Sunpass excitement
Jan. 10th, 2008 | 07:54 am
So back on June 10, 2008 I happened to be down in Davie visiting either ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
julbkwrm or urbanwebkat. I can't tell you which, because I don't remember, but what has been abundantly well documented is that shortly afterwards I zipped through the little Griffin Road toll booth, and my SunPass transponder, which is supposed to automatically pay the toll, didn't, so Sunpass gleefully snapped a picture of my car going right through the Griffin Road toll booth. Moments later – in rather less time than would be considered strictly legal in the State of Florida – I zipped through the toll booth right around Commercial Blvd, and my little SunPass went ping! And all seemed well with the world.
In a just, Lawful Good world, I would have been pulled over for major speeding, which I was clearly guilty of, would have learned a valuable lesson (well, probably not) and become a safe and productive member of society. Alas, this is not a just, Lawful Good world, as I found when, skipping forward to November I attempted to renew my online registration and was told that my driver's license had been suspended since I hadn't paid a ticket. After some investigation, I found out that I'd gotten a $105 ticket for not paying the Griffin Road toll even though my transponder had been charged that same night at the Commercial Blvd toll. Not that anyone had bothered to tell me of the original violation, the ticket, or my license suspension.
No big deal, I said, optimistically. (Optimism is not one of my defining characteristics, but every once in awhile, I like to play with it.) I shall simply call Sunpass up, give them my transponder and everything will be cleared up.
This first involved actually reaching a human person at Sunpass, which was more difficult than you would think, but after five calls, I got through, to be assured by the human that yes, yes, yes, clearly I was innocent, clearly everything was ok, except that she couldn't do anything because I hadn't paid the ticket.
"Because I never GOT the ticket."
"Well, the ticket was mailed to you, and you had to protest BEFORE the final date on the ticket."
"But it's an INVALID TICKET! You've just said so!"
But, she advised me cheerfully, I could protest the ticket in person. "Where?" I asked.
"At any Broward County Courthouse."
"Any Broward County Courthouse," I repeated.
"Yes," she said.
As you might guess, state of Florida officials are not necessarily the most trustworthy bunch. The North Broward Courthouse in Deerfield Beach happens to be more or less inconveniently between my house and my office, so, since my car registration had expired and this was becoming an urgent problem, I headed there yesterday morning only to promptly told that while yes, they were a courthouse and yes, you could certainly pay traffic tickets there if you wanted to, they did not handle SunPass tickets – I'd have to do that in Plantation. So I popped back into my car and drove down to Plantation. Where the nice helpful official agreed with me once again that no, I was absolutely not guilty, yes, the transponder had clearly been in my car the entire evening, and that sure, she'd remove the ticket and I would not have to pay the $105.50. Yay me.
And promptly proceeded to charge me for the court processing fee and to have my license reinstated.
I did point out, right, that the transponder was there in my car the entire time?
"You had one month to protest this," she said.
"How could I, when I didn't know anything about this?" I said.
"We mailed you."
Government. It sucks.
"I'm not paying this."
"If you don't, I won't be able to reinstate your license and you will not be able to register your car."
Government. Did I mention the suckage?
(For those outside Florida – car registration includes shiny little yellow stickers placed on your license plate. If you don't have an updated little shiny yellow sticker, the police are authorized to pull you over and either write you a ticket for not having a sticker or if they're annoyed, impound the car. Not something I felt like dealing with.)
Anyway, after this I trotted down to the other room to get my car registration, which went surprisingly quickly (no one is at the Broward Courthouse on Wednesday mornings) headed out quite disgruntled to my car, which I'd parked at the library...
...only to find that some friendly cop had ticketed me for an expired tag.
sigh.
At least I didn't get a speeding ticket. And on the decidedly bright note, someone has finally recognized that yes, my car is old, and has lowered my car insurance bill, a major plus for this month.
julbkwrm or urbanwebkat. I can't tell you which, because I don't remember, but what has been abundantly well documented is that shortly afterwards I zipped through the little Griffin Road toll booth, and my SunPass transponder, which is supposed to automatically pay the toll, didn't, so Sunpass gleefully snapped a picture of my car going right through the Griffin Road toll booth. Moments later – in rather less time than would be considered strictly legal in the State of Florida – I zipped through the toll booth right around Commercial Blvd, and my little SunPass went ping! And all seemed well with the world.In a just, Lawful Good world, I would have been pulled over for major speeding, which I was clearly guilty of, would have learned a valuable lesson (well, probably not) and become a safe and productive member of society. Alas, this is not a just, Lawful Good world, as I found when, skipping forward to November I attempted to renew my online registration and was told that my driver's license had been suspended since I hadn't paid a ticket. After some investigation, I found out that I'd gotten a $105 ticket for not paying the Griffin Road toll even though my transponder had been charged that same night at the Commercial Blvd toll. Not that anyone had bothered to tell me of the original violation, the ticket, or my license suspension.
No big deal, I said, optimistically. (Optimism is not one of my defining characteristics, but every once in awhile, I like to play with it.) I shall simply call Sunpass up, give them my transponder and everything will be cleared up.
This first involved actually reaching a human person at Sunpass, which was more difficult than you would think, but after five calls, I got through, to be assured by the human that yes, yes, yes, clearly I was innocent, clearly everything was ok, except that she couldn't do anything because I hadn't paid the ticket.
"Because I never GOT the ticket."
"Well, the ticket was mailed to you, and you had to protest BEFORE the final date on the ticket."
"But it's an INVALID TICKET! You've just said so!"
But, she advised me cheerfully, I could protest the ticket in person. "Where?" I asked.
"At any Broward County Courthouse."
"Any Broward County Courthouse," I repeated.
"Yes," she said.
As you might guess, state of Florida officials are not necessarily the most trustworthy bunch. The North Broward Courthouse in Deerfield Beach happens to be more or less inconveniently between my house and my office, so, since my car registration had expired and this was becoming an urgent problem, I headed there yesterday morning only to promptly told that while yes, they were a courthouse and yes, you could certainly pay traffic tickets there if you wanted to, they did not handle SunPass tickets – I'd have to do that in Plantation. So I popped back into my car and drove down to Plantation. Where the nice helpful official agreed with me once again that no, I was absolutely not guilty, yes, the transponder had clearly been in my car the entire evening, and that sure, she'd remove the ticket and I would not have to pay the $105.50. Yay me.
And promptly proceeded to charge me for the court processing fee and to have my license reinstated.
I did point out, right, that the transponder was there in my car the entire time?
"You had one month to protest this," she said.
"How could I, when I didn't know anything about this?" I said.
"We mailed you."
Government. It sucks.
"I'm not paying this."
"If you don't, I won't be able to reinstate your license and you will not be able to register your car."
Government. Did I mention the suckage?
(For those outside Florida – car registration includes shiny little yellow stickers placed on your license plate. If you don't have an updated little shiny yellow sticker, the police are authorized to pull you over and either write you a ticket for not having a sticker or if they're annoyed, impound the car. Not something I felt like dealing with.)
Anyway, after this I trotted down to the other room to get my car registration, which went surprisingly quickly (no one is at the Broward Courthouse on Wednesday mornings) headed out quite disgruntled to my car, which I'd parked at the library...
...only to find that some friendly cop had ticketed me for an expired tag.
sigh.
At least I didn't get a speeding ticket. And on the decidedly bright note, someone has finally recognized that yes, my car is old, and has lowered my car insurance bill, a major plus for this month.