By The Way...

Monday, October 1, 2007
3:47:00 PM EDT
Hearing Nothing at the moment
As I was driving in and out of Chicago -- slowly -- I used some Illinois fine toll roads, the cost of which ranged anywhere from 50 cents to two dollars and fifty cents. Not uncheap, but not enough to make me want to blow past the toll booths and not pay, either. However, some people apparently do, and now it's catching up to them:

Bad memories aren't the only reminder Andrea Zemankova has of her relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

Zemankova and her ex, Marcel Medek, owe the Illinois Tollway $80,571 in fines and missed tolls for blowing through toll plazas 1,114 times without paying over a two-year period, officials said.

But Zemankova, 33, said she shouldn't be held responsible; Medek was the one driving. "We were together on the title, but he drove the car," Zemankova said. "I don't think I owe anything to them."

I bet you her ex is going to try to dispute that whole "she doesn't owe half" theory.

I'm not entirely sure how one can avoid paying tolls anyway; there are those toll plazas and gates and all. What the article hints at is that the scofflaws blow through in the electronic pass lanes, which are not gated. But again, I'm not entirely sure why these folks think they're going to get away with it. Those got those ingenious things called cameras, you know, which snap pictures of your license plates.

The moral to this story: Pay a little now, or pay a lot later. Because $80,000 is a hell of a toll.


Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this

This entry has 2 comments: (Add your own)

• #2 Comment from plittle 
  10/2/07 7:40 AM | Permalink

    Here in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) we have a toll road called the 407ETR (electronic toll route). There are no toll booths anywhere on the road. When you enter and leave the highway a picture is taken of your licence plate, and a bill is sent to you several weeks later for the mileage you used. For light passenger vehicles, the tolls are about 17¢ per kilometer (about 27¢ per mile). So, a trip on the 407, which is over 100 kilometers (just over 60 miles) long, could cost you over $17.00.
  -Paul
  http://journals.aol.ca/plittle/AuroraWalkingVacation/
  
• #1 Comment from bbartle3 
  10/1/07 8:29 PM | Permalink

  In their secret heart everyone
  wants to be a Highwayman.
  "The moon was a ghostly galleon
  and the Highwayman came riding,
  riding up to the old inn door....".
  Common also, is, "Oh, I'll pay it later,
  at the end of the week."  And so
  on.  Odd story. So I give an odd
  reply, ha ha ha ha ha....
  
  Barry
  http://journals.aol.com/bbartle3/Vengeance/