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No one likes to pay tolls, some more so than others. And toll-collection agencies across the country are fed up. Some drivers blatantly zip through toll gates without paying. Others get more creative, like the truck driver accused of using fishing line to flip his license plate to avoid capture, or the motorcyclist who used a toggle switch to retract his plate.
Agencies that operate highways, tunnels and bridges say they're losing millions of dollars annually to the scofflaws, and they're stepping up efforts to collect what's owed with a stronger police presence, partnerships between states and other stricter enforcement measures. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's police force has arrested several drivers in recent weeks who had each racked up hundreds of toll violations and owed thousands of dollars — or much more — in unpaid tolls and fees. The toll evaders were charged with theft and other criminal charges.
Evaders cost the Port Authority about $31 million in unpaid tolls in 2015, the last year for which data are available. A recent audit showed the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission lost about $37 million to toll violators. "Toll evasion is costly for everyone, especially law-abiding drivers," said Joe Pentangelo, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police department. "Getting toll cheats is just one of the many things our officers do, but it's an important task. It's something we take very seriously."
Even LEOs are not free from temptation:
In New York, the police department has had to police its own officers to make sure they aren't using a type of license-plate cover on personal vehicles that conceals the numbers. Spokesman Peter Donald told the New York Post that about a dozen officers were ticketed for having the improper covers.
Source:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a25166/ways-avoid-tolls/
(Score: 3, Insightful) by butthurt on Monday February 13 2017, @01:05PM
If it's costing you millions on a yearly basis, you're a moron for not investing in hardware that reduces this fraud.
With the system, one also has the option of having a database of "vehicles of interest" that can have great value to police work in general:
A record for all vehicles passing by a camera is stored, including those for vehicles that are not known to be of interest at the time of the read that may in appropriate circumstances be accessed for investigative purposes. The use of ANPR in this way has proved to be important in the detection of many offences, including locating stolen vehicles, tackling uninsured vehicle use and solving cases of terrorism, major and organised crime.
-- https://www.police.uk/information-and-advice/automatic-number-plate-recognition/ [police.uk]
(Score: 4, Informative) by bob_super on Monday February 13 2017, @06:38PM
> has proved to be important in the detection of many offences, including locating stolen vehicles, tackling
> uninsured vehicle use and solving cases of terrorism, major and organised crime.
Yep, everyone should wear a tracking collar, we'd catch bad people easier.
On the more cheerful side, I remember hearing stories of a grandma and a farmer getting judge summon for their vehicles dangerously speeding on the highway a few hundred miles away, but her car was far too old to reach highway speeds, and his was a farm tractor... Automated license plate reading catching fake plates.