A traffic tip
by David Benzion · 02/19/2007 10:30 amDear Sir or Madam,
On the off-chance you are the individual several cars in front of me driving south on the West Sam Houston Tollway yesterday at around 1:00 PM, I would like to offer the following friendly traffic tip.
In the future, if you should find yourself in the “EZ-tag Only” lane yet without an actual EZ-tag, please do NOT bring your vehicle to a complete stop only inches from the toll-booth and attempt to drive backwards across three lanes of 65 mph oncoming traffic so that you can pay in the proper lane.
Some of us prefer not to die or be permanently maimed just because you want to avoid a traffic fine.
Thank you for your kind consideration.
Sincerely,
David Benzion
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Mr. B.,
In defense of the sir or madaam, it is not their fault. It’s the HCTRA’s fault. Those signs are not user friendly…At least they didn’t blow through w/out paying./does this really need a sarc tag?
Here’s a question– if you go through the EZ tag lane without a tag and immediately pull over, go back and pay, can you avoid the fine?
The person staffing the toll booth is probably lucky the driver didn’t smash the booth in his/her/its haste to move over. Jeepers, I thought that kinda driving only happened in Mexico, France, or Italy
David re your #2:
That would depend if you have someone working in the toll booth that has half a brain (Or better yet use some common sense)and would accept someone trying to rectify an error and make it right. If not, that person just might call the cops, have you detained, fined and your car impounded.
My advice. Don’t go through the EZ tag lane unless you have a current tag on your vehicle. It’s not worth the risk!
I’m surprised that more accidents don’t occur because of this. I see this happen at least once a month. It is even more common to see people trying to back out of the exact change line because (I assume) they don’t have exact change.
They should make the tollway limited to people with easy tags and have gates on all of the entrance ramps to make this happen. Then all of the conspriacy theorist would stay off because they wouldn’t get the easy tag. You do know that with the new easy tag, they can track you anyone in the state of Texas
True story:
Several years ago, I followed a guy through an EZ tag lane who had his license plate covered by a piece of cloth. As the traffic was fairly heavy on the tollway, I later found myself along side the same vehicle and saw that it did not have an EZ tag and the driver was obviously out to break the law. However, his front license plate was visible. I wrote it down and sent it to the toll road authority along with a brief explanation.
I received a letter back thanking me. Apparently this guy had amassed hundreds of photos of his vehicle when going through the EZ tag lanes over the years but never had paid one dime. I read later where he was caught and fined over $15,000.
/I bet he’s still wondering who ratted him out/snitched!
You can’t really give traffic tips to people that don’t know how to drive in the first place.
All anyone has to do is pay attention while driving and make lane adjustments sometime prior to getting to where they have to be in a certain lane.
To many people drive without doing this, the result is last minute lane changes across several lanes of traffic thus endangering every other person on the road with them.
I can’t count the number of times I see this, or people backing up on the freeway because they missed their exit.
In the wrong lane? Get off at the next exit and come back. In the wrong toll lane, go through and call in to correct the problem.
Just don’t kill me because you are to STUPID to pay attention.
Last year my brother traded his truck in. A few weeks later, he started getting notices in the mail that his truck was going thru the EZ tag lane. He got it straightened out with HCTRA without having to pay any fines, but it was still a hassle.
Lesson learned: remove your license plates when you trade in a vehicle.
How about the idiot that runs the EZ tag lane (cause its actually moving and the pay in exact change lanes are st a standstill) anyway, the idiots who get into the ez tag lane and just before the bumper gaurds comes to a dead stop so they can cut into the exact change lane.
I WANT TO A BIG TANK, WITH A BOXING GLOVE MOUNTED ON THE FRONT, THEN I CAN HIT EM WITH THE BOXING GLOVE BEFORE I RUN EN OVER AND SMUSH EM FLAT!
If you do not have an ez tag - get the h3ll out of the eztag lane when you see those arrows on the pavement!!
