Dear Editor:
Readers have written frequently about the potential for danger at toll booths on the Garden State Parkway.
Specifically, the EZPass lanes are located, for the most part, on the left, in the middle and on the right side of the toll barriers. However, signs proclaiming EZPass prior to entering the toll barrier fail to indicate their location. Confusion ensues!
Add to this fact that vehicles, despite signs advising a slowdown, are hurtling into those massed before the toll barrier. EZPass lanes, unfortunately, deprive other users when they are designed for exclusive use. Fewer toll booths assigned to non-EZPass users create additional congestion, (a tool undoubtedly designed by the GSP to force conversions upon those who have not yet gotten “religion.”)
We have other models for comparison. For example all Hudson River Crossing toll booths accept EZPass tags as well as the conventional methods of payment; understandably, EZPass users don’t like this but it is fair and a small price to pay for safety. The New York State Thruway Authority advises EZPass users, in subdued print on the roadway signs, that they may use any lane, no need to jockey around for proper positioning; this hardly helps the non-tagged vehicles but is a first step in the direction of helping drivers to get “religion.”
For those who have not yet gotten “religion”: EZPass is not going away as more and more drivers sign up. Be one of the users and help the GSP and the NJ Turnpike, to modernize and improve traffic flow.
Resistance is futile!
Frank X. Landrigan