In the January 28th edition of Liberal News and Commentary, I told you about a proposal that I would make at this month's meeting of the Illinois Toll Highway Authority Board of Directors. The proposal would be to offer discounts off tolls to those motorists who use I-PASS transponders to pay their tolls and who actually obey the speed limit.
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At the time that I wrote the commentary, the meeting was scheduled for Thursday of this week, February 22nd. The meeting was moved up to last Thursday, February 15th, so I made the presentation to them then.
They loved it.
The Tollway knows how many miles apart that toll plazas are located from each other. They could easily determine how many minutes it would take to travel between each pair of toll plazas at the speed limit. I-PASS users pre-pay an amount into their I-PASS accounts. I-PASS transponders keep track of the date and time that you pass through toll plazas on the Illinois Tollway system. If the number of minutes that it takes a motorist to pass through a pair of toll plazas equals or exceeds the number of minutes that it would take somebody who was obeying the speed limit, the I-PASS computer could immediately charge the motorist the discounted rate.
Most tolls on the tollway are 40 or 50 cents. A nickel discount per plaza doesn't seem luck much money or much of an incentive, but many motorists who use the system daily, to go to work, go through two or three plazas in each direction. If the motorist, then, spends a dollar, each way, on tolls, that's two dollars per day, ten dollars per week. Ten percent of that is one slim dollar but, over the course of a year, that's a fifty dollar savings. Project that out over ten or twenty years that you might stay at that job and your talking real money: Five hundred or a thousand bucks.
Some people might slow down for a thousand dollar savings over twenty years.
Obviously, for practical reasons, the Tollway could not use I-PASS transponders to enforce speed limits. If they tried it, 99% of I-PASS transponder users would throw them away. No more big brother! On the other hand, commercial operators may love both the discounts and the ability to reduce liability by being able to control the speeds of their drivers. When a commercial operator gets his I-PASS bill at the end of the month, he could ask his drivers, "Hey, where's my discount? Slow down or your fired!"
Tollway Chairman Art Philip has said that an increase in tolls will be necessary in the future to keep up with costs. Nobody likes paying tolls, and there certainly would be an uproar if tolls were ever to be increased. With the Rob Sherman Discount, the Tollway could say, "OK, if you use I-PASS and obey the speed limit, you get the old rate. If you want to blow down the highway at 80 or 90 miles per hour, you pay the new, higher rate." That way, a more substantial toll increase could take place, while still offering drivers the opportunity to travel at the more reasonable, old rate. That would certainly mute any public outrage at higher rates, while the Tollway would get more money by squeezing it out of the speeders. If a motorist didn't like the higher rate, all he would have to do is subscribe to I-PASS and slow down to the speed limit. Obeying the law is not too onerous a burden to place on drivers.
The State of Illinois is considering taking over the Tollway's debt, and thus, freeing the tollways. The problem is the cost. It is estimated that it could cost billions of dollars to remove tolls from the tollway system. With the Rob Sherman Discount plan, the State could choose to limit the costs that it covers. Instead of covering all of the costs of the Tollway, the State could cover the tolls of those drivers who obey the speed limit. Imagine: freeing the tollways, not for everybody, but only for those drivers who agree to have their speeds monitored by I-PASS and who then obey the speed limit!
Eventually, the Rob Sherman Discount could spread to highways across the country and around the world, saving thousands of lives, every year, due to reduced speeds on the highways, while producing new or increased revenue from the High Rollers who endanger our lives with their excessive speeds. Those who speed, or refuse to allow their speeds to be monitored by subscribing to Illinois I-PASS or corresponding systems in other states, would pay for it at toll plazas.
Certainly, speed limits on many Interstate Highways merit increases. Speed limits on most Interstate Highways are too low. The highways would be just as safe, even if speed limits were increased by from 5 to 20 mph, depending on the highway. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to travel down Interstate Highways at safe, high speeds, yet where most of the motorists were abiding by the speed limit, instead of the current practice where motorists simply ignore the posted limits and go any speed they want with impunity? Can you imagine this nation as a place where most people abide by the speed limits on interstate highways, rather than the current situation where most people ignore the speed limits?
Illinois Tollway Chairman Art Philip said that he liked my ideas, would have them looked into and would get back to me later with feedback.
The Chicago newspapers liked my ideas, too.
The Daily Herald put the story on the front page on Friday. Here's what it looked like:
The Chicago Sun-Times put the story on page 12 on Friday. Here is the internet edition of the Sun-Times story:
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Slow your speed, get a break on I-PASSFebruary 16, 2001 BY ROBERT C. HERGUTH TRANSPORTATION REPORTER
I-PASS users who obey speed limits could someday get a break on tolls. Rob Sherman, a well-known atheist-activist who attended the tollway board's Thursday meeting, said the agency should determine how long it takes to drive at legal speeds between toll plazas. Then, the agency should gauge how long it takes all I-PASS subscribers to travel those distances, he said. If drivers aren't speeding, based on the time-distance calculations, they should get a 5- or 10-cent break on tolls, Sherman proposed. The agency would be able to electronically measure real-time travel through the existing windshield-mounted I-PASS transponders, which automatically deduct tolls from participating motorists' pre-paid accounts when they pass through toll booths. Art Philip, the tollway's chairman, said the idea is worth studying. "I like it," he said. "It's a positive incentive instead of a negative incentive. I certainly will [ask] staff to look at it. I'm not sure if we have the ability to do it. . . . We have to be sensitive to the Big Brother" appearance. Sherman, who thought of the plan after last month's fatal Interstate 55 crash involving a Salvation Army van, said the tollway already has the ability to track I-PASS subscribers' movements, and he's not worried about abuse. But it's important that police aren't allowed to use the information to nab speeders, he said. "The government should offer a discount to those people who make their movements in a lawful manner--those few people," he said, adding speed limits ought to be raised in some areas, as well. "I try to obey the speed limit, and as a reward I get the finger dance."
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When I hear back from the Tollway, I'll let you know what they say. Please let me know what you think of the idea. Contact information appears next.
Rob Sherman P. O. Box
7410
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-7410
A post office box is used
because
the street address uses a curb mail box,
which is not secure.
Telephone: (847) 870-0700
Fax: (847) 870-1156
E-mail: rob followed by the at symbol followed by robsherman dot com
