Florida Toll Roads

I remember being annoyed by toll roads when I lived in Florida, but I had forgotten just HOW annoying they are! For some reason Florida thinks it is more efficient to set up toll plazas throughout the road and make everyone stop to pay rather than say setting up the toll plaza at each exit and just paying when you exit based on when you entered. I really didn't think it was a difficult idea to grasp, but apparently it is. So, for instance when I lived in Ft. Lauderdale I had to stop 4 times on the way down to the Keys to pay 75 cents each time. Oh, that's the other annoying thing - it's always change and honestly, how much change does one person have?! So, last weekend I returned to the lovely Florida to leave for a cruise (I'll do a post about that gloriously relaxing adventure later - I have to catch up at work first!). On the way down there was only one 75 cent toll on the very last road I took and thankfully I actually had change in my car so it was not problem. On the way back however I took a different road because I was dropping my sister off at the airport, so I ended up needing more toll money. Now since I had 9 dollars in my purse I wasn't too worried, but then at the first toll plaza I remembered the absurdity of tolls in FL so I started getting a bit concerned that I wouldn't have enough change and since some of the plazas didn't have people working you occasionally could not actually get change. I went through toll plaza number one fine depositing my 75 cents and moving on. I roll up on toll plaza number 2 thinking I needed 25 cents because I had seen a sign that said - toll plaza ahead - 25 cents (generally a good indication). What I didn't realize was I was looking at the sign that indicated how much a toll was for the people exiting and therefore paying a toll 14 feet before I did. Apparently in that 14 feet I incurred 25 cents more of tolls, however I failed to realize this because I was attempting to find 25 cents in change throughout my car and wallet and didn't see the second sign. So I pull into the plaza, throw my 25 cents in and look up at the light to make sure it turns green. The light however, stays red. So I look back at the change thing thinking maybe it didn't count all my nickels and I see it says '25 cents paid' so I'm totally confused as to what is happening. Meanwhile 2 more cars pull up behind me and so I'm feeling bad that I am not moving, but the red light is not changing. I then look back at the change thing and realize there is a little sign that says 50 cents. Problem being I literally used all my change to scrounge up the 25 cents - I have a total of 2 pennies in my car in addition to dollar bills which are useless in a change counter. So at this point, I have no idea what to do - there are cars behind me so I can't back up and go in the line with a change person (they actually had one here, but me thinking I was good with my 25 cents didn't go in that lane because there was a line), and I technically can't move forward because I didn't pay my toll. So, finally I make the decision to drive forward and then figure it out without these poor people sitting in line behind me. I hear the toll plaza take a picture of my license plate and a nice little buzzer goes off, and I pull over to the far left lane and get out. However, I now realize there are 4 lanes of traffic between me and the toll person and all the people going through the lanes nearest to me are the people not waiting for change so there isn't much time to run across traffic. After weighing the importance of me not being hit by a car outside a toll plaza in Florida vs. the relative unimportance of receiving a small ticket in the mail, I decide to continue my journey paying my stupid tolls all the rest of the way. In the end I paid a total of 4.25 at 4 toll plazas and moved on changeless towards South Carolina. I sure hope Florida puts my 4.25 and whatever the ticket I'll be getting to good use!