Automated Toll Roads Wrecking Bank Accounts, Marriages

Whaddaya know? I happened upon two links about the hazards of "E-Z Pass" and other automated toll road systems on the very same day. While I remain an enthusiastic supporter of automated toll paying—I wouldn't dream of trying to cross a San Francisco Bay Area bridge without my transponder, though apparently I'm in a very slim minority, based on the volume of traffic backed up in the "cash" lines—there are some interesting caveats in these two stories that merit some extra consideration for the paranoid and the morally bent.

First is something that all of us can relate to: Overbilling. Many automated tolling systems check when you enter the toll road, then check again when you leave. Travel a short distance and you pay a small fee; travel a long one and you get charged more. That makes sense, but if the sensors don't record you entering the road, you get billed the maximum amount, no matter where you exit. In the case of this Philadelphian, that means she gets charged $5 periodically instead of 75 cents. Several times a month. That adds up. Now this is really a case of poor technology: The sensors at the onramp she takes just don't work well enough, or perhaps she needs a new transponder, but it's also a lesson in consumer vigilance. If the driver didn't read her bill religiously, she wouldn't have noticed the extra charges. What's worse is that the state requires she fill out a (paper) form for each and every erroneous charge in order to get a refund. Boo.

In nearby New Jersey, toll roads created problems of a different (and more serious) type for one driver, who found that the records the tollways kept of his driving could be used against him... in divorce court. You can probably see where this one's going: His wife's lawyer introduced his E-Z Pass records in court. He said he was in Pennsylvania. The state said he was driving around Jersey, obviously to some hussy's love den. States have differing policies about releasing this information to the courts, but of course the spouse can always provide it if he or she has copies of the records or access to the account. Lesson learned: Philanderers should always pay cash. (For the sarcasm-impaired, please note I am not encouraging adultery or "blaming" it on technology.)