The long-running dispute between Oregon’s Green Light weigh-station bypass system and the rival PrePass system has finally landed in court.
The Oregon Department of Transportation has sued, asking a U.S. District Court to decide if it's lawful for Oregon to enroll PrePass transponders into the Green Light program.
Oregon had begun doing just that in 1998 when PrePass threatened litigation. Since then, negotiations between the state of Oregon and Phoenix-based Heavy Vehicle Electronic License Plate Inc., operators of PrePass, have failed to produce agreement.
Both systems use electronic transponders mounted on truck windshields to identify vehicles as they approach weigh stations. If the vehicle has already been weighed on its current trip, the system will signal the driver to keep going. Though the systems differ technically, some transponders are capable of working in both.
“We’ve tried for two or three years to get some agreement that would allow us to enroll Prepass transponders in Green Light. Having failed to reach a reasonable agreement, we thought the best thing would be to ask the question in court,” said Oregon DOT spokesman Mac McGowan.
McGowan said Oregon is looking for something stronger than simply a legal opinion. Oregon’s attorney general has already found it legal to enroll compatible transponders from other programs, he said.
PrePass head Dick Landis told Truckinginfo.com his lawyers had received the papers but that he would not comment before the suit had been reviewed.
In the suit, the Oregon Department of Justice specifically asked the court if enrolling the ID code from a PrePass transponder in Green Light would violate any federal or state law or regulation.
Oregon’s McGowan doesn’t expect the fight will end in district court.
“I think this could go to a court of appeals and perhaps farther,” he said.
The Oregon Department of Transportation has sued, asking a U.S. District Court to decide if it's lawful for Oregon to enroll PrePass transponders into the Green Light program.
Oregon had begun doing just that in 1998 when PrePass threatened litigation. Since then, negotiations between the state of Oregon and Phoenix-based Heavy Vehicle Electronic License Plate Inc., operators of PrePass, have failed to produce agreement.
Both systems use electronic transponders mounted on truck windshields to identify vehicles as they approach weigh stations. If the vehicle has already been weighed on its current trip, the system will signal the driver to keep going. Though the systems differ technically, some transponders are capable of working in both.
“We’ve tried for two or three years to get some agreement that would allow us to enroll Prepass transponders in Green Light. Having failed to reach a reasonable agreement, we thought the best thing would be to ask the question in court,” said Oregon DOT spokesman Mac McGowan.
McGowan said Oregon is looking for something stronger than simply a legal opinion. Oregon’s attorney general has already found it legal to enroll compatible transponders from other programs, he said.
PrePass head Dick Landis told Truckinginfo.com his lawyers had received the papers but that he would not comment before the suit had been reviewed.
In the suit, the Oregon Department of Justice specifically asked the court if enrolling the ID code from a PrePass transponder in Green Light would violate any federal or state law or regulation.
Oregon’s McGowan doesn’t expect the fight will end in district court.
“I think this could go to a court of appeals and perhaps farther,” he said.
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