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One of our favorite topics of discussion....The TOLLWAY AUTHORITY!

2K views 57 replies 29 participants last post by  R1_Pilot 
#1 ·
http://www.dailyherald.com/news_story.asp?intid=378198

Now the tollway's getting serious
By Robert McCoppin Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted July 17, 2003


The agency that runs Illinois' tollways will soon spread its net much wider to fine drivers who don't pay tolls.

Having already gone after scofflaws with 50 or more unpaid tolls, the agency will send notices within weeks to people with fewer than 50 violations, eventually getting down to people with as few as five unpaid tolls.

The broader enforcement push is raising more objections from drivers and lawyers about the way the tollway is going after violators - with fines up to $70 per toll, more than two years after the violation.

Tollway officials say they're aiming for intentional repeat violators, yet more drivers are complaining that they paid their tolls but are getting fined because coin baskets didn't register the payment.

"I am upset and I am angry," said Sherry King of Elgin, who was fined more than $1,000 for 50 alleged violations. "I really resent the toll authority doing this. What kind of proof can I bring that an unmanned booth isn't working?"




Every weekday, King drives to work from Elgin to Arlington Heights and back, using unmanned tollbooths each way. Frequently, including this week, she said, they don't work.

King said she even put in extra money to activate the machine and thought about trying a different lane, but honking traffic behind her forced her to go through.

Tollway officials say their machines set off an alarm if they stop working, so that people should not be fined for tollbooths that don't work.

To those who paid the toll but drove off before the machine registered, tollway officials say tough luck. Just as when you pay for food at McDonald's, part of the transaction involves waiting to make sure you're paid up.

And for those who object that they're only finding out now about violations from two years ago, tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said they should have known better.

"It's always been the law that you need to pay the toll," McGinnis said. "So the individuals who were not paying knew they were in violation."

For those who forget to bring toll money, they should call the tollway the same day to arrange payment.

"This is in support of the 97 percent of drivers who do pay the tolls," McGinnis said.

The argument that the machine ate your money is hard to make for people with 50 or more violations, tollway officials and independent attorneys agree. Records show some people who don't have I-PASS repeatedly drive through I-PASS-only lanes.

But if drivers can show they have gone to work paying tolls every day for years and have only five violations, they might make a better case, defense attorney Ernie Blomquist said.

Similarly, people who have I-PASS accounts who pay regularly have gotten more leniency from hearing officers.

"We're getting a lot of calls," Blomquist said. "It's the crime du jour."

But Blomquist tells callers that in most cases it's not worth hiring an attorney to fight the fees. One tactic, he says, is to bring in photos of your license plate to compare to the tollway's photos of the license plate because you may be able to show someone else was blowing off the toll.

Don't try arguing that someone else - a child or ex-spouse - was using your car. Owners are considered responsible for the use of their vehicles.

Some lawyers object to the lack of timely notification for violations from more than two years ago.

Under the legal doctrine of "laches," a party must assert its claim in a reasonable time, similar to a statute of limitations in criminal cases.

"You only have 18 months to file DUI charges, but you can go two years back for a 50-cent toll?" defense attorney Don Ramsell asked.

He also objected that the fines - $20 at first, then $70 if the violation goes unpaid - were out of proportion to the offense of 25 cents to 75 cents.

But he, too, advised against hiring an attorney.

"Nobody's sympatheic," he said. "You walk into these hearings and the presumption is you're guilty already, and the ball is in your corner to prove otherwise. You're better off bringing a checkbook than a lawyer."

Starting Monday, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority will hold mass hearings, like traffic court, instead of one-on-one hearings. It will also expand hearings to five days a week from three days a week.

That should move through more than 1,000 hearings a week and cut down on the backlog of contested cases, authorities said.

Fined: Lawyers say it's not worth it to hire them
 
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#3 ·
Thing this is, if I am right wern't the toll ways supposed to go away when the loans/bonds used to build them were paid off? Now they say the money is used to maintain the roads. :BS Also maybe if the toll way commision didnt spend an unreasonable amount of mony on their HQ there would be more for the tolways.
 
#5 ·
hayabusa_z said:
Thing this is, if I am right wern't the toll ways supposed to go away when the loans/bonds used to build them were paid off? Now they say the money is used to maintain the roads. :BS Also maybe if the toll way commision didnt spend an unreasonable amount of mony on their HQ there would be more for the tolways.
Yup and think of all the money they are now spending to prosecute this stuff. They are gonna have to up the toll price now just to pay for that.

We need to just get rid of the tolls already.

