Millions of drivers around the country use E-ZPass and other electronic toll collection systems to speed them on their daily drives, but consumers are discovering that there is a price to be paid for the convenience: loss of privacy, haggling between state systems, accidental fines. Now, add to that list the “orphan exit.”
You probably know you should read your bills carefully every month looking for signs of fraud or overcharging by retailers. But if you're like most people, you probably don't do it anyway. Fortunately, Pennsylvania driver Kathy Suntato is that special consumer who keeps her magnifying glass nearby when scanning her bills.
Once each week, Suntato gets on the Pennsylvania Turnpike at Philadelphia and gets off at Willow Grove, about 20 miles up the road. Under the turnpike’s toll scheme, that should cost her 75 cents. But seven times in recent weeks, Suntato was charged $5 instead. The reason: "orphan exits." Never heard of them? If you drive on a highway that collects tolls electronically, you'd better get to know the term.
Suntato, like millions of drivers around the country, keeps her E-ZPass box with the radio-enabled computer chip attached to her windshield. Every time she enters or exits the highway, a Pennsylvania Turnpike Authority computer makes note of it, and deducts the toll from a prepaid account that's replenished regularly by charges against Suntato's credit card.
Privacy advocates have long warned of the dangers of a system that knows where drivers are coming and going, but consumers have embraced the E-ZPass system because it lets them speed past traffic jams at toll plazas. In some states, including New Jersey, E-ZPass users even get a discount.
Extra charge
But Suntato isn't getting a discount; in fact, she's paying extra. Toll fees on the Pennsylvania Turnpike are based on distance -- the farther you drive, the more you pay. But what happens when the system doesn't know how far you drove because the computers don’t know where you entered the highway?
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