunnel and had no problems or issues with it. I would not even bother trying now.

[agentsteel53]

After 9-11, signs were plastered at bridge and tunnel entrances declaring something along the lines of "No Photos or Videos on Bridges". 

meh.  place the '61 spec I-shield somewhere else, then.

[Alex]

Or these: