Laura R. Tarrats, 42, has the distinction of being arrested for not paying bridge tolls. Now before you say that is ridiculous, you should know that Tarrats racked up roughly $16,000 in unpaid tolls on the George Washington Bridge.
Tarrats was pulled over in her green dump truck after running through a toll gate without paying. That is when the officers got the shock of a lifetime in seeing that she owed $15,800 in unpaid toll charges.
Tarrats has been charged with theft of service, toll evasion and traffic violations.
You would think that someone owing close to $16,000 in unpaid tolls would trigger a modicum of effort, on the part of the authorities charged with the responsibility of monitoring such records, to pay this toll troll a little visit. I fully understand that there aren’t sufficient resources to literally chase every person guilty of an unpaid toll, but the amount at stake, in this particular situation, should’ve instigated her pursuit much earlier. Those who allowed this debt, to continue to grow until it reached $16,000, should have to explain and prove what steps were taken to mitigate the damages and to collect said money.
Mike I think you’re wrong
I’m with Mitch…how much is that toll!?!? Geez!
Nick Spinelli I also am 100 miles from Chicago, via I88. They have one toll booth setup at night where no one is there to take the tolls, they leave envelops to send in the money!
This is what I wrote to our local paper
In Illinois people without an I-pass pay twice as much for tolls.
I suppose the toll commissioner’s response would be that they have to pay people to take the tolls…and that’s my next complaint.
They have one of the toll booths up on the way to Chicago that isn’t staffed at night. I drove up to Chicago last year, and I used it at night. I then saw they expected ME to do THEIR job!!
So I called the toll number & explained that I had went through and that they could stop by anytime & get their money. The nice lady explained that I had to send it to them, or the fine would go up.
I told her I would be happy to do that, I charge $20 an hour with a minimum of 1 hour. So actually they would owe me money.
She couldn’t grasp what I was saying so she put her supervisor on and I went through the whole thing again, explaining that I would be happy to do their work for them, but NOT FOR FREE!
The supervisor explained that they had no people there at night, so I needed to send in the money. I inquired if she got paid for helping to collect tolls, she said yes, and I explained that’s all I was asking for. So as far as I could see they had four options, come get their money from me, get someone there to collect tolls, get a automatic machine to collect them, or pay me.
She gave me the number for the Toll supervisor in Springfield, left my name & number, but have never heard from anyone again.
Twice as much for no Ipass, and THEN expect people without one to do their work for them?!? Grr
Paul, Toll roads east of the Mississippi are ubiquitous. The great West has significantly fewer. Even Cali doesn’t have that many, they’re just poorly marked and collected. The independent spirit of Westerners like you described in AZ is why toll roads are rare out there.
I dislike tolls. However, living near Chicago I have an Illinois Tollway transponder. It makes paying tolls much more convenient. And, the transponder works on virtually all toll roads in states east of Illinois. What I despise are the hidden toll roads in the tax hell of California. The transponder doesn’t work there. The Cali toll roads are poorly marked. The toll roads require you to pay online. What if you’re poor and don’t have a computer. I love some things about Cali, but it has everything to do w/ the people, food, climate, geography. The govt. makes Cali much less desirable.
When I was in CA I set my Garmin to avoid toll roads and never changed it. Then made a trip back East. Had a lovely trip through the little towns of Oklahoma, including rerouting around a washed out bridge, to get to my destination. It was like traveling cross-country in the 50s. It seems there is a major toll road thru the center of OK.
AZ has talked about toll roads a couple of times but people have taken up arms. This is an open-carry state.
jischinger A toll only implicates interstate commerce if its on a bridge that goes between states – and even when it does, the Federal government can allow states to take actions that affect interstate commerce
Since I carefully avoid toll roads, I was surprised to get a bill in the mail from TX for using a toll road. They had a picture of my license plate so I must have gone on one that wasn’t marked, either on google or at the ramp.
One day you may be reporting on me being arrested for the same.
In 4 trips across the Midtown Tunnel connecting Norfolk to Portsmouth, VA My current bill, with fees charged, is $75.00. The initial trips cost less than $2 each, however in the delays imposed while I attempted to discern the validity of the charges (trip + $5 service charge for each), they tacked on all sorts of additional costs, bringing the bill to an outrageous amount of money that I currently have no intention of paying.
This is highway robbery, pure and simple.
Here are the NY Port Authority Toll Fees. Look at them, and note the difference in fees between EZ Pass and Cash. I think you get back in for free, though, so half the amount to get the fee for a single crossing.
http://www.panynj.gov/bridges-tunnels/tolls.html
I wonder what the annual revenues are from tolls just crossing the NY/NJ border? Those are heavily traveled bridges/tunnels. And lots of trucks and tractor-trailers.
Wonder how much of that $16,000 is penalties and interest.
JT: It is too early in the a.m. to put that ugly troll on the photograph on the blog. This is not like denigrating Hillary so that we vote against her. Maybe save ugly photos like this until after noon. My poodle is outside puking right now cause he just saw the photo on my computer.
I have to travel to my state capital to meet with the legislators so as to petition my government for redress of grievances. There is no train or Greyhound bus service from my town to the capital so I have to drive on the interstate highway. It crosses a toll bridge.
The government is charging me a fee to petition my government for redress of grievances. This is a violation of the First Amendment. I can sue under the First and Fourteenth Amendments under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 and seek attorney fees under section 1988. There is a conspiracy involved so I can sue all those involved. The state itself might have some immunity but the trolls who collect the tolls can be sued.
Doesn’t a toll conflict with interstate commerce?
I think there’s also a SCOTUS ruling stating you don’t even need a drivers license or plates because it violates Interstate commerce set up by the founders.
It’s like income tax – if you ask the IRS they will tell you paying taxes is voluntary. Further the IRS is actually chartered in Puerto Rico – go figure that one out.
I think people just go along with many of these made up rules and laws cause few challenge the lawmaker coming up with all this red tape.
However, when it comes to real freedom most Americans don’t want any of it.
Perhaps that’s why these secession movements are growing
16,000 ? How freakin much is the toll???