Posted on 01/11/2009 1:27:21 PM PST by Coleus
A truck driver — in a burst of James Bond-like ingenuity — rigged his license plate to evade cameras at the George Washington Bridge allowing him to avoid $1,200 in tolls, authorities said today.
Allan Flores, 50, of Jersey City, was arrested and charged with theft of services and deceptive business practice by the Port Authority Police, authorities said.
“Our commercial vehicle inspections unit, despite what appears to be a clever method of avoiding tolls, has done an excellent job staying one step ahead,” agency spokesman Pasquale DiFulco said. “And toll violators would be well advised to know that we are vigilant and will pursue these types of violations aggressively.”
The plate on Flores’ truck was rigged to a hinge and a wire that led into the cab. When the wire was pulled, the hinge would be activated, flipping the plate to obscure it from cameras. A rear plate was smudged with grease, DiFulco said.
How many crossings is $1200 in tolls?
He should have had a clear lense over it that when activated with electricity it would darken like a welders helmet the dumb smuck.
I should have a business selling that maybe.
I remember this story from a while back. I’m still trying to decide who the crimminal is.
Do welders helmets darken with electricity? I have never seen a welders helmet plugged in.
....Bob
One step ahead? He avoided $1200 in tolls. Sounds like he fooled you big time.
Its an expensive way to do it but yes, I have one that doesn’t use batteries, it has a photocell, you can adjust the degree of darkness.
You can get plate material that will darken, case in point is some mirrors on high end cars or trucks, my drivers side mirror darkens on my Silverado, you can remove the silver backing and make your own but with some research you could get plates license plate sized. I accidentally put a full 12volt to an auto dark mirror, it went almost totally black.
remember the old Night Rider? Kitt? that auto dark tint was real back then.
I think the fee is $6 for NJ into NYC.
You guys are just being overly complex...
When I was a kid I had a 78 Trams Am (chevy motor) and mass had green liscence plates. one switch in the glove compartment cut out the liscence plate lights. A second switch turned on my green liscence plate lights. Worked like a charm especially in the days when if you smoked a cop car and they could not catch you, all you have to say in court is that someone was test driving your car. If they could not prove it was you, they had no case.
What the heck, I was 19 and stupid...
For a truck it’s in the $30 range.
yes....they "darken" when electricity is applied....
similar to LCD displays in hand-held calculators.... 
Yep, depending upon # of axles. Five axles, EZ Pass .. $35/$40 off/on peak or $40 cash. I’m really not sure what type vehicle this dude was driving as the article isn’t very descriptive.
Bond was more clever. He had two plates which could be alternated with a switch.
The city bridges are always expensive. The Mackinaw bridge between Michigan’s upper and lower penninsulas charges less than $20 for a full sized tractor trailer. I think it was $1.50 for a passenger vehicle in june.
I drive kids to a Christian camp in the UP. A greyhound type coach is $9.00 to cross the Mackinac bridge.
They charge $3.00 per axle.
When I said passenger vehichle I should have specified car, van or pickup truck. Still, very cheap as toll bridges go.
$1200 in tolls. Yeah, they were right on top of him.
There are helmets that provide 100% eye protection. They use 2 ccd autofocus macro cameras and provide a sort of virtual reality view of what is in front of you. Very expensive I would imagine..used by artists and scientists who can afford the very best eye protection. No light from outside enters the helmet at all....all you see is the wide angle view on 2 small hi-res lcd screens using a set of lenses.
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