We’re Good To Go!
If you live far from the Puget Sound Basin, you need to know about ‘Good to Go’ and avoid a lot of frustration. But also note, I’ve included a business idea as a muse, who knows what kind of money it might make?
My concern about this Half Assed System started when I saw how much anxiety and frustration it created for a Neighbor and Friend who believes in doing what he can for his fellow man. Public service has been a big part of his life for the last dozen years as I have witnessed.
A recent good deed was to sell an older S10 pickup to a younger man in need, as he had a job, and no transportation. Roger sold the little truck for $200, likely less than what he could have gotten from the salvage guy.
Roger’s Wife went on line and filed the Sellers report right on the date of sale, and the online tool confirmed the transaction.
Some months later, Roger has a package from ‘Good to Go’, with total charges of $1641.00 for toll charges and late fees. Warnings were issued that if he wanted to contest the fines, there’s little you can do without legal documents, and further threats if he didn’t pay the fines, there would be civil penalties. and they would turn it over to collections id not paid.
Roger is in his seventies, has had several operations, and carries a lot of hardware in his back from operations and now wears a pain patch to get through the day.
The ‘not so good to go guy’ doesn’t see the report of sale, and he doesn’t think it’s his job to look for it, the State apparently didn’t flag this vehicle with the Seller’s report of sale.
Roger has made a trip to Redmond to talk with the ‘not so good to go guy’, a long and painful trip for him, and it has taken up his time to learn how to write the State for that confirmation of the Report of sale.. and now he has it. But the time invested in worry and legwork to get this parasite off his back, it’s just plain unfair.
I envision a new and popular software tool, if the State is going to authorize ‘good to go’, if they see no reason to update their records with a report of sale, why not have some fun?
Sure it’s just a muse, but imagine! You know that glossy paper and the wonderful job a new inkjet printer can do. How about a package to print license plates? That guy whose given you trouble, well here it is, a totally inflexible system that will find him guilty with no possible recourse! He pays the big fine, or they levy a civil penalty and ruin his credit.
Yes, what’s the odds you’d be caught? Just put that glossy fake plate over yours and drive across the toll bridge, and every time you do, the poor bastard that was assigned that plate will be fighting a civil penalty.
And do note, it’s all so easy to operate out of Hong Kong now, and do check Ebay items, and the low low fees for shipping.
But there may be a legitimate reason to run a false plate, I mean.. do you really want others copying yours?
screwed
G
I think the good to go guy could get those charges dismissed with about as much ease as Hillary Clinton could get a new passport. Public “service” types know how to and enjoy working a system set up for them or by them. The government class don’t put up with what members of the pion class are subject to.
Bill, and update, even now that Roger’s wife has received a copy of the online sellers report, AND offered to send it to ‘Good To Go’ It looks like they’ll have to make one of the worst commutes in our state ‘from here to Redmond’, where they will attend their hearing. I’m not so sure these parasites won’t Access penalties for failing to understand how wrong it was that he only forwarded the notifications to the guilty party, something we might all do, before the State would make a deal with about anyone IF they got a share of the profit..
In Roger’s case.. Good to Go wants him at his hearing regardless of whether he has the sellers report or not.. more to follow.
Is good to go administered by cronies or the state? Sometimes fascism leads to rude shameless customer service even worse than genuine government service.
http://www.govtech.com/e-government/Washington-DOT-Unveils-Good-To-Go.html
“Good to Go”, good-to-go … had to look it up … Oh! Toll tag system reading and billing system! For me (not a Washington State resident the post was confusing until I put 2 and 1/2*4 together and arrived at a whole-number answer less than 5 and greater than 3!)
_Jim
PS. We’ve got some sort of equiv. here in Tx … and we have scalawags like the twenty-two drivers who last year about this time owed more than $100,000 in unpaid tolls (and penalties) with the list topped by a Dallas woman whose bill stands at $179,596.43 … that is probably a figure accrued over a decade ‘scalawaging’.
