National Boards > General Highway Talk

road toll violation

(1/3) > >>

cliveo:
Hi everybody,
I'm UK based. 2 months ago I was in Florida and, today, I've just received from the hire car company (Dollar) a notice that I violated a toll charge of $0.50 at Curry Ford toll so I have been fined this amount plus a $25 admin fee which Dollar have very kindly paid on my behalf via my credit card..
The allegation is ludicrous as we travelled as a party in two cars and nowhere did we seperate ie we passed through all toll gates one behind the other - in any case, who is going to 'evade' a toll charge of 50c and how would you do this without crashing the barrier?
I have received no official road agency documentation, only the Dollar letter, and for all I know this could well be a scam.
Ok, $25 is not important in the context of a holiday costing $2000 and there seems little point in arguing the matter via Dollar,but you will, I hope, understand my annoyance.
Has anybody any thoughts on this situation>
Thanks.
CliveO

flaroads:
The OOCEA (Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority) may have sent the notification and fine to Dollar who in turn passed it on to you. I use to live in the Orlando area and used the toll facilities often. I believe that they do have it set up where you are allowed so many "violations" through their toll facilities without any penalty. Perhaps the specific vehicle you were renting had previous violations and had passed the maximum allowed. Have you called Dollar and inquired about the allegation? That is what I would do.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, but hope you had a good holiday in Orlando :)

Cheers

cliveo:
Thanks FRG,
It's an interesting theory but I know with certainty we did not violate any tolls so how come we are said to have done so on a specific date.
We don't have many road tolls in the UK but I have been driving in the US for over 30 years and so would like to think I'm reasonably familiar wth the procedures but what's bugging me is how one 'violates' the toll payment process - short of just gatecrashing through which, obviously, I didn't do.You infer it's a common enough occurence so what, precisely, happens; how is the barrier by-passed?
Your further thoughts would be appreciated - thanks.
CliveO

flaroads:
As far as the toll plazas in the Orlando area, none of them have "toll gates" (or barrier in your case) that only allow one vehicle to pass at a time, so no gate crashing would have occured. For instance (not related to your case but an example just the same), I've seen in many instances where a car is directly on the bumper of another car going through the toll plaza, since there is no barrier to block that second vehicle. And I have had it happen to me. It's unfortunate that that happens but when there are no barriers but I believe they do it to keep the traffic moving. I have also heard that some motorists get charge double toll when vehicles ride directly behind you when going through the plaza (as in the example stated above), which is another unfair occurrence people have to deal with with the toll authority.
If I were you and wanted to pursue this further, not only would I contact Dollar to find out why you were fined, I would also contact OOCEA. Here is a link to the contact page: http://www.oocea.com/Corporate/about/ContactUs.aspx

I hope this information helps. Keep us posted on this as I am sure you are not the only one out there that this has happened to.

   

Scott5114:
It's also possible you ended up in a transponder-only (i.e. SunPass or whatever Florida's transponder system is called) lane inadvertently and, having no transponder, were billed for a violation.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page