# What happens if you can't pay a toll at a public tollbooth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-you-cant-pay-a-toll-at-a-public-tollbooth/566660 "2011-01-06T21:11:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-you-cant-pay-a-toll-at-a-public-tollbooth/566660/41 "2011-01-25T03:08:57Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > The bridges and tunnels within New York City (such as the Battery Tunnel and Verrazano Bridge, not the NJ border crossings) have gates on them, and will not lift until the toll is paid. > > [edit] > > By the way, the gate is at windshield height, so I don’t think it would be very smart to just try to drive straight through. Way back when I-95 still had tolls on the stretch through Connecticut, I found myself at an automated booth with no cash. I had stopped with my driver’s window next to the coin hopper, and I noticed that the front of my hood was already under the gate (cars were bigger then). So I inched forward. The gate touched the windshield, then hitched upward as it squeaked along the glass, leaving a thin, red-and-white streak along the way. Once the gate was on my roof, I drove through. A year or two later, I was at a tollbooth in NYC. Again, no coins for the hopper. (It may or may not have been the same car; I don’t remember.) As I inched forward, the gate touched my windshield and then quickly snapped off. I remember thinking it looked like balsa wood as it flew past me. Oddly, I had no repercussions from either incident. This was before robot cameras were common, but they weren’t unheard of, and there were attendants in adjacent booths both times. Kids: Do not try this at home — I mean, at toll booths. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-you-cant-pay-a-toll-at-a-public-tollbooth/566660/42 "2011-01-25T03:14:05Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > Way back when I-95 still had tolls on the stretch through Connecticut, I found myself at an automated booth with no cash. I had stopped with my driver’s window next to the coin hopper, and I noticed that the front of my hood was already under the gate (cars were bigger then). So I inched forward. The gate touched the windshield, then hitched upward as it squeaked along the glass, leaving a thin, red-and-white streak along the way. Once the gate was on my roof, I drove through. > > A year or two later, I was at a tollbooth in NYC. Again, no coins for the hopper. (It may or may not have been the same car; I don’t remember.) As I inched forward, the gate touched my windshield and then quickly snapped off. I remember thinking it looked like balsa wood as it flew past me. > > Oddly, I had no repercussions from either incident. This was before robot cameras were common, but they weren’t unheard of, and there were attendants in adjacent booths both times. > > Kids: Do not try this at home — I mean, at toll booths. Mr. Wimbley, it happened again… ---
**Author:** ![aeroxy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@aeroxy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeroxy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-you-cant-pay-a-toll-at-a-public-tollbooth/566660/43 "2011-11-11T05:17:42Z")
Wrong reply… ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-you-cant-pay-a-toll-at-a-public-tollbooth/566660/44 "2011-11-11T17:57:22Z")
> [@TheChileanBlob](#): > > In Atlanta, our toll road only costs fifty cents. If you drive through without paying, they send you a bill for $25.50, fifty cents for the toll and $25 for the fine. Give a politician a way to fleece the public and they will do it every time. Yeah, I mean a $25 fine on a .50 cent mistake, that’s reasonable. When are we as citizens going to say enough is enough? ---
**Author:** ![Aeris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Aeris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeris)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-you-cant-pay-a-toll-at-a-public-tollbooth/566660/45 "2011-11-11T19:41:15Z")
Heartwarming story… I pulled up to a toll booth operator exiting the PA Turnpike having _just_ realized that I didn’t have any cash to pay the toll. I said, “What happens if you don’t have money to pay the toll?” She asked me if I had a checkbook and I said “nope”. She then told me to pull over and park in the lot and go inside to see an officer to fill out some form. When I started to get out of my car another car pulled up next to me and the driver shouted out the window “don’t worry! I got it!” and drove away. Aww…Thanks random dude in a truck! You’re the coolest! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-you-cant-pay-a-toll-at-a-public-tollbooth/566660/46 "2011-11-11T21:31:04Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > Give a politician a way to fleece the public and they will do it every time. Yeah, I mean a $25 fine on a .50 cent mistake, that’s reasonable. When are we as citizens going to say enough is enough? I think the point is not to be reasonable, but to penalize you enough that you won’t decide just to make that way of doing it your standard operating procedure. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-you-cant-pay-a-toll-at-a-public-tollbooth/566660/47 "2011-11-11T21:40:32Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I think the point is not to be reasonable, but to penalize you enough that you won’t decide just to make that way of doing it your standard operating procedure. Likely so. There’s a city in suburban Chicago (Naperville) which has grown tremendously over the past few decades, and is now well over 100,000 people. The demand for parking at Naperville’s commuter train station (for people to commute to jobs in downtown Chicago) far exceeds demand; the wait list for spots in the lot is about 10 years long. As parking tickets (for illegally parking on the streets near the train station) are only $15, which is even less than the cost of parking in a downtown Chicago lot or ramp, there are many people who now just view parking tickets as part of their commuting cost. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-you-cant-pay-a-toll-at-a-public-tollbooth/566660.md?page=2)