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The Grid Goes Out and You’re Stuck at a Toll-Booth
Yes, it could be where you are left stranded
Traveling back to Wisconsin from New York on the I-90 there are a lot of tolls.
In the old days, one had to gather coins to throw into the automated baskets or give a ticket to the person working inside the toll booth and then pay cash for using the portion of the road that you traveled.
Recently, the tolls have become digitally automated, charging the credit card associated with your toll payment account. We have an E-zpass transponder to pay our tolls.
Now, it’s even easier as the toll booths have been removed in many places. It’s sometimes referred to as open road tolling. This is because you don’t have to stop driving to pay the toll. Your car passes under a digital scanner and you are charged for the toll. It is paid when you pay your credit card bill.
There are several advantages to this system. One, you don’t have the slow down at the tolls that existed with the old method of collecting tolls. And, two, you don’t have to bring your change on a trip.
But today, we found a huge disadvantage to these un-human-manned tolls.
If they aren’t working, no one goes anywhere.
Many of the toll barriers were not working. Since there was a lot of traffic headed into Illinois from Indiana, there was no way of knowing which line was working and which wasn’t because they all appeared open and working.
We got stuck at two different toll barriers, one in Indiana and one in Illinois.
When the E-zpass digital reader isn’t working, no one goes anywhere because you can’t get around the barrier. The lines got longer as the cars couldn’t get through.
Some people became unsafe, getting out of their vehicle at the toll barrier. Others, backed up out of their lane, despite signs that said not to…
