Parkway Cameras for Exact Change Scofflaws are Live

Today's the day. If you're using the Parkway and don't pay a toll, smile. The cameras are taking your picture.

Or more precisely, a picture of your scofflaw license plate. 

As of 12:01 am on Monday, Oct. 17, the Turnpike Authority, which has jurisdiction over the state's toll roads, turned on automatic cameras will be taking snapshots of anyone who tries to jump the exact change lanes without paying the freight.

The penalty for not throwing the right number of coins into the exact change basket is the cost of the toll - and a $50 administrative fee, said Tom Feeney, spokesman for the Turnpike Authority which is headquartered in Woodbridge.

In lean economic times, the officials who run the toll road are trying to get every dime that's due them, and toll jumpers cost the Parkway a pretty penny.

"It's become a real problem. We collect about $38 million a year in tolls, and we lose That $4 million translates into about 17 percent of exact change lane transactions, but these particular scofflaws account for 53 percent of all toll violations on the Parkway, Feeney said.

And the little envelopes that worked on the honor system? With the arrival of the new violator-snapping cameras, Parkway officials eliminated the toll envelopes, and with good reason. Out of the $4 million lost through motorists who didn't pay the tolls, only $28,000 was sent back last year in the envelopes.

"That's .07 percent of violators who actually sent the toll money in," Feeney said. "It's not a good way to conduct business."