Truck driver uses flip-up license plate to avoid $65 toll
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Police say a Virginia truck driver tried to dodge the hefty $65 toll into Manhattan by rigging his front license plate so it would flip up on command -- a maneuver that might do James Bond or MacGyver proud.
Instead, the driver came off like MacGruber, that hapless ‘Saturday Night Live’ character who always manages to muck things up.
Police are ‘on the lookout for such maneuvers,” Port Authority spokesman Ron Marsico told the Associated Press. “Hopefully this will serve as a lesson.”
The wire service reports that, according to police, Nelson Vaquiz of Beaverdam, Va., had a cable in his truck cabin that was attached to his front license plate, allowing him to lift up the plate as he rolled through a gateless toll lane on New Jersey’s Interstate 95, heading over the George Washington Bridge.
Vaquiz didn’t have a toll transponder, the account says, so hiding his license plate could theoretically keep the security cameras from tracking him down by his license plate and forcing him to cough up the toll.
Vaquiz apparently put some thought into this, the New York Post reported: He’d also bent up his rear plate so it wouldn’t be visible to the cameras either.
But a sharp-eyed Port Authority officer noticed the license plate falling back into the place, media reports say, and tried to pull Vaquiz over as he was hauling pipes about 6:35 a.m. Saturday. Vaquiz allegedly tried to make a run for it, but authorities managed to halt the vehicle before it reached the bridge.
Here’s the upshot: Such efforts were apparently an attempt to avoid forking over $65. Now, Vaquiz, 36, faces charges of eluding arrest, theft of service and possession of burglary tools. He was released on bail.
Of course, plenty of drivers -- and would-be drivers -- have balked at New York City’s steep toll prices. And the tolls will keep getting higher, the Port Authority says. By the end of 2015, a five-axle truck will have to pay $105 to cross the bridge.
It wasn’t a completely crazy gambit. Some drivers do indeed manage to race through the gateless lanes by obscuring their license plates.
We’re not sure how they manage to get away with it. But if you want to do it James Bond style -- and get away with it -- watch the above video. You’ll find your answer about 1:18 seconds in.
Warning: The video will also make you yearn for a passenger ejector seat.
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-- Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch
