Posted on 10/22/2011 6:47:51 AM PDT by Mikey_1962
Virginia truck driver used a device out that could have come from a James Bond movie to try to get out of paying the $65 toll to cross the George Washington Bridge into New York City, police say. Nelson Vaquiz of Beaverdam, Va. was arrested on charges of using a cable in his truck cab to flip up his front license plate while going through a gateless toll lane on Interstate 95 without a toll transponder, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Thursday. Vaquiz had also bent up his rear plate so it couldn't be read by cameras, police said. Truck drivers have complained about steep toll increases that the Port Authority says it needs to finish building the new World Trade Center in Manhattan. By 2016 a five-axle truck will have to pay $105 to cross the bridge. Some drivers zip through the gateless express lanes on while obscuring their license plates so the Port Authority cannot track down and bill them. These toll cheats cost the Port Authority $14 million in 2009 and 2010. "Our police department takes this very seriously and are on the lookout for such maneuvers," Port Authority Spokesman Ron Marsico said. "Hopefully this will serve as a lesson." Vaquiz went through the E-ZPass lane on the New Jersey side of the bridge with a truck carrying pipes at 6:35 a.m. on Saturday, police said. A Port Authority police officer saw Vaquiz's license plate drop back into place and ordered the driver to pull over, but he did not stop, Marsico said. Other police officers forced him to stop before he could go over the bridge, Marsico said. Police impounded the truck. Vaquiz, 36, was charged with theft of service, possession of burglar tools and eluding arrest. He was released.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Tolls used to be used to maintain the bridge or tunnel where they were collected. If the "cheats" cost $7 Million per year how much are these bastards collecting and where does all that money go?
I always wonder if you could use a monitor shield over your tag. The kind people put over their monitors so you have to be directly in front to read them.
Why are truck operators being asked to pay for the world trade center by crossing a bridge?
Sounds like a tax scam to me to no benefit of the trucker.
Down in Houston, when my EZ-TAG died, my car was photographed and the plate showed very well.. I don’t see how privacy shield would hide it. The photo was from directly behind, not off to the side.
$105 toll is ridiculous..and to pay for the World Trade Center?
I say put a tax on any and all muslim mosques...
Excellent idea and tax the crap out of CAIR operations to boot!
There’s a spray on product called PhantomPlate that “hides” he plate number legally. It costs $30.
At least I think it is legal. It has been tested by the Denver Police Dept and seems to work.
Hey, wait a minute — “Vaquiz, 36, was charged with theft of service, possession of burglar tools and eluding arrest.”
So the police are saying the mechanical device that flips the license plate is a “burglar tool”, akin to breaking in to a building with a special crowbar?
That’s ridiculous and over-reaching.
In Northern Virginia, toll increases are being used to fund the Silver Line Metro Rail extension, bike racks, and all sorts of other "green" transit initiatives.
Nevermind that most of these initiatives mostly benefit very high-income folks in the inner suburbs (most of whom are liberals) at the expense of moderate-income folks in the outer suburbs (who tend middle-of-the-road or lean conservative).
That's exactly what it is.
The driver's employer pays the toll, bundles tolls into the price of goods and services as a cost of doing business, and ultimately individual customers pay this hidden tax. To add insult to injury, the individual customers may even have to pay sales tax on the price of the goods and services, effectively creating double (or more) taxation.
If Americans understood the true burden of government (because it were really brought out into the open), there would probably be open revolt against the government.
It’s always interesting to see where the full force of the law will be directed. Bureaucrats give themselves away when they chase and publicize such trifles while large-scale corruption continues unabated elsewhere.
If the price of the tolls is so high that people are trying to evade them, perhaps they should be brought down to more reasonable levels. Tolls should not be used for anything other than road maintenance.
I have PhotoBlocker spray on the license plates of all 6 of my vehicles (cars and motorcycles). It doesn’t work. The reason I know is that here in CA the toll fastpass can be activated by a simple read of the license plate, you don’t need to use the transponder. And without the transponder, with the spray on the plates, every one is read every time. Sorry, it’s a scam.
And to think that I was whinning last Sat about paying $3.00 twice to use the Hardy Toll road from 610 to the Woodlands while pulling my small utility trailer.
If the price of the tolls is so high that people are trying to evade them, perhaps they should be brought down to more reasonable levels. Tolls should not be used for anything other than road maintenance.
Oh please. People have been breaking the law over tolls for years. How many people run through the tolls that are 50 cents. Some people just don’t have ethics and will find a way to cheat anywhere they can.
There is a company that makes a spray you can supposedly spray on your tag and render it too reflective for a camera to get a clean shot of it, but otherwise it looks normal. Google around and you’ll find it.
I hope FREEPERS would not do that. That is really horrible. FREEPERS are ethical and conservatives don’t break the law.
Going to be one busy road when Exxon moves in.
Yeah, but the Hardy has the least traffic.. It was my route of choice when I worked down town..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.