It seems like all they had to do was fix the coin machines that seemed to always be broken (or just counted the coins at the slowest rate possible), or maybe give us the tap-to-pay options that you can find on gas station pumps nowadays. But nooooo, let’s go with this OCR system that doesn’t understand how to read all the license plates and costs even more because they have to mail all these letters.

That’s not strictly an Oklahoma turnpike problem either. I got a letter from Texas once saying I’d ran through a toll booth without paying, but the computer got the numbers (and state license plate) wrong. They were even trying to collect on a license plate I hadn’t had on the car in five years, so their database was old. I had to call in about it, and luckily the person said, “Yeah, this happens all the time” and removed the charge.

Is it reasonable to ask: If all those people get away without paying, why should I have to pay with my transponder?

Regarding the Tribal tags: “We haven’t done a lot of work with the tribes to address this problem, but we’re going to ramp that up.”

So in Oklahoma, with a HUGE amount of tribal tags, OTA decided to switch to billing people using tags. But they just neglected to work out an agreement, or even address this with tribes before implementing the system? And then blame THE TRIBES for them not getting the money they think they should pay?

Just breathtakingly stupid and racist.