Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

incogaf t1_j5wqi6h wrote

Bottom line is, it's not right.

Yes the good majority of people do it to avoid paying tolls and fines, and tolls and fines are out of control. BUT these people are also making themselves unidentifiable in situations where something more serious can happen like accidents or criminal activity.

Just to play devil's advocate, auto insurance premiums in the city are fairly high compared with the rest of the country, does that make it ok for someone to drive without insurance?

22

Redditor2130 t1_j5wqb92 wrote

The entire argument for defacing license plates seems to be "tolls are expensive". So, 2 questions:

(1) Aren't roads/bridges/tunnels expensive to maintain? And doesn't that money have to come from somewhere?

(2) If a subset of drivers decide they're exempt from paying the toll... doesn't it just get MORE expensive for everyone else who now has to cover the difference.

These people are free-riding on the backs of those who pay the toll.

19

octoreadit t1_j5wuwk1 wrote

I have a feeling it's mostly for cameras, not tolls, but I may be wrong. Got to note how many of those have EZ passes with plates still obscured.

13

P0stNutClarity t1_j5xfp0e wrote

Yeah with Speed cameras are all over the city now it's likely that.

4

fawningandconning t1_j5wznf1 wrote

Not much to be torn about really, the majority of these people are working for or connected to the city in some way because they know if they're stopped or ticketed they'll get out of it. We all have to play by the rules but they get to just do what they want? Fuck them. I think a lot of these people are doing it for the speed cameras too, so double fuck them.

13

ChrisFromLongIsland t1_j5wotk9 wrote

The tolls mostly go to support mass transit. Do you hate mass transit?

10

MPFX3000 t1_j5wpeqn wrote

I get a boner for mass transit. Im on it right now as I type this. I love my special metro card that’s tied direct to my credit card.

I’m talking about people who don’t have the luxury of having a drink at Secaucus before grabbing their connecting train home to a park n ride

−3

superfoodtown t1_j5x490a wrote

Thank you for revealing you are a disingenuous troll by using the great retort of "I get a boner for mass transit" truly it's like Andy bryford himself typed that up

2

ECK-2188 t1_j5woe40 wrote

I go with the tried and true NY method of:

Minding my own business

8

ctindel t1_j5wzo7q wrote

People not paying the tolls means the tolls have to be higher for everyone else. It is literally everyone's business.

3

ECK-2188 t1_j5x0gks wrote

The subway has smelled like piss and shit my entire life span I’ve been on this earth. Literally everyone’s business and guess what?

People still mind their own business.

3

ctindel t1_j5xwye7 wrote

I think everyone would prefer that it didnt

2

Dont_mute_me_bro t1_j5ybls3 wrote

The same is true of subway fare toll evaders. That happens on a much grander scale.

1

ctindel t1_j5yyfe1 wrote

Absolutely. I have no trouble with MTA enforcing subway fares. Why should some people get to cheat the system? It's inherently unfair to everyone else that follows the rules.

1

flightwaves t1_j5wojkd wrote

It’s a real conundrum.

On one hand you have people who want everyone to pay their tolls but also don’t care that people skip out on subway fares like it’s not hypocritical.

Then you have people who think that number of drivers going down that there won’t be an even bigger fiscal crises driven by decrease in fines/toll revenue because let’s be real, the city factors in that revenue.

On the third hand you have people who think everyone should have to to bike 5 miles a day.

6

woman_thorned t1_j5wx1qj wrote

Revenue to maintain infrastructure can come from taxing everyone, and from focusing on the people who use the infrastructure.

People who deface their plates to use things for free... I sense... would not be willing to make it up in taxes, would they?

They just want something for nothing.

4

superfoodtown t1_j5x4e4d wrote

This person is not genuinely posing this question. Look at their other comments. What a troll

3

menschmaschine5 t1_j5xf6jg wrote

Yeah, no, drivers aren't getting fleeced. Car infrastructure is expensive as hell to maintain and they get free street parking to boot. This just means that the rest of us are paying more so they can skip out on tolls.

4

Starkville t1_j5wndhp wrote

Wait until congestion pricing kicks in.

