E-Z Passes again

The reason you receive warning letters from driving too fast through the older toll booths isn't as much your speed but the technology used to read the EZ-Pass. The old systems aren't fast or powerful in that they put out enough signal to read the pass with any kind of integrity except at slower speeds. That's one reason for the license plate cameras. they not only verify the pass is being used on the correct vehicle, they catch those that go through too fast so their accounts can be charged. It's when you repeatedly go too fast through the readers and have received at least 2 warnings are you threatened with your account being terminated.

I wouldn't be surprised that NY state becomes the first state to actually introduce ticketing based on travel time between toll booths ... after all they have cops with guns sitting in those booths ... while in NJ/PA you see regular cashiers ...

Big Brother, Oh Brother.

.... Because everyone is out to get me.

That is correct. Here it is affirmed by snopes.com, the legendary debunker of Internet urban legends like this one:

"We have yet to find any verified accounts of municipalities (in any state) automatically issuing traffic citations based on transit times recorded by electronic toll collection systems. Although many people maintain they have received such citations (or know someone who has), those claims have so far always proved to be misunderstandings: Motorists who travel too fast as they pass by E-Z Pass toll collection points may receive letters warning them to slow down while they use E-Z Pass lanes or else risk cancellation of their E-Z Pass accounts, but those letters are not law enforcement citations, nor are they based on speeds calculated by recording times of passage between two checkpoints."
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/ezpass.asp#7iEBpG2iC24s2esr....

See article.

http://tinyurl.com/kh93elz

To quote the headline: E-Z Pass helps states clock motorists’ speeds; accounts suspended for repeat offenders it would sound as if they use the EZ Pass to issue tickets, but with a read of the story and paying close attention to the wording, you see all they talk about is traveling too fast through the toll collection lane.

.... it's what sells papers.

As I mentioned before about Pennsylvania, who is mentioned in that article, PA does not use EZPass to check your speed between entry and exit.

It does when going through the toll lanes. The following comes from PA's EZPass FAQ:

E-ZPass Speed FAQs

Warning letters may be sent to customers who exceed the speed limit. Continued violations of the speed limit may result in a suspension of E-ZPass privileges.

As Box Car mentioned, if you read the words carefully the only speed monitoring via EZPass they are talking about is the toll booth area.

My boss' husband got a speeding ticket going 35 through a PA Turnpike toll booth. The ticket was issued due to radar at the booth, not his EZ-PASS. PA has radar "Your speed is..." signs at most booths.

my friend did, out of principle, he would not slow down. Upon revocation, he would get a new acct under another authority. Pretty soon, he was searching for ones near the Canadian border, sunpass, etc. Why he would behave like that we'll never know. Many here seem to like to fight city hall as well, I just think sometimes it's ok to follow rules.

It is a shame that some media outlets resort to sensationalism. I'm not sure whether that says more about them or about their readers.

I am reminded of something told to me long ago - "It is not how it is, but how it appears to be, that causes us to act". We all have certain "filters" that we use when processing information. One of our "filters" - if we let it get the best of us - is called "confirmation bias"

Wikipedia has a good explanation: " Experiments have found repeatedly that people tend to test hypotheses in a one-sided way, by searching for evidence consistent with their current hypothesis.[6][7] Rather than searching through all the relevant evidence, they phrase questions to receive an affirmative answer that supports their hypothesis.[8] They look for the consequences that they would expect if their hypothesis were true, rather than what would happen if it were false."

Note that what Box Car related in his post was that he searched through all of the link - not just the Headline - before drawing a conclusion. And, soberbyker had it right when he observed that sensationalizing some aspect of a situation is used as a tool to get readers.

Over a year ago, dagarmin looked for this "urban legend" and pointed us to Snopes.com for their take on it l http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/ezpass.asp#7iEBpG2iC24s2esr....

RADAR is used to determine the speed and the EZPass helps to identify the vehicle if the camera doesn't get a clear shot of the license plate.

In any event EZPass is not used to calculate time between tolls.

While I may or may not go as slow as 5 MPH through toll booths, I think 35 MPH is excessive for safety reasons (those 'maintain speed' toll plazas - which I love - not withstanding).

thanks for posting.

I can't tell you how many times I've been saved from the embarrassment of posting a stupid comment online which I was ready to do based on a headline, but then after reading the article, realized that the headline was misleading. And then a few times I'm sure I've been guilty of commenting too soon, which taught me to read all of the story at the link.

In some cases it certainly is sensationalizing to drive traffic or purchase. In other cases it's just sloppy editing.

In many publications/websites, somebody other than the reporter writes the headline. The reporter may suggest one. The editor may override. Sometimes the reporter would object that an editor's headline was misleading, but it's not his or her call to make.

Too!

As a Pennsylvania resident and frequent traveler on the PA Turnpike, I have never heard of a speeding ticket issued by law enforcement using Ezpass time between tolls information. However, it appears the information IS being tracked.

As per a Patriot News report:

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2009/03/rendell_n...

Back in 2009, ex Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell’s car (He was not in it) was calculated using Ezpass records, to have travelled 99 MPH on a section of the PA Turnpike.

sad that big brother is watching.. i'am against all of this...
make red light cameras and speed cameras illegall...
TEXAS has done it so can everyone else...

Only speed cameras are illegal here in Texas, not red light cameras.

That is a misuse of automated toll booths.

Do you know how the records were obtained? What is you claim of "misuse" based on?

The story was from 2009, by the way.

through a FOIA request which should have been pretty obvious seeing how they are state records.

I was wondering whether goboymd knew that might be the case because I was questioning his use of the term "misuse"

This wasn't a case of electronic monitoring of the EZPass signal. The article says:

"A Patriot-News analysis of the E-Z Pass records..."

That sounds like they made an FOI request (as noted above) and got copies of toll transactions. I just logged on to my EZPass account and see a couple of trips I made on the NJ Turnpike last month. It shows the entry and exit plazas as well as the times I went through them. If I bothered to look up the distance between those plazas, I could calculate my average speed. There is no evidence that any government agency is using this information to generate speeding tickets - there would have been no notice of Rendell's car's speed if the newspaper didn't request the records.

I'm sure the same could be done with paper tickets as well. They have a date/time stamp when you entered the toll road, and I'm sure when you pay there is a date/time stamp as well on the receipt if you choose to receive it. They could also calculate the average speed that way as well if so inclined.