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MY GPS put me on toll,Ticket

Started by ginger463, September 14, 2009, 11:25:36 PM

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myosh_tino

Quote from: J N Winkler on September 16, 2009, 02:06:26 PM
As a country we are also tentatively scheduled to go to ETC-only toll roads at some point (2014?), so I am rather concerned about the divergence toll road agencies are likely to retain in their policies in dealing with drivers who enter their systems without the correct transponders.  I don't have a transponder with any toll road agencies, but AIUI, with some agencies passing under a toll gantry without the appropriate transponder results in billing at an enhanced per-mile rate rather than a fine.  Drivers need to know not just that they are entering a toll road, but also costs, payment options, and the consequences of not having a transponder, in good time to exit and choose an alternative route.  Are there signs indicating that there is an actual fine (not just higher billing without the option to pay cash at a booth) for having no Fastrak?
Not sure about the rest of the country but in California, there is a state law requiring that all toll facilities (S.F. Bay Area bridges, Golden Gate Bridge, express lanes on CA-91 and I-15, and CA-73, 133, 241, 261 and 125 toll roads) must use the same ETC system which has been named "FasTrak".  AFAIK, only the Golden Gate bridge offers a discount of $1 to FasTrak users and the CA-91 and I-15 Express Lanes are ETC only, no cash. 

And yes, if you have a FasTrak transponder it's valid on all toll facilities regardless of which agency you signed up with but fees and minimum usage do vary from tolling agency to tolling agency.  For example, I have my account with the Bay Area Toll Authority (northern California) and I pay no monthly maintenance fees, there is no minimum usage requirement and the first two transponders are free.  If your account is with the South Bay Expressway (CA-125 in San Diego), they have a $7.00 monthly fee but tolls paid on the South Bay Expressway are used to offset the monthly fee.
Quote from: golden eagle
If I owned a dam and decided to donate it to charity, would I be giving a dam? I'm sure that might be a first because no one really gives a dam.


Terry Shea

#26
Some of these responses were way beyond rude.  Way to make a newby feel welcome.  You can make a point or disagree with someone w/o berating the person, insulting the person and/or displaying a holier than thou attitude.

Well you should be able to anyway.  I'm beginning to think a few of you aren't capable of engaging in public discourse w/o berating or talking down to others.  Does it make you feel good to call others stupid, hurt their feelings and just plain be mean to people?  I don't get it.


Terry Shea

Quote from: Chris on September 16, 2009, 11:25:28 AM
lol, that guy drives a Bentley and worries about a $ 53 ticket?  :-D
I'm pretty sure Ginger isn't a guys name.  Does beating up a lady make you feel good?

Terry Shea

Quote from: corco on September 16, 2009, 01:41:39 PM
This is beyond not reading signs though- if you really can't see a sign that says "ALL OTHER TRAFFIC EXIT HERE TO PAY TOLL" in very clear letters, posted multiple times before the tollbooth, you just aren't paying attention. If you're really THAT bad at reading signs, you probably shouldn't be driving. This isn't noticing whether a shield was neutered or not- or even recognizing a control city, this is very clear, concise, specific signage that is visibly posted on giant gantries.

Anyone who can't do that and then whines deserves to be berated mercilessly.
First of all, nobody who comes here simply seeking information deserves to be berated.  Secondly, you don't know all the facts.  Are you telling me you've never missed an exit before?  I'm sure we've all done that, and it's the same thing.  We all make mistakes.  She may have been passing a truck and couldn't see the sign.  It may have been at night and the sign may be poorly lit.  It may have been foggy.  Who knows?  The problem is when this type of mistake is made there's no way to correct it.  You can't very well go back and pay the toll.

A few years ago I was on the Tri-State Tollway heading to Midway Airport.  I hadn't been on it in years and was looking for the baskets to throw money into.  I never saw one, but it did appear to me that I had several lanes mostly to myself and when I looked to my right it looked like there were vehicles in another set of lanes that were stopping to pay toll, and it didn't look like they were exiting.  It was at night.  Did I miss a sign or did they remove tolls from that part of the Tollway?  When I exited there were also no tolls.

On my return trip (also at night) I looked diligently for Toll signs.  Never saw one.  Never stopped at a Toll Booth and never got a ticket.  Maybe I just got lucky but to this day I'm not sure if I illegally used the wrong lanes or not. 

corco

#29
That's why there are generally several signs indicating a toll, such as the ones Chris posted above that are posted.

She didn't come looking to be berated, but she did come looking for us to say "rah rah rah you're right the GPS company is totally at fault." People looking to blame small pieces of equipment for mistakes THEY made deserve beration. 

As for the Tri-State, you can avoid paying tolls on it if you avoid the tollbooths which are at fixed intervals along the tollway. Had you encountered a tollbooth, you would have seen giant signs that said I-Pass Lanes Here / Cash Lanes Here posted about 5 times between 2 miles out from the booth and the tollbooth, and if you were paying any attention you wouldn't have missed them, regardless of weather conditions. I'm guessing you simply never drove by a tollbooth, which is very possible, and therefore never had to pay a toll or any sign indicating it. If you were going from the Stevenson to the East-West, you wouldn't have seen a tollbooth on the Tri-State, for example.

hbelkins

Oklahoma's toll roads are set up similarly to that shown in the signs posted here. PikePass traffic goes straight through, cash traffic uses auxiliary lanes. They are well-signed. i didn't have any trouble during my recent visit to Oklahoma, even at the one toll road (Bailey Spur???) that does it the opposite as described previously (cash customers go straight, PikePass uses the auxiliary lanes).

This is the first I've heard about doing away with cash toll roads on a national basis. Mr. Winkler, got a cite for that?


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

vdeane

Yeah, I'm wondering about that too.  If it's true, then I'm VERY glad I live in the northeast.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

Terry Shea

Quote from: corco on September 16, 2009, 06:57:13 PM
That's why there are generally several signs indicating a toll, such as the ones Chris posted above that are posted.

She didn't come looking to be berated, but she did come looking for us to say "rah rah rah you're right the GPS company is totally at fault." People looking to blame small pieces of equipment for mistakes THEY made deserve beration. 
No, she had a couple of legitimate questions and perhaps some misconceptions about GPS devices.  She asked politely and was treated very rudely!  Instead of berating her you could have just educated her, but no, you (and others) had to make her feel like dirt!  There is absolutely no call for that, ever.  Such behavior is totally inexcusable.  Even if she was knowingly in the wrong and was intentionally trying to blame a device for her mistake (and I don't think that's the case) 2 wrongs don't make a right.  The behavior displayed by some people in this thread is absolutely deplorable!

Alps

This topic is locked.  If you would like to discuss GPS's, toll roads, etc., please start a new thread.  I agree that some have made some rude comments, but there are two other considerations here as well:

1) All we're doing now is going back and forth on how rude or not rude people are, which gets us nowhere;
2) I only found three instances where people crossed the line.

I will not hesitate to remove any other discussions in a similar vein.  Let this topic be preserved as a lesson/reminder to us all.

FLRoads

I totally concur with the last statement. I was not around to see this whole thread in full force but after reading it, it seems that this particular topic just shows us how pathetic we can all get sometimes. We must all remember that we as admins have a responsibility to uphold to the rest of the community who access this forum.



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