From: Kristian Zoerhoff on
On Jan 7, 9:51 am, tetraethylleadREMOVET...(a)yahoo.com (Brent P) wrote:
>
> The lanes off to the side (not open road) and the lanes on ramps have
> indicator lights. I've encountered more than one that was non-functional.
> Plus, they may see the transponder and indicate all is well anyway . I
> doubt they have any connection to the account balance system. I would be
> surprised if they did.

They do, in fact. The lights fire in different combinations when your
account goes below $10 (both blue and yellow light up, IIRC), vs. a
"normal" balance (blue light only) or a flat-out violation (yellow
only).

As you point out, however, those lights either don't exist in the open
tolling lanes, or are tucked up in the overhead gantry where no one
will ever see them.

--
Kristian Zoerhoff
kristian.zoerhoff(a)gmail.com
From: N8N on
On Jan 7, 11:01 am, Kristian Zoerhoff <kristian.zoerh...(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> On Jan 7, 9:51 am, tetraethylleadREMOVET...(a)yahoo.com (Brent P) wrote:
>
>
>
> > The lanes off to the side (not open road) and the lanes on ramps have
> > indicator lights. I've encountered more than one that was non-functional..
> > Plus, they may see the transponder and indicate all is well anyway . I
> > doubt they have any connection to the account balance system. I would be
> > surprised if they did.
>
> They do, in fact. The lights fire in different combinations when your
> account goes below $10 (both blue and yellow light up, IIRC), vs. a
> "normal" balance (blue light only) or a flat-out violation (yellow
> only).
>
> As you point out, however, those lights either don't exist in the open
> tolling lanes, or are tucked up in the overhead gantry where no one
> will ever see them.
>
> --
> Kristian Zoerhoff
> kristian.zoerh...(a)gmail.com

now that's confusing, here yellow is low balance and blue/purple is a
violation.

you'd think there'd be a standard for this but I guess not.

nate
From: Kristian Zoerhoff on
On Jan 7, 10:11 am, Scott in SoCal <scottenazt...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:15:56 GMT, Kristian M Zoerhoff
>
> <kristian.zoerh...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> >On 2008-01-07, Brent P <tetraethylleadREMOVET...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >> or it could cost you thousands....
>
> >>http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=106951&src=3
>
> >This is why I'm gald I still have one of the older IPASS units -- the ones
> >that emit a nice loud beep when you pass through a toll plaza. No guessing
> >about whether it still works.
>
> It wouldn't have helped. The beep simply acknowledges that
> communication with the transponder has successfully taken place. It
> wouldn't tell you that your account has run out of money and your
> credit card was not automatically refilling it.

Yes it would: a low balance situation caused the unit to emit a single
long beep, versus 3 short beeps when all was well.

This all assumes the unit has not failed, as Brent pointed out
earlier. Mine is starting to after nearly 10 years, emitting single
long beeps much of the time, even though the account balance is fine,
and I can see tolls being logged online (and the lights on the ramp
plazas indicate normal balance status, not low). People with the newer
units are screwed, and I'm trying to resist joining them as long as
possible.

--
Kristian Zoerhoff
kristian.zoerhoff(a)gmail.com
From: Chicago Paddling-Fishing on
In chi.general Brent P <tetraethylleadREMOVETHIS(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

: or it could cost you thousands....

: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=106951&src=3

: <...>

: Pay up in two weeks, the papers say, or owe the tollway $15,739 and
: eventually lose your driver's license.

: Boudreau says she didn't know her I-PASS ran out of money last year
: because she thought her credit card automatically refilled it.

: That doesn't matter to tollway officials. She is just one of hundreds of
: thousands of drivers who did not get violation notices for more than a
: year because of a computer glitch.

Well, we got a bill but it worked out ok. When trading in the vw, we got new
plates on the new car, we updated the tollway website with the temp plate but
forgot to update it with the real plate when it arrived. I don't check our
account all that often and I don't know where the kids go with the ipass, I
just expect it back on top of the fridge at the end of the night...

$15 in vtolls was about $460 with fines added... after calling them when we
received the notice they eliminated the fines and just billed my ipass account
for the tolls in November... it appears the ipass doesn't work on the dash in
that car (works fine in the Ford) so we asked them to mail us velcro.

I don't know if they verified with the SOS that the temp plate number we had
in our account matched the passenger plate that racked up the violations or
if they just took our word for it. It was pretty painless I thought.

That said, i'm not sure why the state feels compelled to bankrupt people over
it. I can see that they want to make it so people will think twice, but one
would expect that the state, especially since the fines for some are so high
because of the states failure to send out notices, that they would show a bit
of compassion since they are at least partially responsible for the size of
the fines...

--
John Nelson
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From: necromancer on
Chicago Paddling-Fishing:
> That said, i'm not sure why the state feels compelled to bankrupt people over
> it. I can see that they want to make it so people will think twice, but one
> would expect that the state, especially since the fines for some are so high
> because of the states failure to send out notices, that they would show a bit
> of compassion since they are at least partially responsible for the size of
> the fines...

If I read the article correctly, its a private company that is running
things on behalf of the state. As such, all they care about is making as
large a profit as possible for their (most likely foreign) investors.

--
--
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to
purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve
neither Liberty nor Safety."
--Benjamin Franklin