My 17 year old shouldn't be responsible for driving

[Slytovhand]

Hey gang.

Not much of a sucky one, but did manage to last through my 15 minute break (and it started about 10 minutes before it...)

Basic jist of the story...

I work for a toll road company and the roads have electronic tolling. Which means, if you don't have an electronic tag or an account,you have to ring us (actually - you ring us, we tell you to go to the website ). Like anything in life, there is a time period involved - this guy was late (no.. really????)

His 17 year old son had just gotten his first car the other day, and it was only his second trip on the road alone and decided to go to the coast. He tells his dad (the caller) about it the day or 2 after. Dad says he'll pay for it - but forgets to til it's too late.

In telling him it'll be too late, he gives me this spiel about how his son, at 17 years old, shouldn't have to be responsible for paying the toll, nor the penalty admin fee. Why...well - because he's only 17... and he only just got the car.... and he forgot..... (oh - and that 17 year olds don't earn enough money to pay for toll roads and admin fees).... <sigh> And he didn't see any signs.

What sucked after that was said person was trying to tell me that what is wrong with society these days is that there is no black and white, or no lines, and that there should be leeway for such things. And that young people are asked to take too much responsibility.

Ummm.... it is black and white. And there are lines - you crossed it - it's called 48 hours!

Hey - go back 100 years, then talk about kids taking responsibility...

And as for the 'I didn't see any signs'... yeah - I can appreciate that - there's only about 40 or 50 of them that he drove past - we tend to just ignore signs these days when there are too many of them.... I did tell him "Fortunately, he didn't miss a traffic sign and kill someone though".

Yes... I've heard all the same excuses... you don't get Mr.Nice me for crap (you had to rush to a hospital - fine, we'll deal and obviously let you off... you didn't make the call in time cos you forgot.. nuh-ah!!)

Speaking of which (making this a nice long post :P)... It annoys me way too much when people get their bill from us, and want me to waive the admin fees "...because I forgot to pay. I wasn't deliberately trying to avoid it, I just forgot". As I've said to a few of them now - "yeah - that's why most people get those bills".


Slyt

[LifeCarnie]

You don't have toll collectors/ collection booths on the road? Most of them are automated now, but we still have a few toll collection booths on the roads. Collecting the toll after the fact would be a painful experience.

Supposedly, if you run a toll in the US, the toll booth has a camera on it that takes a picture of the license plate. I don't believe that's true though. Driving through New Hampshire one time, we paid the toll and the light didn't change, so we took off and a bell went off, but that was it, no picture, no ticket.

[Slytovhand]

You don't have toll collectors/ collection booths on the road? Most of them are automated now, but we still have a few toll collection booths on the roads. Collecting the toll after the fact would be a painful experience.

Yeah - I work for the 2 that are fully automated - no booths (so no stopping either, which was the idea behind them. And after the occasional traffic jams on other toll roads at the toll plaza - good too).

"painful experience".. please - let's not go there.... <whipmer> That's where about 90% of my SC's come in....

[angelicafire]

Supposedly, if you run a toll in the US, the toll booth has a camera on it that takes a picture of the license plate. I don't believe that's true though. Driving through New Hampshire one time, we paid the toll and the light didn't change, so we took off and a bell went off, but that was it, no picture, no ticket.

I know that's true where I live in Virginia. They'll send you a fine in the mail, and it's a state-issued thing. I think they had to go back and start double checking the photos though... a while back, they fined about 1000 people for no reason.

[sarahj]

Tolls in the USA are mostly less than $1 right? I remember Mum & Dad tossing quarters in at toll points. Over here it's more like $10 (for all day travel) to get from the city to the airport.

[IT Grunt]

Tolls in the USA are mostly less than $1 right? I remember Mum & Dad tossing quarters in at toll points. Over here it's more like $10 (for all day travel) to get from the city to the airport.

Depends on the road. If you're driving on the Ohio Turnpike, then they charge you depending on where you entered the road (you get a ticket at the booth), and then where you exit. The ticket determines the toll since your entry point is recorded. Depending on how far you drive, it can range from 50 cents up to several dollars if you drove across the state. When I've driven it to Cleveland, it's usually been a couple bucks after I've driven about 60 miles. The Pennsylvania Turnpike I believe used to be similar, but I think recently they set a flat rate of $1 no matter how far you drive, at least it was last time I drove it.

