That's it, I've had it with the Toll Road!

[zooom]

D....this is the other option I mentioned to you on Wednesday evening BTW...

http://www.aerostich.com/catalog/US/Forearm-Map-Case-p-16196.html

[skurvy]

Update: went to court and charges were dismissed. Judge's final remark, "don't rely on the cameras to work".

[Slide Panda]

Judge's final remark, "don't rely on the cameras to work".

Meaning what exactly?  They might not work - so you scoff the toll since there's no record of you?  Or don't rely on the system to take your picture and actually get it right by deducting from your account... but instead slack off and sen you tickets?

[sbrguy]

use this

http://www.jjcyclepass.com/

i had this on my bike and it was picked up by ez pass everytime, got it bc the taping the ezpass to the gas cap wouldn't work at times, got a notice in the mail but proved i had one at the time so no worries. 

got this holder that attahces to the handle bars, it holds the ezpass upside down (this is key as the ezpass has to be upside down to be picked up, i noticed if its right side up it won't register) and then after putting this on it was picked up evertime by the ezpass sensor, no problems at all.

get it, its only like 20 dollars or something and it works.

honlestly i have found the map pass thing doesn't work at times for me bc the "barrier" of the holder seems to sometimes interfere with teh signal, with this design there is nothing between the pass really and the sensor. 

[skurvy]

Meaning what exactly?  They might not work - so you scoff the toll since there's no record of you?  Or don't rely on the system to take your picture and actually get it right by deducting from your account... but instead slack off and sen you tickets?

I think the judge meant it as don't rely on the cameras to take your picture and deduct from your account and to always have the smart tag with you if you're going to use the smart tag lane. She went on saying that her husband has a smart tag and uses a motorcycle and never has problems. I didn't even want to get into a discussion about whether or not his motorcycle has a windshield or whatever.

After I pleaded not guilty and explained what happened, the look of disbelief from the judge was a little surprising. She asked if I had any proof of the picture/electronic deduction process and I had the 2 documents with me. 1) the letter from the Smart Tag office and 2) the past 42 transactions on my transponder dated 5/1 through 7/30.

I told her that the tag works 50 percent of the time, for example it won't work at toll plaza but it will work when I exit off the toll road. After reading the letter and seeing my smart tag transactions I could tell she didn't want to get into it and just said, "keep your smart tag with you and don't rely on the cameras to work".

[zooom]

I could tell she didn't want to get into it and just said, "keep your smart tag with you and don't rely on the cameras to work".

wise man once said ...not waste time on arguement with better prepared persons.....Confucious was obviously channelling himself through the Judge it seems....good on you for being so prepared!

[Aikidoka]

got this holder that attahces to the handle bars, it holds the ezpass upside down (this is key as the ezpass has to be upside down to be picked up, i noticed if its right side up it won't register) and then after putting this on it was picked up evertime by the ezpass sensor, no problems at all.

It will read right side up if the battery is good in it.  That is how it sits on the tank bag of my MTS.  I have no luck with it at an angle though.  On my 999 I mounted it inside the windscreen on the left side and it had never read.

[ducatiz]

I think the judge meant it as don't rely on the cameras to take your picture and deduct from your account and to always have the smart tag with you if you're going to use the smart tag lane. She went on saying that her husband has a smart tag and uses a motorcycle and never has problems. I didn't even want to get into a discussion about whether or not his motorcycle has a windshield or whatever.

After I pleaded not guilty and explained what happened, the look of disbelief from the judge was a little surprising. She asked if I had any proof of the picture/electronic deduction process and I had the 2 documents with me. 1) the letter from the Smart Tag office and 2) the past 42 transactions on my transponder dated 5/1 through 7/30.

i find that pathetic.  my grandma, who is FAR from knowledgeable about traffic and EZpass knows about the photo matching.  it seems to me a judge who is in this kind of position and DOES NOT KNOW is perhaps one step from being derelict.

I told her that the tag works 50 percent of the time, for example it won't work at toll plaza but it will work when I exit off the toll road. After reading the letter and seeing my smart tag transactions I could tell she didn't want to get into it and just said, "keep your smart tag with you and don't rely on the cameras to work".

didnt' want to get into it?  i am sure.  it is nauseating though. 

send her a nice letter with some information from EZPass which explains how their system works.  tell her you found her knowledge of EZPass "depressing" and it's a shame that a traffic judge is ignorant of how toll roads in her area work.

sign it "Lazlo Toth"

[twolanefun]

So I wrote AMA, the Govenor, and Vdot. The Govenor's office gave me a reply from the seretary of transportation "99.95% accuracy rate under most conditions" and it gets worse " on occasion a transponder may fail to read for reasons such as minor equipment malfunction, imporperly mounted transponder - blah, blah , blah,"  and " I should point out that our system is designed to so that even if your transponder doesn't read properly, the toll amount will still be automatically deducted from your E-ZPass acount as long as the account is in good standing and the account information, inlcduing license plate information, is correct" Guess they forgot to tell the Virginia State Police. The AMA is concerned but wants more info, they did not jump on it but I get the impression they would with enough information. Vdot, gave me a direct number to call. So I made the call, they state that the transponder has a weight element to it and that I really need a different transponder for the 5 motorcycles and one for the Truck, so I decided to play along, they issued me a new transponder for my truck, which BTW was only 1 year old, and another one for the motorcycles, so far I've tested it with the Vicory KP, which was already pretty reliable with the old transponder and the M900, which failed about 50% of the time at the Dulles Toll road main plaza but was 99% at other entrances/exits and 100% on the greenway. The new one appears to be working, 5 trips so far through the main toll plaza and no failures on either bike. Have not tested the other Victory or the S2R and ST3 but things are looking up, whether it's the new battery or there in fact some other difference with the new transponder I do not know, but I'm optomistic. Only downside is I now have 2 transponders, which means that my account is loaded up with $70, instead of the usual $35 and when it gets low they load it up with $70, not a big deal just means I have more trips between fill ups. I would like to see this thread continue, would love to get AMA involved but right now I do not have a reason. - Gene

[David Lowenstein]

...so I decided to play along, they issued me a new transponder for my truck, which BTW was only 1 year old, and another one for the motorcycles...

Thanks for the report Gene, this is good information.  Is there anything on the new "motorcycle" transponder that enables you to distinguish it from the car/truck transponder?  In the past, I have requested a motorcycle-specific transponder from MD EZPASS and was told there was no such thing.  I'd love to have some specific model or other identifier that I can offer up the next time I call with this request.

Dave

[twolanefun]

Damned if I can see any difference, they wrote a number for me on the motorcyle unit but from the outside they look the same to me. They would like me to belive that there is a weight component, which translates to class, but since the charge for motorcycles and cars are the same I'm not buying the class thing. We will just have to see how this works out, so far so good. - Gene