License Plate Scanners.

[Willman]

That's how it started here, 25 years ago. It was called EZ Pass, and we still have them. I think I get a discount rate on tolls for still using it, but honestly I've never looked, as I don't commute toll roads enough to matter anymore.

But enough people were still using manual tolls that congestion at the toll booths was still a serious problem. Traffic would back up so far at some exchanges (eg. Mid County north of Philly, or King of Prussia (KoP)), that the EZ Pass'ers would get blocked, and sometimes even backing up all the way onto the highway, where it would impede traffic (esp. KoP).

So, starting about 5-10 years ago, they started putting up license plate cameras, to eliminate the toll booths completely. Now, even those who don't have EZ Pass get a monthly bill in the mail for their tolls, and the toll booths are all closed or gone.

Having commuted to Billy Joel's Allentown everyday in my 20's, I used to look forward to Memorial Day as the week all the cute college girls would show up in the toll booths. It was a very popular summer job for college girls, around here. Of course, if I commuted to KoP, where the wait for the toll booth could be 20+ minutes, I'd have felt very differently.

In PA with EZ pass you have an required account, supported by 2 credit cards, when your account gets down to a predetermined level, they recharge your primary CC so they always have your money to get the toll paid.
You need to keep attention on your account to make sure your not getting screwed

 

[WinterDeere]

Some of us - like me - have no experience with toll booths, EZ passes, license plate cameras or window stickers. EA WA state - land w/out any tolls. Somebody must have really had a brain fart. Yet, another way to tax the public.

However - we DO have the dreaded red light cameras.

Pick your poison, there's good and bad to every location.

Here, speed limits are "merely a suggestion", as most put it, as our local police are not allowed to use radar or other means of determining speed. They have to follow you some minimum interval at constant distance (0.5 mi?) without losing visual, or catch you with what amounts to a stopwatch and very obvious cones or painted lines on the road... meaning you have to be very uniquely oblivious to be caught, and as a result, no one here drives anywhere near the speed limit on local roads.

I don't know about the legality of red light cameras around here, but I've never seen one, or heard of anyone being caught by one, in our little corner of the state.

 

[WinterDeere]

In PA with EZ pass you have an required account, supported by 2 credit cards, when your account gets down to a predetermined level, they recharge your primary CC so they always have your money to get the toll paid.
You need to keep attention on your account to make sure your not getting screwed

My wife manages that one, and she pays attention to nothing, so I'm sure I'm getting screwed. But I'm sure it's a small screw, not worth the time or worry I'd spend on it.

 

[kenmbz]

They tried red light cameras in NJ.
One company I worked for got 72 tickets, for a backhoe working and intersection, with a police escort at the time.
Seems the company was sending them out instead of the police, which in NJ was against the law.
Eventually this died on the vine there, and in PA there are only a few red light cameras.
Where high accident rates happened.
None by me, but who knows for how long.

I have had to fight the ezpass a few times, it's not hard, but quite annoying.

And for mail in payments, there is a separate fee in some states.
Do they still charge the fee if there are no toll takers?

 

[Topzide]

In PA, we only have license plates on the rear of the vehicle. But our toll cameras still take simultaneous photos of front and back of vehicle, for this reason.

But I agree with the "guilty until proven innocent" comment. These things are billed without any system even performing the most basic check of whether that plate is valid for the vehicle type, etc.

That's fine,but unless you have your name on your shirt and no sunglasses on, it's pretty hard to confirm that it is the first registered owner driving the vehicle. There are plenty of cases where tickets were the tickets were dropped! It's a fat cash cow, and against the basic part of the rights, we have to meet your accuser! They gonna walk you out to a pole with a camera on it? Just my 2 cents on the matter.

 

[WinterDeere]

I'm remembering now, when the first speed cameras started showing up in Germany in the 1990's. It became sport, mostly for aggressive young drivers, to go steal the cameras. They relied on film technology, the police had to come change out the film rolls on a certain schedule. If you knew you'd been caught by one, it became a game to go steal the camera or the film, before the next scheduled police stop at that camera.

 

[deserteagle71]

Some of us - like me - have no experience with toll booths, EZ passes, license plate cameras or window stickers. EA WA state - land w/out any tolls. Somebody must have really had a brain fart. Yet, another way to tax the public.

However - we DO have the dreaded red light cameras.

No toll booths or cameras on any of the roads I drive!

There are other hazards to look out for, though....

 

[Chewwy]

Seems an easy solution to plate readers or cameras could be a muddy vehicle with lots of mud on the plate.

 

[deserteagle71]

Seems an easy solution to plate readers or cameras could be a muddy vehicle with lots of mud on the plate.

That's a ticketable offense around here. All the mines had to establish washing stations where dirt roads meet pavement so their license plates and windshields could be cleaned off.

 

[Chewwy]

That's a ticketable offense around here. All the mines had to establish washing stations where dirt roads meet pavement so their license plates and windshields could be cleaned off.

Maybe in Nevada since it’s really close to the left coast.

Would never get a ticket here or most places I have lived and worked. Dirty snow works just as well also. You may get stopped and warned but that is unlikely.

Have never seen washing stations where dirt roads or driveways connect to paved roads anywhere.