In both places, there are no gates, just a red light. Any time someone drives through the red light, a camera photographs their license plate. We also have unmanned tollbooths where you can throw change into a bucket. Sometimes the change reader malfunctions, and you could keep throwing coins in until you run out, without changing the red light. In those cases, you just drive away after you’ve put in the correct amount. The camera catches your plate, and if they don’t have very many photos of your plate, they just let it slide. If, however, you make a practice of driving through either the EasyPass lane or the automated change lane without paying, you get a bill from the state for the exact amount of tolls that you owe – they don’t even add on a processing fee for their time and postage costs (this actually shocks me). They give you a certain amount of time to pay it – about a month, maybe – before they turn it in to the police and you get a ticket.

In one way, it’s a pretty friendly system. They don’t assume anyone is trying to be dishonest, because they know that the equipment doesn’t always work correctly. On the other hand, though, I know some people who abuse this system and never bother to sign up for an EasyPass or keep change in their cars because they know they’ll just get a bill eventually. I can’t imagine how many work hours and postage fees are involved in collecting delinquent tolls.

Anyway, I don’t drive on toll roads enough to justify having an EasyPass, but it’s a neat system. You actually get a bit of a discount from using it, which is nice for daily commuters.