Why won't they give us any credit at the tollbooth?

"My wife traveled to Italy this year," wrote one reader, Whitney Carter of Beverly. "She doesn't speak Italian, or read signs in Italian very well, but was able to use a US bank debit card as a toll payment with virtually no issues. Almost as easy as buying a Dunkin' Donuts coffee and a muffin without signing a thing. They even knew how to exchange from dollars to the euro!"

Our last column on tollbooth rules certainly stirred some readers. So this week, we reach into the mailbag for discussion.

France, Italy, Spain, and South Africa do indeed take credit and debit cards at some tollbooths, according to the International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association, based in Washington. But very few US tollbooths do, and the ones I did find were located in either rural, low-traffic areas or border crossings with Canada, where the speed of a credit card transaction doesn't matter so much when you're already stopped for customs.

Neil Gray, director of government affairs for the international association, said plastic isn't popular because ATM-like toll machines can't always read the strip on someone's weathered credit card. And when a machine breaks, the only way to fix it is to shut down the toll lane.

If tollbooth operators take your credit card, there's the chance for fraud or theft, Gray said. Or maybe the card just slips from the collector's hands, falling onto the highway.

Beyond that, whoever runs the tollbooth would have to pay credit-card processing fees. For transactions as small as 50 or 75 cents, "it becomes a financial issue," Gray said.

Still, such obstacles aren't always deal-breakers. Toll stops in Puerto Rico accept credit cards, but drivers are charged only once at the end of each month to save on processing fees, Gray said. In Ohio, a handful of tollbooths have been set up with double-decker credit-card machines high enough so even big-rig drivers can reach them.

The four credit card machines being tested by the Ohio Turnpike Commission have proven so popular, in fact, that 16 more are scheduled to be installed by the end of 2009. At toll plazas without machines, at least one staffed tollbooth will be accepting plastic by year's end, said Ohio turnpike spokeswoman Lauren Hakos.

If Ohio can do it, why can't we? Colin Durrant, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, said the Pike's goal is to move from staffed tollbooths to automatic E-ZPass collections. Now that E-ZPass transponders are free to all - and there will be no monthly fees, as voted by the board on April 22 - they're the best solution for people concerned about having enough cash on them to pay at the tolls, Durrant said.

Massport said it's "examining the feasibility of taking credit cards on the Tobin Bridge as a toll payment option." But I wouldn't be too optimistic. More than 2.5 times as many cars and trucks (10.8 million a year) pass through the Tobin Bridge's toll plaza than Ohio's busiest toll plaza (approximately 4.1 million). Credit card transactions at even one tollbooth could add to the rush-hour wait, which is something Massport appears leery about. (E-Z passes work on the bridge, too.)

Tom contends that if a pavement stop line is a sizable distance (a whole car length, for example) from the stop sign you must stop twice before pulling into traffic - at both the line and the sign.

Lynda disagrees. "I said it makes sense to stop at the line . . . Can you help?"

I posed the question to one of my longtime experts, Paul Cardalino, a retired Wareham police captain who used to teach motor vehicle law to police cadets.

Sorry, Tom.

"He's wrong. You stop at the stop line," Cardalino said. "That's what the statute says. Usually they'll put the stop line where it is to give you a better sight of the road."

The statute is Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 89, Section 9, which reads: "Every driver of a vehicle approaching a stop sign or a flashing red signal indication shall stop at a clearly marked stop line."

Of course, you can't just stop at the line and then proceed without a care. You must still yield the right of way to oncoming traffic, even if that means stopping again at the stop sign to avoid hitting someone. Under those conditions, you might say Tom's right.

Peter DeMarco can be reached at demarco@globe.com.