I sold a vehicle once upon a time and the buyer ended up getting ticketed for parking or some such and I ended up faxing in documents supporting my contention I had sold that car with plate attached (buyer failed to register the vehicle promptly) … never again. I plan on keeping the next plate when I sell a car; the buyer can pay to get a temporary paper plate but I’m keeping my metal one!
Jim, I really need to post the latest on this.
In the instance I write about, our State has decided that you ARE guilty till you prove your innocence, but it is far worse that that! Members of the Royal Court, (our elected representatives), have given WSDOT the authority to hold their own court trials, and on those online pages at WSDOT they even talk about the limited powers given the Judge to wave penalties. So unless you have a legal document as proof you didn’t commit the crime, you should expect to be found guilty.
Here’s the facts in this case.
My friends sold a Chevy s10 truck to a young man for $200. It was a charitable act to a stranger because he said he had a job, and no transportation. My friends are elderly and in poor health, one wears a pain patch and is in continuous pain, the other needs a walker to get around. Roger has spend the last 10 years or more helping at a food bank and involved in other charitable work. Money does not flow like water into this household, and the payment could only be tendered via a loan.
It was made clear to WSDOT that this vehicle was sold well in advance of $1641.00 worth of tolls, most of which were penalties, and other fees for 36 individual violations (crossing a toll without payment). The sellers report was filed according to all the rules of WSDOT, it was done online.
Through the months of worry over the threats and notices of penalty, the warnings of turning it over to collections, the thoughts of a ruined perfect credit rating, my friends were left with what to do?
Finally, WSDOT suggested they write WSDOT and get a copy of the Seller’s Report thy filed with WSDOT. Yes, they did that, and the report arrived attached to email. Once they received this, they called the WSDOT good to go people again, and said, ‘we have the copy of the report filed with WSDOT, what do we do now? The answer, bring it to your hearing!
So my friends load themselves in a car and slog through rush hour traffic, they take that paper copy of the digital copy sent to them by WSDOT to the WSDOT hearing. It took both of them a good amount of time to get through the metal detector, Roger has metal in his back… more than you’ll find in a 1911A1! Judy, had trouble standing free of her metal walker. And the screener making apologies for applying the protocol, and gentle and kind man.
I have the Judges findings. And her note is all telling, Due to evidence supplied by WSDOT, the judge ruled on their innocence, and marked all 36 accounts as to her findings as innocent, and noted the vehicle had clearly been sold prior to the toll crossings.
According to my Friends, the Judge was not without compassion, as Roger hobbled in with a cane, and Judy made her best effort with the Walker, the Judge offered Judy the best seat, and invited her to sit down. With the evidence in hand, the judge shook her head, and immediately started entering her findings. Yes.. indeed, I find the judge a victim of this mess, our not so thoughtful ways and means people have created. Yes.. the good to go people create for the record that >they< accepted evidence from themselves as to the fact that my friends were innocent! But there's more to it. In this state it's illegal to take a picture of the driver's face, it's only the plate they take a picture of, and there are many other complaints about good to go, including monies taken from accounts when a toll crossing was not made by those who did get a transponder, and their vehicle was not on the road.. It seems to me that a good copy of a license plate would easily 'frame' a person, and according to the rules of WSDOT's game, you'd be flat out screwed. They say you need a legal document or you pay! Now, imagine bringing six witnesses to court, all of them saying your car was in the drive at the time, and you were in the back room doing the head of Ways and Means! I don't suggest you copy a plate for a free toll crossing, but if you do, make it a copy of a license plate owned by Washington State ways and means.
One more thought.. if GOOD-2-GO can’t locate the seller’s report of sale, if there is no record entry made when the official online report is done. IF the issued license plant number is not flagged with the fact that a sellers report has been filed. Isn’t this part of the foundation blocks a prudent man would demand in place BEFORE you attempt to hold court?