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Automation May Make Toll Roads More Common
bfwebster writes "Here in Denver, we have E-470, a toll section of the 470 beltway, that uses the usual transponder attached to your windshield. Fair enough, and I make use of it, particularly in driving to the airport. But they've just implemented new technology on E-470 that allows anyone to drive through the automated toll gates. If you don't have a transponder, it takes a photo of your license plate and sends a monthly bill to your house. As a result, the company that runs E-470 plans to close all human-staffed toll booths by mid-summer. And as an article in this morning's Rocky Mountain News notes, 'Such a system could be deployed on other roads, including some that motorists now use free. The result: a new source of money for highways and bridges badly in need of repair.' You can bet that legislators, mayors, and city councilpersons everywhere will see this as an even-better source of income than red-light cameras. You've been warned."
My car is the only thing that shields me from the failures of society. This 3mm steel wall between me and the scum is all I can ever hope to get in the now socialist Western Europe.
You're probably talking about my country, or one bordering it.
Do us all a favour and fuck off out of here. I suggest the USA.
Well, I'm one of the last to pay taxes here. A quarter of a million of my taxpaying collegues are fleeing every year to never return. Says the official statistic, not me.
No one is handing over 50% of their income every month out of sheer philanthropy. We do, because the police and the circumstances doesn't allow any different, but as you, my friendly welfare recipients, have gained the literal and absolute majority for all coming general elections, I feel a little uneasy about the future tax rates, I don't know why.
If I could ride the bus safely, I just might shut up and pay the horrendous amounts of money our tax authorities are extorting every month. But as it stands now, myself and many other people surely check their emigration options. 250'000 of them take their college degree and do so already. Every year.
Who will pay for your booze and weed when the last of us is gone?