I know a person and know others that know people here in IL that were issued outrageuous fines, up to $3,000, to drivers who didn't wait at automated tollbooths until the green  Thank You light came on, EVEN THOUGH THEY PAID THE TOLL. If the green light doesn't come on and you proceed through(some automated tollbooths don't have gates where there are no manned booths) there is a camera that takes a picture of your plates as your car passes through.
The state did not issue any warnings or citations to these drivers for their first offense, second, third, and so on. The state had waited until in some cases for drivers to unknowingly  build up to dozens of citations. Each time a driver didn't wait for the Thank You light they were fined $20. Again, that's $20 fine EACH time. So if you went through what you thought was a impoperly working tollbooth light or perhaps went through too fast through a tollbooth on the tollway you take to work everyday, over a period of a few months that could add up to a couple thousand dollars in fines.
I personaly have gone through automated tollbooths that didn't give me a green light even though I paid. I haven't recieved any citations yet, but then again these occurances didn't happen at an everyday basis at the same tollbooth.
I think it sucks how the state can get away with creating a large amount of fines against a driver who doesn't even know it and never was warned about it. Kind of like a police officer who would take a report on you speeding without stopping you each time and then gives you 6 speeding tickets at one time a couple months later.
This system definetly sounds like a Blago-Daley scheme. Blago already stated that he wanted to raise the speeding ticket fines in IL.

Also be careful of using those I-PASS electronic tollbooth payers especially if you have the tendency to speed a bit between one tollbooth to another. Think about it. I-PASS takes computerized reports of the time you are at each tollbooth. So if you travel between two tollbooths at a rate that exceeds the time you should of arrived there if you were doing the speed limit, the I-PASS system COULD monitor that.
I don't use I-PASS and I am very careful of my speed  or stop somewhere in between tollbooths when I go use tollways that uses a card system that has the time stamped on it like I-80 portions toll.

ArmaLiter

Ahh yes - you mean those tollbooths that were "temporarily" installed in order to raise funds for the bypass?

The one nice thing about I 294 used to be that there were never any cops looking for speeders - at least not that I noticed. I drove up through there in my way to Waukegan last month and I was shocked and appalled that they were pulling over speeders, That used to be the one perk - you got to pay to drive like a bat out of hell.

I used to always pick the lanes with broken arms and not wait for the green back when I lived there. I knew I paid the toll, why wait? The law says, "pay the toll," not "wait for the light to change" - right?

What they are doing now is absolutely and complete bullshit. Fuck Illinois.

I don't know how many times I've put my money through and the red light lights up instead of the green. Hundreds of times, easily (I use the tollways alot, especially for work). I don't even bother to wait for the light any more, I put my money in and drive. What pisses me off more than anything else is the booths that have the wooden arms sometimes don't go up. I even had a toll worker demand that I "put in 40 cents" even though I put in double the money for it to go up. I finally had it and demanded to talk to a supervisor as it always happened at the same toll booth. They let me through and I haven't had the problem since.

I do not have an I-pass and I will never get an I-pass for the aforementioned privacy reasons.

If the State of Illinois ever tried to "fine" me for their defective hardware, I'd tell them to kiss my ass in as many words. I would never pay, and neither should you. Never give in to blackmail.

Hey, everybody's got to do their part, remember. Blojo is on the news everynight crying about the state's 5 billion dollar deficit.

If they issue a ticket after the 1st time, how can we expect the state to rack up thousands of extra dollars. Every little bit counts.

Quoted: Hey, everybody's got to do their part, remember. Blojo is on the news everynight crying about the state's 5 billion dollar deficit.

He can start by cutting his own salary by 75% in addition to all the politicians in Springfield. Oh and he can rent out the governor's mansion, too. Let him lead by example.

I remember when you used to be able to throw in a couple of Neeco Waffers into the basket and it would think it got 50 cents.  Wonder if that still works?

Quoted: Ahh yes - you mean those tollbooths that were "temporarily" installed in order to raise funds for the bypass? The one nice thing about I 294 used to be that there were never any cops looking for speeders - at least not that I noticed. I drove up through there in my way to Waukegan last month and I was shocked and appalled that they were pulling over speeders, That used to be the one perk - you got to pay to drive like a bat out of hell. I used to always pick the lanes with broken arms and not wait for the green back when I lived there. I knew I paid the toll, why wait? The law says, "pay the toll," not "wait for the light to change" - right? What they are doing now is absolutely and complete bullshit. Fuck Illinois.

The day after I started my job in Itasca (commuting from Posen and now Chicago Ridge), I ponied up for an Ipass.  I haven't had to deal with toll change in nearly 2 years.

The only time that it almost became a problem is when I lost my debit card, and the new one came with a new number.  The auto replenish wasn't authorized because the card number was now invalid, and nobody at the tollway authority bothered to call and tell me that it didn't go through... guess they were waiting to make a toll violator out of me.  I updated it while I still had like $2 in my account.

As to the big brother issues, I don't really give a crap if the tollway authority knows that I'm 10 minutes late for work... the Ipass can always be taken down if I felt the need.

I am pretty sure my I-Pass doesn't work.  We have even called them to tell them that we think it doesn't work, twice.  The people we talk to say, "It is fine, don't worry about it".

The light never goes on, and the bars don't raise.

I usually use the express lanes and booths without bars, so I go through anyway.

I guess I had better insist that they send a new unit.  Otherwise they are setting me up to get screwed.

(Not that I am actually going to pay for each violation - ever)

Legal Extortation.



I can't wait to get out of this urine soaked heck hole.

Exactly why I avoid those toll roads whenever I'm driving in your oh-so-wonderful state...

Freeways should be FREE (then again, we have severe tax problems up here, instead of tollway problems)...