Having driven
I-405 a few times now since the implementation of the new "Express
Toll" lanes, I have formed a perception about this new idea, who it
benefits, and how it is being received.
And, as a wise woman taught me, you can't deny anyone's perception - they own it!
I just got my first toll bill, inadvertently, when the two of us were traveling south through Bellevue, in the fast lane because our former car pool lane has been taken from us when the minimum number was raised to three. We waited until we thought we were safe and crossed into the car pool lane just under the first underpass in Downtown Bellevue by the sign that said that the Express Toll lanes were ending. Apparently, we were still too soon, and got a bill for $.75 plus $2 for failing to open an account and give them the money in advance.
I had already decided that it was clear that the new fast lanes were created, with public funding, for one reason: to ease the passage of Society's Elites through traffic. As the income gap between rich and poor in this country has widened, we are slowly and inexorably being molded into a society of Lords and Ladies, in their sequestered, gated communities and their Ivory Towers, and the rabble clustered around the bases of the towers in their festering, teeming slums where only the strong survive, fairness and justice have been abandoned, and the police are the enemies of the poor.
You can see the start of that attitude in the new "Express Toll" lanes. As we crawled northbound in heavy traffic, while the rich people in their BMWs and Audis flew by on the left, it occurred to me that the reason there were so few people in that lane was not the cost - it was only $.75, after all -, it was a form of protest! The vast majority of the commuters and travelers in the other lanes were just like me, hunched behind the wheel and fuming as those arrogant jerks swept by in the the former car pool lane that we used to be able to use, but damned if we were going to go along with the obvious ripoff and accept the injustice of our elected government hiring faceless bureaucrats who then decided to take our rights away and give them to anyone willing to pay the toll.
Adding insult to injury was the introduction of computerized cameras operated by for - profit companies to rake money out of the pockets of the public, first through school zone and intersection tickets, and now tolling the people to pay for driving on roads they already paid for the construction of. The latest word is that the system is going to be expanded across the country! Think about that! You can drive across the country throwing dollar bills out the window, electronically. How soon before there is a border tax every time you cross a state line, or a county?
I just wonder, sometimes, how long we are going to continue to put up with this? Fortunately, the Seahawks will be playing again this Sunday, and there's lots of new shows on TV... :-{)}
And, as a wise woman taught me, you can't deny anyone's perception - they own it!
I just got my first toll bill, inadvertently, when the two of us were traveling south through Bellevue, in the fast lane because our former car pool lane has been taken from us when the minimum number was raised to three. We waited until we thought we were safe and crossed into the car pool lane just under the first underpass in Downtown Bellevue by the sign that said that the Express Toll lanes were ending. Apparently, we were still too soon, and got a bill for $.75 plus $2 for failing to open an account and give them the money in advance.
I had already decided that it was clear that the new fast lanes were created, with public funding, for one reason: to ease the passage of Society's Elites through traffic. As the income gap between rich and poor in this country has widened, we are slowly and inexorably being molded into a society of Lords and Ladies, in their sequestered, gated communities and their Ivory Towers, and the rabble clustered around the bases of the towers in their festering, teeming slums where only the strong survive, fairness and justice have been abandoned, and the police are the enemies of the poor.
You can see the start of that attitude in the new "Express Toll" lanes. As we crawled northbound in heavy traffic, while the rich people in their BMWs and Audis flew by on the left, it occurred to me that the reason there were so few people in that lane was not the cost - it was only $.75, after all -, it was a form of protest! The vast majority of the commuters and travelers in the other lanes were just like me, hunched behind the wheel and fuming as those arrogant jerks swept by in the the former car pool lane that we used to be able to use, but damned if we were going to go along with the obvious ripoff and accept the injustice of our elected government hiring faceless bureaucrats who then decided to take our rights away and give them to anyone willing to pay the toll.
Adding insult to injury was the introduction of computerized cameras operated by for - profit companies to rake money out of the pockets of the public, first through school zone and intersection tickets, and now tolling the people to pay for driving on roads they already paid for the construction of. The latest word is that the system is going to be expanded across the country! Think about that! You can drive across the country throwing dollar bills out the window, electronically. How soon before there is a border tax every time you cross a state line, or a county?
I just wonder, sometimes, how long we are going to continue to put up with this? Fortunately, the Seahawks will be playing again this Sunday, and there's lots of new shows on TV... :-{)}
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