Toll-Free Hassle - When good EZ TAGs go bad (Automated traffic ticket camera failures)

Houston Press ^ | October 28, 2004 | As told to Richard Connelly

[weegee]

As a freelance reviewer for the Houston Press, Mike Smith listens to a lot of music. Unfortunately for him, much of his listening is done while he's on hold for the Harris County Toll Road Authority's customer service phone line. Not only does the music selection get a thumbs-down (it's "sappy"), so does HCTRA.

For two years, Smith has been getting notices that he owes the authority money for illegally driving through the EZ Pass lane. As proof, the authority includes automated camera photos of a 2002 Ford Mustang speeding past the toll booth.

The only trouble is, Smith drives a Ford Explorer. Which doesn't look a whole lot like a Mustang.

And so he goes on hold and gets more demand letters in the mail. "What pisses me off is this kind of threatening legal language toward me when I've already had 20 to 30 of these dismissed for incorrect identification," he says.

HCTRA spokeswoman Patricia Freise is perplexed. "This has been a first for us," she says. There must be two vehicles registered in the DPS database with that same license plate, she says. "How in the world that happened, I have no clue."

It turns out there are not two such license plates in the DPS database, although there is a 2002 Mustang listed whose license plate is identical to Smith's except it includes an N where Smith's has an M.

The agency's computer system reads and enhances the license plate photos -- a HCTRA worker suggested to him that it could be misreading his number.

To which Smith replied: "It could be that this guy is out running the tollway and has taken a piece of black tape and made his N an M." (Said the HCTRA worker: "I never thought of that.")

A lot of people have suggested Smith simply get a new license plate. (A lot of sane people.) But that's not his style.

"I'm like, 'I'm not going to go and stand in line and pay the money to get a new license plate. You're crazy,' " he says.

Hey, it's just a thought. In the meantime, enjoy that on-hold music.

[dead]

I got a ticket last year for driving 27mph through an EZ pass toll booth on Christmas Day the Tappan Zee Bridge last year. They said I would have to pay $120 bucks, plus I'd have EZ Pass taken away for at least a year, after which I could reapply.

I called up and argued that I drove through a high speed lane, but they insisted there were no high speed lanes on the Tappan Zee. I just threw out the letter and ignored them.

I got a letter a few weeks later, stating that their billing department had been unaware that high speed lanes had been installed on the Tappan Zee and we could ignore the prior threatening letters. No apology, naturally.

I wonder how many millions they spent harassing tens of thousands of their customers (this was Christmas Day traffic after all!) before somebody bothered to check about the high speed lanes. I'm sure nobody lost their job over it.

But they have a government-subsidized, money-losing monopoly, so I don't think any of them give a crap. Their bloated paychecks clear, and that's all that really matters.

[SCALEMAN]

Go ahead .. tell us how you really feel

[Kirkwood]

Is this over the course of a year? Around 1 per year of driving?

[frog_jerk_2004]

http://www.users.nac.net/jmp/tollfree/comments02.html

http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/press/2002releases/121802.htm

http://www.no92.com/Turnpike_loses_hundreds_of_millions_in_EZ-Pass_settlement.html

http://www.users.nac.net/jmp/tollfree/news.html

[MindyW]

My sister got a ticket from one of those EZ Pass cameras in NJ on her way up to Maine last summer. She didn’t remember going through one, but said she tossed the money in all the baskets along the way.

Anyway, she got this envelope in the mail from EZ Pass, thought it was some kind of promotional thing and just tossed it aside for a while. We had talked about getting one for our trip up north next year.

When she finally opened it, it was a $25 ticket with photo. It also said that if the ticket wasn’t paid by a certain date, the fine would be an additional $200. As it turns out, she opened the envelope 2 days past the due date.

She called the number on the ticket and talked the gal into waiving the ticket, but had to send a check for the 35 cents. Those idiots returned it to her because she didn't write her plate number on the check, even though she sent it along with the ticket. She had to write the number on the check and re-send it!

[frog_jerk_2004]

Is this over the course of a year? Around 1 per year of driving?

I got eight summons in a period of 3 weeks...

[RobRoy]

I was thinking the exact same thing. It was a volkswagen. They got rid of those black and yellow plates a long time ago. It was the same time that Oregon had dark blue and yellow plates. At a glance, especially in the dark, they looked the same.

[pookie18]

Thanks for the info.

[Kirkwood]

8 in under a month? Holy smokes!