Police: Driver flipped license plate to save toll ($65)

SF Gate ^ | 10-13-11 | Chris Hawley

[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.

[Mr. K]

Why is the government building the new trade center?

Wans’t that a privately owned building before?

[ASA Vet]

Myth Busters did a show on the various methods claiming to foil the governments tax cameras. None worked as advertised.

[Oatka]

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.

Back in the '70s (I think), NYC had a big problem with bootleg cigarettes being trucked in from down South to avoid their high cigarette taxes. The officials were asking for more money for more agents to stop the trucks - usually 18-wheelers packed to the rafters.

They were crying the blues at a press conference when one reporter suggested that maybe if the taxes were lowered, they wouldn't need the extra agents. The look of dumb horror on the official's faces was priceless. At first the idea of lowering taxes was incomprehensible. Then when it was, they recoiled. They haven't learned a damned thing.

[bigbob]

So 1960s! Mount an iPad in a license plate holder and display anything you want. Toll evading? We got an app for that!

[Gaffer]

The money goes to pay the toll collectors and turnpike police that patrol the roads to catch speeders, toll-jumpers, and collect more money to pay themselves. There is no, absolutely reason other than political largesse in my opinion.

[TheOldLady]

Click the Pic               Thank you, JoeProBono

Harriet’s Stunning Wedding Photo

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[Kenton]

Thanks for the info.

[MitchSouthFla.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rxdn_dk-5sc

Supposedly they do work.

[Rome2000]

That’s ridiculous and over-reaching

What isn't in NYC?.

Can't wait till that place collapses, can't happen soon enough.

[JimRed]

...how much are these bastards collecting and where does all that money go?

A- no one knows and B- through the hands of the authority to RAT politics, of course!

[exDemMom]

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.

The point is that increasing the tolls to ridiculous levels also increases the number of people cheating to evade the tolls. It's like taxes: the higher they are, the more cheaters there are.

[NELSON111]

$105 to cross a bridge? Who in the heck do these people think they are?

And they want to know why stuff costs so much. This gets passed on to you and me. And how long are we going to take it?

[maine-iac7]

this story is a week and half old and been posted numerous times.

We going for some kind of record?

[dragnet2]

$65 toll to cross the Bridge

Pay the king!

[riri]

Agreed. This is insanity.

[tcrlaf]

“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.”

Which is why politicians fight so vehemently against things like flat taxing, or consumption taxes.

[JimRed]

this story is a week and half old and been posted numerous times.

First time I've seen it- can't be here 24-7!

8^)

[napscoordinator]

The point is that increasing the tolls to ridiculous levels also increases the number of people cheating to evade the tolls. It’s like taxes: the higher they are, the more cheaters there are.

It is a sad commentary on today’s world. I really wish ethics were taught in school. So many people find ways to cheat and it is not right. If you can’t afford to go through a toll than go another way or don’t go. There are ways to by pass all tolls using the GPS. A bridge you might just have to suck it up and do the right thing and PAY FOR IT. I think that diet coke is ridiculous to pay for but you don’t see me going into the store and stealing it. NO! I either pay for it or I don’t buy it. What is wrong with people????

[jaz.357]

I knew a guy that drove a for a fruit delivery company. He had to pay a mobster a hundred bucks to drive the truck across the bridge to NYC. If he didn't pay up, He would get his tires slashed, windshield busted or leg broke.

He never missed a payment.

But the payoff was factored into the cost of the load and passed off to the consumer.

That was the cost of doing business up north 20 years ago.

Now the mobsters run the tollbooth.

Go figure.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Love it! Thanks for posting.

While I believe that red light runners (deliberate & habitual types) should be pulled from their car and beaten well, I am completely against the use of cameras to monitor, regulate and fine private citizens. Particularly when the real motivation is (99% of the time) simply revenue, not safety.