Hey does anyone know if theres a way to file a petition to get rid of them and how many sigantures you would need. Hell the people in california are about to get rid of thier govenor by using a petition.
 
#6 ·
Similarly, people who have I-PASS accounts who pay regularly have gotten more leniency from hearing officers.
So does that mean even if you have an I-pass and it doesn't go off you're going to get fined? The tolls on 355 don't even have the lights to tell you it worked or not. Am I supposed to stop and wait for the ones that do have lights. What's the point of I-pass then
 
#7 ·
Ya no kidding. The new transpoders dont beep or have a display and theres no lights tolet you know it worked. Thats a load of bullshit if they start hitting me for that. I have no way of testing it.
 
#8 ·
I have been hearing about this and it is freaking me out. It turns out that about 18 or so months back the TWA screwed up my iPass and unknown to me at the time, it was disabled. A trooper actually pulled me over, to tell me. I eventually got it resolved but, I was blowing by the express toll for like weeks on end!

Not to mention that there are times the iPass simply does not register.

This all sucks :bs
 
#9 ·
so why dont you tell us the story, along with this rant?

god knows i think those things should have been tore down YEARS ago, and getting paid 20 bucks and hour to stand there picking up change off the ground is alittle over priced for us to pay!

not to mention they take in over 2 million dollars a year from and extra 5 cents we throw in when the manuals are packed 2 miles backed up.
 
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#10 ·
I was at a manual toll both one day, (95th street toll on 294N) kind of in a hurry. I set the change down on the ledge because the lady wasn't moving fast enough she was talking on the phone.. The bitch goes you have to put the money in my hand. I said, I dont want to touch your hand (her hands were all chaped and discusting). So she wouldn't put the gate up and closed the booth I was in. I was like WTF. She then continued to count her money or pick her ass whatever the hell she was doing. Then the manager came out and asked me politely what happened, I told he what I just told you guys and she let me go. But all this lasted for like 5 minutes which seemed like an eternity. I called the lady a dirty bitch as I drove away.
 
#12 ·
if they can fine me for up to 2 years back.

I want to see the video of me two years back, doing the violation. From the time I pull up to the time i pull through.

If they dont have that, then how do we know that the cameras are working properly what is the service recoard for these items and has it ever been neglected.

My IPass almost never goes off. They have takening no precautions in the implamentation of the newer Ipass to ensure that it registers or make the owner aware that it has malfunctioned.

To those who paid the toll but drove off before the machine registered, tollway officials say tough luck. Just as when you pay for food at McDonald's, part of the transaction involves waiting to make sure you're paid up.
I thought u had to pay first for your food. Then if you want you can take your food but you can BUT you can always leave it if you so wished.
 
#13 ·
dam right, i had that a few times and i SCREAMED, HELLO???!!!!!


i hate that...say? dude i think i am gonna merge this thread and the other together...did you somehow make a mistake and try to responde to that other instead of making an exact same thread?


i think thats whats going on..if so, let me know ill correct it.
 
#15 ·
Sometimes I have to laugh at the collectors. When I ride the tollways, I carry a change holder with a slot for quarters, one for dimes and one for nickles. When I stop, I hand the holder to the attendant and say take what you need because I have my gloves on. You should see how many can't figure out how many of what coins to take.:D Sad, but true.:( Twenty bucks an hour.:confused :rolleyes :twofinger
 
#16 ·
AHHH nick, that explains, everything now, you hit NEW THREAD when you were replying to that other when , when you were justing trying to add your 2 cents in VERSUS starting a new thread that sounded alittle off the wall...LMAO!


ill try to merge these too.

;)

no one reply on here no more.
 
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#17 ·
The guy was handing me my change coming back from STRATS last week. I said, "You dropped a dime".

He said, "its not my fault"

I thought to myself as I rode away cursing him out.

Who damn fault is it then.


That has to be the biggest pain in ass digging for toll money with gloves on riding a bike with an 18 wheeler rite on your ass.
 
#18 ·
SloRoll said:
Sometimes I have to laugh at the collectors. When I ride the tollways, I carry a change holder with a slot for quarters, one for dimes and one for nickles. When I stop, I hand the holder to the attendant and say take what you need because I have my gloves on. You should see how many can't figure out how many of what coins to take.:D Sad, but true.:( Twenty bucks an hour.:confused :rolleyes :twofinger
woah woah woah...they make $20 an hour?? I need to start working the tollbooths while I'm still in college!
 
#26 ·
I avoid the tollways as much as possible when riding. Even if it takes a half hour longer going an alternate route.
 
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