Has any one noticed more people are now making every one suffer for their lack of attention like this? I seem to run across a lot of people that are turning left from the right lane and making everyone behind them pay for their mistake rather than going to the next intersection to take corrective actions in a more safe manor!
One of the driving lessons I gave my daughter was to not drive based on the 20 feet in front her bumper. Too many people fail to scan the road - the WHOLE road - while driving. It sounds like this driver is like so many others who fail to make appropriate lane changes at construction sites, etc., because they (1) fail to the see the signage indicating that their lane is closed ahead, or (2) depend upon the kindness of others to let them cut in front of them when the barrels smack ‘em in the face, or (3) just don’t give a damn.
Is this what we call blog road rage? LOL. I have to admit having a driver position for so many years either at UPS or some other delivery company I have seen alot. I agree with all of yall IMHO I think it is the dumbing down over all these years and now this is what we have. Tedtam, I agree with you, I taught my children to drive and one of the most important things I taught them was, to keep your eyes moving to get the big picture and always leave yourself and OUT.
#4 what do you have against toll booth workers?
Don’t forget boys and girls, if you damage any part of the toll road (arm guard, wall, curb) you get to pay for the repairs personally, not tax money. The person who damamged it pays….
malcom,
YOU”RE THE ONE!! I’LL GET YOU!!!
The whole thing sucks
Big time
I’m all for tolls but having a recorded plate number and send a bill
This system gets people killed
When I went camping just before I left saw someone WITH A TRAILER do that
Who needs starbucks with driving like that
#13 GB:
Nothing at all. I’m sure that many of them are fine upstanding citizens, who pay their taxes on time and do a fine job for the state and help provide for their family. Most all, I’m sure, have an IQ higher than a pencil. Some on the other hand…. (you can finish this for yourself) can’t make change for a quarter and that’s part of the reason they’re sitting in a booth on their stools all day watching the cars go by. I’ve seen and experienced the hand held calculators and some have still got it wrong! You just have to know what buttons to push, read and comprehend what the readout displays and then be able to figure out the proper amount in the change drawer/dispenser and give it to the awaiting driver. All the time trying to disregard the horns blowing and blaring from the backed up cars in the “change needed” lanes.
/sarc button alert should be unnecessary
#15 Iron Man.
You should have “knowed” that you’d get caught one day! Heh, heh! BTW, Do you still have the cloth and duct tape on your license plate? There’s a lot more concerned citizens out there who are watching…….and waiting……
Naah, I just steal a different car.
Oh, my God, here comes the liberal to stand up for the rights of toll-booth operators. Geez, gadboy, why do you think toll-booth people need YOU to stand up for them? Are you some kind of ACLU’er who is going to start representing toll-booth operators now??
The worst thing in the driving world are the ones who drive up to the white markers, and then try to sneak in front of dozens of waiting cars. It’s bad enough that they try to cheat those who waited, but they endanger the lives of innocent people who have to slam on the brakes because they are stopped in the main lanes.
I can almost guarantee you that those people who do that are liberals.
The movie “Idiocracy” comes to mind…
I don’t like toll booth operators. They’re slow and dim-witted. That’s why I got eztag, despite now the government being able to track my car, so I don’t have to deal with them anymore.
Hate to be mean, but as retribution for all the times they made me wait and wait and wait, now, whenever I exit the tollway, if there are no other cars in either lane, I choose the lane with the toll booth operator so they have to put down their book when they see me coming. Then, I just blow right on through.
Hey, messing with toll-booth operators and staying up late to be First on each new day’s forum is about all the fun I get to have!
#20 ThunderHawk:
I “thunk” it and you said it! Toll booth operators of the world should unite! ACLU to the rescue! LOL!
2. David
Since government runs it, I doubt there is such an easy solution. Further, as has been pointed out here, if you go through without an EZ tag, you get a bill in the mail with a picture of your car (happened to me when there was a glitch with my account when my bank changed names). I doubt the bureaucrats would give a toll booth operator the discretion to deal with such a situation. Particularly because it is just common sense.