3

MPFX3000 t1_j5wnj1s wrote

Yeah fuck that noise. That’ll be the fastest way for nyc to clear out even more office space

−4

Starkville t1_j5wo6zl wrote

Yep. I feel the same kind of ambiguity about the license plates. It’s interesting that I don’t remember anyone thinking to do this (or at least on such a massive scale) until the advent of EZ Pass.

1

BKEDDIE82 t1_j5wogp6 wrote

This all started happening when the speed cameras went up.

4

NegativeGee t1_j5worzv wrote

I just get angry when people think only about themselves and feel like they're above the law. However, I don't think that if the MTA were collecting their money things would be any different.

3

FixEmUpper t1_j5ws3w1 wrote

I agree, it makes me angry when people act as if they were above the law, while slobs like me just pay the ticket. But it makes me far more angry to get a ticket for going 36 mph on a completely empty street at six in the morning.

I'll admit, once I got to know where the (many, many) cameras are on my morning commute through eastern Queens--and I got to know where they are by getting 3 or 4 tickets in different spots when the cameras were first installed--it made me more conscious of slowing down, and now I don't even think about it. I just never, ever go over 30 mph in the morning. Of course, this doesn't stop some others from tailgating me, blowing the horn at me, giving me the high-beams... I had a freakin' commercial truck doing all three of these to me a while ago. I didn't slow down, I didn't antagonize the truck, I just kept to my 30 mph. That's what the safety police would want me to do, right? (Although I'm sure they'd prefer I kept below 25 mph or less, which is, frankly, difficult.) Anyway, once the truck was able to able to get around me (didn't take long), the driver proceeded to give me the finger. I just kept on driving at my pathetic little 30 mph.

I despise the cameras, I despise the clowns who try to cheat the system by defacing their plates and at this point, I despise having to enter the borough of Queens, which I used to love, and where I lived all of my childhood and much of my adult life.

4

Useful-Expert-5706 t1_j5x1cy7 wrote

Cars and car infrastructure plus all the negative externalities are expensive. After decades of passing off the costs the bills are coming due. Driving is not going to get any cheaper.

3

Proper-Negotiation33 t1_j5x8nj7 wrote

Irony is that a lot of the people who try to dodge tolls this way are cops and city officials

2

Dont_mute_me_bro t1_j5ybiel wrote

You have no way of knowing or proving that. Further, if this thread is right, all cops are from Long Island- which doesn't pay a toll to Brooklyn and Queens (where most LI cops try to get stationed).

1

Proper-Negotiation33 t1_j5ykje9 wrote

Look it up bro. There are multiple Reddit threads about it. Not to mention the insane number of NYPD who commute into the city by car bc they can just park anywhere. When congestion pricing hits, everyone else is going to pay whether it be via price or inconvenience except for NYPD commuters. Insane.

0

Dont_mute_me_bro t1_j5yp9mz wrote

Oh! Reddit threads with nimrods on their computers are a trusted and reliable source. Got it!!!

So a guy doing sheetrock on a condo in Grammercy isn't going to fudge his plates. Just cops. How about firefighters and EMTs? Are they all angels?

2

queensnyatty t1_j5wp2ww wrote

Is the answer for the honest people to pay and the dishonest people not to? Let those people taking the time and effort to cheat the system put that energy into electing politicians that will put in place policies they prefer.

1

froggythefish t1_j5yccqq wrote

I support it. I know and understand why it might seem like an asshole move and it is an asshole move. I don’t benefit from it, I take public transport and don’t have a car. But for the same reason i support jumping the turnstile, I support covering your license plate and skipping tolls. The government shouldn’t need to know your identity to use the public infrastructure, license plates only real use is surveillance. Covering it is like an opt out. You shouldn’t need to pay tolls or fares, your taxes already paid for the infrastructure! It belongs to you! You paid for it! “But maintenance!” It’s true, maintenance is expensive. The answer is to defund the police, full stop. If the government is going to spend my taxes on mercenaries, why would I give them more money to use the trains or in this case, roads, which they could totally afford if they stopped paying criminals.

1

doodoobug46 t1_j5x6z4b wrote

NYC is full of hall monitors and nanny's now. So lame.

0