Driver bills state for sitting in traffic

Driver bills state for sitting in traffic

www.clickondetroit.com

LANSING, Mich. -- An Ohio woman who was upset about being stuck in construction traffic has billed Michigan for her wasted gas.

Carol Greenberg has sent the Michigan Department of Transportation a bill for the $16 she says she wasted on gasoline sitting in construction zone traffic.

In an interview with Local 4, Greenberg said she was traveling from Southfield to Toledo and that there were no warning signs about the work on southbound Interstate 275, just south of Interstate 696.

"All of a sudden there was a major traffic backup," Greenberg said. "There were no signs saying which lanes to merge into, whether it was construction, an accident or anything."

Greenberg said she got stuck idling for about 50 minutes on July 23 while trying to get home to the Toledo suburbs with her cat after a visit to a specialty veterinarian outside Detroit. She said her Maine coon cat Sammy disliked the delay and howled the whole time.

"I was frustrated and I could tell other motorists were frustrated as well," she said. Greenberg said she witnessed several other vehicles trying to get around the traffic jam by making their own lanes on either side of the road.

Greenberg said she came up with the idea to send MDOT a bill after she found out what was holding traffic up.

"It came to my mind when I finally got through this mess and say that all of this was due to them working on about 50 feet of payment," she said. "And I got to thinking there are thousands of vehicles stuck in this traffic mess. I felt that MDOT needed to be more responsible and warn motorists."

(visit the link for the full news article)

At first blush I love the spirit of this.

But I would hate for more reasons for lawyers to take our tax dollars for private individuals.

Still, there should be a way to redress these types of situations in way that benfits the public.

www.clickondetroit.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

All I have to say is if she used $16 worth of gas sitting for 50 minutes she must really be driving a gas hog. If this is true and she is that worried about the price of fuel she wasted maybe she should get something that is a little more fuel efficient.

$16 in 50 minutes is a lot of fuel even at $4 a gallon. She must have been revving her engine the whole time or something. Basically sitting idle for 50 minutes should not have used 4 gallons of gas. I could understand her billing for possibly 2 gallons but 4? I bet cars at some of the tracks around the country can get better MPG than that running hard all day.

To me she sounds like some uptight person who just got bothered by those who have to work for a living. I say this because her pet is one that seems to require a specialty vet neither the pet nor the vet is cheap. That and apparently she can afford to drive something that uses 4 gallons of fuel in 50 minutes of idle traffic. Must be driving a Hummer with the AC on.

Raist

Originally posted by Raist
All I have to say is if she used $16 worth of gas sitting for 50 minutes she must really be driving a gas hog. If this is true and she is that worried about the price of fuel she wasted maybe she should get something that is a little more fuel efficient.

Good Point!

Starred!