[chainedbarista]

And that young people are asked to take too much responsibility.

let me see if i have this right; he's responsible enough to have a car, license and drive at 17, but not to pay applicable tolls or parking fees or anything else of that ilk?

maybe he ISN'T responsible enough to have one, after all; it's a package deal, not a 'select what you will' proposition.

seems like daddy is one of those who think that junior shouldn't have to be an adult until he's 30; no wonder we're so screwed up.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Tolls in the USA are mostly less than $1 right? I remember Mum & Dad tossing quarters in at toll points. Over here it's more like $10 (for all day travel) to get from the city to the airport.

Only toll roads I can personally speak for are in Illinois, and there the tolls start at about a dollar, depending on where the toll plaza is.

It's a little lower if you have their I-Pass dealy, but I don't because I'm not in that state nearly enough for that to make sense.

[GolfCart34]

Supposedly, if you run a toll in the US, the toll booth has a camera on it that takes a picture of the license plate. I don't believe that's true though. Driving through New Hampshire one time, we paid the toll and the light didn't change, so we took off and a bell went off, but that was it, no picture, no ticket.

I've gone through the various New Hampshire toll booths and had the bell go off after I paid the tolls. This was back when they still had tokens and those lovely baskets that you toss change into. Half the time they didn't work and the bell would go off. If I remember correctly, they wouldn't usually do anything about it unless a cop also happened to be there at the same time. These days, with the whole EZpass system in place, they take toll runners more seriously. Typically these days they'll have two or three dedicated EZpass only lanes, but the rest of the lanes are generally manned (no more baskets for change). It's always funny to see some of the tourists who don't realize that EZpass lanes aren't free toll lanes. I have EZpass and that has been a life saver. Now I can go all the way down to Virginia to visit my mom and not have to worry about the tolls.

As for toll collection after the fact... That's just asking for huge trouble. Nonetheless...
That doesn't get the 17 year old off the hook for supposedly not knowing about the toll.

[PepperElf]

and not all roads have tolls in the states.

i've driven from va all the way to ny without a single toll - gotta love route 81


but if he feels his son it too young to be responsible for paying his tolls
then he's too young to be responsible for driving a car too.

what's next for that kid? too young to be responsible should he get into an accident and injure someone? they should just waive all the damage costs & hospital fees cos he's too young to be responsible?

[It shouldn't]

The Pennsylvania Turnpike I believe used to be similar, but I think recently they set a flat rate of $1 no matter how far you drive, at least it was last time I drove it.

Seems PA charges admission these days. On I 76 it's $3. You can get on and off I76 in PA and never pay a toll, but they want $3 at the OH/PA border.

[IT Grunt]

Seems PA charges admission these days. On I 76 it's $3. You can get on and off I76 in PA and never pay a toll, but they want $3 at the OH/PA border.

They've definitely raised it then. Last time I drove it was about 2 years ago, and it was $1 at the OH/PA border. In my case, though, this was coming out of PA into OH.

[Namrepus221]

PA resident here and person who sends people to a toll road on a daily basis at my job (conveinece store clerk. namely how to get to Philidelphia and other places)

But yeah PA turnpike (Interstate-76) gives you a ticket when you get on, you pay when you get off depending on how far you've driven. It's been that way for the last 14 years that I can remember (my first comic book show was when I was 10 and we always took the turn pike to get to Monroeville for them)

But yea, it depends on how far you go on the pike. And yes, on the pike, they will have people there you have to pay to get off of it. You have to hand your money to them before they will raise the gate. The EZPass lanes don't have the gates lowered but they have video camera's on them and still camera's as well incase someone makes a mistake and goes through, or worse doesn't notice and stops and sits there waiting for an imaginary person to come back from break to take their money.

[chops]

Toll cameras are actually useful if you do use electronic toll collection (E-ZPass or similar) and the collector sensors aren't working right.

On the way down from NH to VA, we went through the Fort McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore. The toll booth didn't pick up my E-ZPass (which hadn't been an issue elsewhere) and the bell and light went off.

Looking back at my statement, I found that I was, in fact, charged the correct toll after all. Why? When you sign up for a transponder, you also give them your license plate number, which the toll authority can check against their database and match you up with the right transponder. That's why, if you do change cars or plates, it's important to change your plate number on file to match

[smileyeagle1021]

wow, I feel so special, my state only has 1 toll road and that is up in Weber county where I never have to go... my only experiences with tolls have been when I've gone over to san fran while growing up (I grew up in Reno, so it isn't as big of a deal as it sounds like coming from a utahn)... it sucked sitting for an hour waiting to pay the toll to cross the bay bridge.