Florida: Court Approves Detaining Motorists at Toll Booth

theNewspaper.com ^ | September 24, 2012

[Neil E. Wright]

Florida: Court Approves Detaining Motorists at Toll Booth
US Court of Appeals upholds right of toll road operators to detain drivers for using large denomination currency.

Motorists can be held indefinitely at toll booths if they pay with large denomination bills, according to a federal appeals court ruling handed down Wednesday. A family of drivers -- Joel, Deborah and Robert Chandler -- filed suit last year arguing they were effectively being held hostage by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the private contractor in charge of the state's toll road, Faneuil, Inc.

Under FDOT policies in place at the time, motorists who paid with $50 bills, and occasionally even $5 bills, were not given permission to proceed until the toll collector filled out a "Bill Detection Report" with data about the motorist's vehicle and details from his driver's license. Many of those who chose to pay cash did so to avoid the privacy implications of installing a SunPass transponder that recorded their driving habits. They were likewise unwilling to provide personal information to the toll collector, but they had no alternative because the toll barrier would not be raised without compliance. FDOT policy does not allow passengers to exit their vehicle, and backing up is illegal and usually impossible while other cars wait behind. FDOT dropped the Bill Detection Reports in 2010.

A three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit US Court of Appeals did not buy the argument that these motorist detentions rose to the level of a constitutional violation.

[Neil E. Wright]

Alternate title: Court Rules Motorists Can Be Detained For Paying By Cash at Toll Booths

"Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the government officials committing it." -- Kurt Hofmann.

“Where liberty dwells, there is my country." –Benjamin Franklin

Islam Delenda Est!

REFUSE. RESIST. Do NOT Submit! ★ FREEDOM! ★

[HamiltonJay]

Run the damned toll booth and be done with it... I’m not being detained to fill out paperwork because I paid you in cash. Let the cops arrest me.

[chrisser]

Have they removed “this note is legal tender for all debts public and private” from $5s and $50s?

[MeganC]

Yeah, I’m not thinking this is a defensible policy in a ‘Shall Carry’ state like Florida.

[mnehring]

Pay with pennies. Make them spend twice the expense counting it as they are collecting.

[DYngbld]

I believe they would rethink the idiot policy if traffic “mysteriously” stopped every day during rush hour because every lane was blocked by someone being “detained” for paying cash.

[Greysard]

I believe they would rethink the idiot policy if traffic “mysteriously” stopped every day during rush hour because every lane was blocked by someone being “detained” for paying cash.

They couldn't care less. Quite opposite, they want to block cash lanes, so that the drivers have no other choice but to buy transponders.

[Venturer]

At the intercounty connector here in maryland there are no toll booths. They take a picture of your tag number and send you a bill.

[DoughtyOne]

You know what folks. I don’t believe in toll roads. When the general populace figures out why, they won’t have to deal with s—t like this. They’ll raise so much hell, their state governments will have to end them.

Refuse to elect anyone that supports them or that will even allow them to exist. Make a point of it.

Force states to spend their gas tax dollars on highways. End of story.

[relictele]

Admittedly they are handy for keeping the riff raff off the roads including short haul/mom & pop truckers who are too cheap to pay, thus making for a more pleasant journey.

[Nowhere Man]

I try to avoid toll roads, I guess I’m like my father (well he’s retired and 75) where one time he took route 30 all the way to Philly instead of the turnpike. Still, this is wrong and it shows how are freedoms are disappearing.

[DoughtyOne]

Okay, then chalk one up that wants to pay more taxes.

I don’t.

[IbJensen]

Dumb and dumber!

Stay off the damned Florida tollways!

[relictele]

The post was tongue in cheek of course.

But if the toll roads are self-contained in terms of funding for repair/expansion how does that constitute a tax vis-a-vis public highways that specifically use gas tax funds?

[pickyourpoison]

But just think about how much fun if a few freepers tied up these toll booths every day for hours. Retirees with time on their hands could close down these roads. People who routinely use them would get disgusted and use other routes. Maybe we could find out which roads these judges use. Some of them surely use toll roads.

[palmer]

At the intercounty connector here in maryland there are no toll booths. They take a picture of your tag number and send you a bill.

About two months later.

[elkfersupper]

Don't live anywhere near toll roads and drive a vehicle that can out-maneuver government vehicles cross-country.

Granted, it is hard to outrun Motorola or helicopters, but it's pretty easy to cause the people in control of that stuff to lose interest.

[DoughtyOne]

Your state gets gas tax, vehicle registration fees, licensing fees and probably much more for highways. The federal government returns funds to the state too, that are to be used on highways.

There is no need for private ‘self-contained’ roads.

You’re being gamed here. They are diverting funds to other causes, and you’re being asked to pick up the slack “because the funds just aren’t there”. Baloney.

Yes, highways cost a lot. You sell bonds and you pay them off with the funds I mentioned. That’s how it has always worked until now.

We have five times as many people on the roadways paying taxes we did when most of our roads were built decades ago. And yet those people could afford to pay for highways. We can’t today? Hogwash...

Someone is lying to us big-time.

[Venturer]

Well it’s better then sitting at a toll booth trying to explain why the smallest bill you have is a $5.00 bill.

[BobL]

“Many of those who chose to pay cash did so to avoid the privacy implications of installing a SunPass transponder that recorded their driving habits.”

I’m all for freedom and privacy, but if these clowns think that they won’t be recorded, essentially, the moment they leave their driveways, they’re in for a very RUDE AWAKENING.

Google “License Plate Cameras” to see what’s already deployed - and then Google something like “Privacy Rights” in your state to see what prevents the pigs from recording your every movement.