That’s how they drive in Mexico. Why should they drive any differently now that they’re here?
Notice how the subject get changed from chiding stupid and inconsiderate drivers to defending mensa toll-booth operators? Is that another liberal tactic?
TH: Better be careful. The last guy that said that he didn’t like a certain “group of folks with a difference sexual orientation than his” didn’t get to play in the NBA all star game!
Unbelievable!
Gadboy is defending toll booth operators because that’s what he aspires to be when he finally passes the GED test.
Toll Booth Workers of the world, UNITE!
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7D8153EF936A25754C0A963958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fS%2fStrikes
@7-If I have a degree from A and M., Do I need to go back for a G.E.D?
Wino: Re your #27.
ROTFLMAO! That was really good! Almost cost me a keyboard but the cat got in the way. The cat can clean it’s self!
(Rainman voice)
I’m an excellent driver….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82G7LTZsEfs
#31
Fasternu - I’m ROFLMAO! Women drivers (except me, of course) are the worst! They are the ones who will not let someone in if a lane is closed. just look straight ahead and ignore people trying to merge. Is it just woman to woman road rage or do they do it with men also? Curious commenters want to know!
#32 Neo: Couldn’t watch Faster’s video due to that darn FREE dial-up at home.
However, I am the most kindest woman driver that I know. I will let you in. (and will be Pissed if you don’t gimme that thank-you wave) I will even let you in, if you gimme that blinker on not-so-short notice. If I see a car trying to come out of a gas station, etc., and you have been there before me, I will let you in. I will not let the person behing you cut, though. BUT: If I have been waiting in the left lane to turn left for 20 minutes, for example: exiting off the toll road where the next exit is Rayford/Sawdust Rd. and I have been wating patiently and Joe-Shmo tries to get into my lane with his expensive car (shooting the gap to avoid the traffic), uuhh, I will look at you and shake my finger and head no. Yes, I have almost hit the car in front of me as to not let you in. Kinda like those illegals cutting in line. Uhhh, NO. I’ve even had them honk at me, like I was doing something wrong. /standing off soapbox and going back into my cave…
Another thing: Do I have to call you Iron Man or can I still call you Fasternme? You can’t change a leopards spots, don’t cha know, but you can sure change you moniker….
#33 ST
A woman after my own heart! I also will let you in, especially if you’ve turned on your turn signals. If you’re a big rig, I will always let you in! However, if you’re too stupid or selfish to get in line, trying to cut in front of everyone, I have been known to open my car door to block your way. During the Great Evacuation, I did that to a Mexican or someone-of-similar-ethnicity with a tricked out big ol’ truck trying to use the emergency lane as his personal LOV (low occupancy vehicle) lane. I pulled halfway over into the shoulder and opened my door. He gestured at me, I returned the favor, but I didn’t care. I had been in my hot car for hours. I was ready - bring it on! (He eventually got back into traffic and managed to get around me, but I at least slowed him down.)
/ought to enroll in CHL class
Sorry, Benzion. I got a chuckle out of your comments, but - When I learned to drive - waaay back in ‘49, I was taught that it was my responsibilty to have control of my vehicle to the point that if the driver in front of me did something stupid, I would not run into him!
#5 don’t you know that’s how the antichrist is going to keep track of the Christians!!!! /just making sure sarcasm is noted
What I personally don’t like about EZ Tags is that I don’t use the toll enough to justify the expense. I know that sounds ridiculous but it’s true.
Oh and here’s another person who will be ever so kind as to let you over unless we’re in a hurricane evacuation and you’re going up the shoulder or the WRONG WAY up the other lane to sneak in front of all of us who have been waiting just as long. In that case I will be hugging my big 15 passenger van up to the bumper in front of me and block as much of the shoulder as I can!! Same for accidents, I do NOT want to catch you sneaking up the shoulder even if you do look like a gang member because I guarantee I can look just as mean and if I have to pull out my gun….