Posted on 10/16/2011 2:43:50 PM PDT by Libloather
N.C. toll road 'transponders' set for high-speed auto-payments
By John Murawski - The News and Observer
Modified Tue, Oct 11, 2011 01:03 PM
The N.C. Turnpike Authority began selling electronic devices this morning that will enable drivers pass through the nation's first cash-free toll road without slowing down to deposit coins in a bucket when the first section of the highway opens to the public in December.
The turnpike authority's service center in Morrisville had sold 19 of the "transponders" by mid-day Tuesday. The first customers were mostly public officials who lined up at the sales windows as part of a publicity event for the new service center and the electronic devices.
**SNIP**
Drivers without transponders will be billed 77 cents by mail, based on the license plate of their car.
**SNIP**
Toll road drivers who don't own transponders and don't pay when they are billed by mail will not be able to renew their automobile registrations. Delinquent drivers will be notified three times before their registrations are put on hold.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
Mike
Kinda creepy developing the capacity to electronically record date/time of location of cars. They could put transponders up all over the place and when needed, plot the route a specific car took months ago listing date, time etc. I worked on ships for awhile many moons ago - you could type in a date and time into the LORAN and have it display the route the ship had taken over the specified time period. Now, we can do that for cars by license plate. No privacy.
How many incorrect bills will go out due to incorrectly read plates?
Does it work with I-Pass/EZ Pass?
This is nonsense.
All the toll roads on the East Coast and around Chicago operate this way. You apply for a senser that attaches to your windshield with velcro. Then you put $40-$50 in a fund on your credit card and agree to add more money (automatically) as needed. One sensor (transponder) works in all states. It’s great and has been in operation at least 10 years. The tolls are about half what they are when you pay in cash.
What about out-of-state drivers who don't own transponders?
On Sept. 18, cash tolls for a five-axle truck rose from $40 to $65, and they will continue to rise gradually to $105 on Dec. 6, 2015.
$105 to drive your truck across a bridge...
Texas has had E-Z Pass for a long time. You get a small ticker for your windshield under your rear view mirror and then keep acct current with on-line payments. Can’t believe other states are so far behind.
“...the nation’s first cash-free toll road without slowing down to deposit coins in a bucket...”
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That system has been in place in many cites for years.
Why is this one called “the first”?
Will they be mailing speeding tickets too, for being tracked from point a to point b in too short a time?
Oh and with enough transponders positioned along routes, they’ll be able to issue traffic tickets mathematically - no cop required. Record a specific car at two different locations in a 20 minute period, mathematically calculate how fast the car must travel to make it to those locations at that time - send traffic ticket through the mail.
There are no toll booths at all. All cars are tracked and billed, either via transponder, or by reading the license plate. No one has to stop and pay.
Apparently they can do this even with out of state plates. I drove over the toll roads in Denver in August not realizing they had this system, I got the bill in the mail yesterday and it explained on the statement, I better pay or they would prevent my plates from being renewed. Next time I'll just drive through downtown Denver and save myself the $50 bucks.
It says this is the first without any facilities to accept cash for tolls, not that it is the first toll road using transponders. Whether that is true I have no idea.
Also completely within the realm of possibility: getting notices to the effect that "On January 18 you entered the NC Tollway at the Shady River entrance at 4:43 p.m. and exited at the Blossom Road exit at 6:22 p.m., this is a distance "x" miles on our toll-way in "y" amount of time, for a computed speed of 78 MPH. Please enclose $500 fine for speeding. Make checks payable to the State of North Carolina. Have a nice day."
coming soon: automatic speed fine collectors. (been saying it for years).
Uh, EZ pass?
Houston had EZ-Pass twenty years ago.
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