For the final three days, drivers crossing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York had been below severe scrutiny. Authorities ended up stopping and seizing 44 totally different automobiles that had been registered to “persistent toll violators”. Combining all of these vehicles collectively, they characterize almost $1 million in unpaid tolls and violation charges.

Tolls are a significant a part of life in New York. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is at all times looking out for violators who don’t pay their fair proportion. In keeping with the MTA, it intercepted some 2,705 automobiles this 12 months and cited 2,933 for lined or obstructed license plates too. Repeat toll violators can have their registration suspended and finally seized.

Between December twelfth and December fifteenth, it carried out a sting on the bridge and caught the aforementioned 44 automobiles. One driver of a Vary Rover SUV owed over $52,000 in tolls and charges. As we’ve highlighted earlier than, drivers within the space use all manners to impede their plates to keep away from charges.

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Learn: NYC Congestion Cost Strikes Forward, Drivers May Face Tolls Of Up To $23 Per Day

“Our message is straightforward. Should you cowl your license plate or use faux plates, you’ll pay the value. Should you’re a repeat offender, your automotive goes to be seized and you might get arrested,” stated MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “That is about basic equity. It’s not proper when drivers in Mercedes and Porsches come onto our bridges and thru tunnels and skip out on 1000’s of {dollars} in tolls. They’re taking the general public’s cash, and New Yorkers should not going to place up with it.”

This isn’t the primary time that the MTA has carried out a sting operation on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge this 12 months. Firstly of this 12 months it had one other one there on only a single day, January eleventh, and within the course of caught 21 persistent toll violators. In that case, one driver of a Mazda CX-5 owed some $57,000 price of unpaid tolls courting again to 2021. Extra charges are coming sooner or later too. Congestion charges of as much as $23 per automotive might go reside in 2024. 

Picture Credit score MTA