Toll By Plate Facilities and Unreadable Plates.

[thenetwork]

First off, I live in an area where there are no Toll facilities and it's been 5 years since I had to use a tolled road.

But I do live in an area where occasionally driving through too much snowy or muddy roads causes front and back license plates to be covered up by snow and rain to the point where the plate cannot be read legibly.

With tolling by plate being more and more common, how well can a tolling facility handle vehicles without transponders that came straight from the mud pit or went through an snow and ice storm.  How do toll facilities address these  issues?

I assume many of these drivers with illegible plates are driving past the toll points unaware their plates are coated thick with mud or ice and are unintentionally avoiding getting tolled.

Do the tolling facilities already figure a percentage of vehicles being "written off" due to inclement weather conditions, or can the technology see through a lot of these problems.  I guess this question can apply to some temporary paper tags that depending on where they are placed (tinted rear window) could be unreadable.

[kphoger]

Yes, they already know some drivers will not be charged.  Think about Mexican-plated vehicles driving on Texas no-cash toll roads:  they can't be charged either.

[SSR_317]

I've often thought about having an automatic sun-shade (or rotating plate system, al-la-James Bond) installed to thwart Toll-by-plate schemes. But because there are still no tolled highways near me (the closest being the Indiana East-West Toll Road near the MI border & Chicago-area tollways, and the toll bridges in & near Louisville), I have yet to make good on my threat to stand up to greedy, pro-Toll Road politicians by engaging in this act of civil disobedience.

[wanderer2575]

I've often thought about having an automatic sun-shade (or rotating plate system, al-la-James Bond) installed to thwart Toll-by-plate schemes. But because there are still no tolled highways near me (the closest being the Indiana East-West Toll Road near the MI border & Chicago-area tollways, and the toll bridges in & near Louisville), I have yet to make good on my threat to stand up to greedy, pro-Toll Road politicians by engaging in this act of civil disobedience.

I won't waste my time debating financing with you.  But I will note, at the risk of encouraging you, that you can buy reflective spray-on coatings for your license plates, the idea being that a camera flash will reflect directly back into the camera and make the plate unreadable.  Whether they actually work is in question.  Seems to me that the angle of the flash to the license plate at the exact instant the photo is taken must be exactly right for it to work.

[jeffandnicole]

I've often thought about having an automatic sun-shade (or rotating plate system, al-la-James Bond) installed to thwart Toll-by-plate schemes. But because there are still no tolled highways near me (the closest being the Indiana East-West Toll Road near the MI border & Chicago-area tollways, and the toll bridges in & near Louisville), I have yet to make good on my threat to stand up to greedy, pro-Toll Road politicians by engaging in this act of civil disobedience.

Several have attempted this, and you can find their stories on the internet.  Usually it involves an arrest.

[Scott5114]

I guess this question can apply to some temporary paper tags that depending on where they are placed (tinted rear window) could be unreadable.

The standard Oklahoma paper tag has its issue date written out in the most prominent location, where most people would expect a "plate number" to be. The second line includes the dealer's state license number, then the tag number (which is only unique to each dealer). So a state's cameras would have to be specifically programmed to parse the tag format.


Oh, did I mention these are made at the dealership, which can issue a new one at any time (I've had a dealer give me a second paper tag because the title hadn't arrived after 30 days), and at many smaller dealerships, they're done by hand in Sharpie?

[kphoger]

I guess this question can apply to some temporary paper tags that depending on where they are placed (tinted rear window) could be unreadable.

The standard Oklahoma paper tag has its issue date written out in the most prominent location, where most people would expect a "plate number" to be. The second line includes the dealer's state license number, then the tag number (which is only unique to each dealer). So a state's cameras would have to be specifically programmed to parse the tag format.


Oh, did I mention these are made at the dealership, which can issue a new one at any time (I've had a dealer give me a second paper tag because the title hadn't arrived after 30 days), and at many smaller dealerships, they're done by hand in Sharpie?

Kansas doesn't require small/motorcycle trailers to have a license plate at all.  Instead, it is recommended that Kansas drivers towing out of state purchase an "Under 2M" (referring to weight class) tag for their trailer.  There's no serial number or expiration date anywhere on them, because they aren't even issued by the tag office.  People buy them from boat or RV dealerships.

[CtrlAltDel]

I've often thought about having an automatic sun-shade (or rotating plate system, al-la-James Bond) installed to thwart Toll-by-plate schemes. But because there are still no tolled highways near me (the closest being the Indiana East-West Toll Road near the MI border & Chicago-area tollways, and the toll bridges in & near Louisville), I have yet to make good on my threat to stand up to greedy, pro-Toll Road politicians by engaging in this act of civil disobedience.

Something like this, for instance? (The license plate on the red van)

[SEWIGuy]

I've often thought about having an automatic sun-shade (or rotating plate system, al-la-James Bond) installed to thwart Toll-by-plate schemes. But because there are still no tolled highways near me (the closest being the Indiana East-West Toll Road near the MI border & Chicago-area tollways, and the toll bridges in & near Louisville), I have yet to make good on my threat to stand up to greedy, pro-Toll Road politicians by engaging in this act of civil disobedience.

Several have attempted this, and you can find their stories on the internet.  Usually it involves an arrest.

Good.  It's just like tax evasion.

[ErmineNotyours]

I've seen plates behind darkened plastic, or formerly clear but now clouded-over plastic.  The fact that they are still on the road means that the police haven't caught all of them yet.  And Washington State specifically says that if you're thinking of using a cover to deter tab theft, you're supposed to instead slice the tab so that it comes apart if someone tries to steal it.

[Mapmikey]

I've often thought about having an automatic sun-shade (or rotating plate system, al-la-James Bond) installed to thwart Toll-by-plate schemes. But because there are still no tolled highways near me (the closest being the Indiana East-West Toll Road near the MI border & Chicago-area tollways, and the toll bridges in & near Louisville), I have yet to make good on my threat to stand up to greedy, pro-Toll Road politicians by engaging in this act of civil disobedience.

I won't waste my time debating financing with you.  But I will note, at the risk of encouraging you, that you can buy reflective spray-on coatings for your license plates, the idea being that a camera flash will reflect directly back into the camera and make the plate unreadable.  Whether they actually work is in question.  Seems to me that the angle of the flash to the license plate at the exact instant the photo is taken must be exactly right for it to work.

Some methods of toll camera evasion were tackled on Mythbusters - mythresults.com/episode73