Out-of-State Toll Scofflaws Vex State Authorities

[cpzilliacus]

Pew Charitable Trusts Stateline: Out-of-State Toll Scofflaws Vex State Authorities

Drivers from other states owed Maryland nearly $11 million in unpaid highway tolls, late fees and fines last year. In New Jersey, out-of-staters skipped out on about $10.5 million last year.

Unlike in-state drivers, out-of-state motorists who evade tolls in those states don't have to worry about their vehicle registrations or license renewals being held up if they don't pay outstanding tolls or fines. That can make it a challenge to get them to pay up.

It's a different story for drivers living in a zone that includes Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island. Those states have a reciprocity agreement, meaning that if a driver flouts a toll in any of those states, their home state will go after them–holding up re-registrations, license renewals and the like–until the debt is paid.

With the rise of automatic tolling and E-ZPass, which allow (and sometimes require) cars to zip through toll lanes without taking tickets or dropping coins into baskets, more states are taking a good look at who doesn't pay their tolls. That's especially true in the Northeast, where major highways often require payment, and unpaid tolls from visitors add up.

Mark Muriello, a spokesperson for the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), said there is no overall estimate of the millions of dollars that states lose in unpaid tolls from outside drivers. But the situation is so serious that the IBTTA formed a task force last year to investigate. The panel is scheduled to release its report later this year.

[1995hoo]

roadman65 posted the same on the Traffic Control subforum. Perhaps a thread merge into one or the other?

[jeffandnicole]

With the elimination of cash payments during covet, and motorist's unwillingness to pay tolls they disliked in the first place, it's not surprising there's a lot of unpaid tolls out there.

[Joe The Dragon]

and in how meany states can you drive the 407 ETR with no chance of getting any bill?

[hbelkins]

I wonder how much reciprocity exists regarding driving in general. I got a speeding ticket in Ohio 13 years ago, paid it by mail, and never noticed any adverse impacts. My insurance didn't go up, I didn't see any points assessed to my license, or anything of the sort.

[SP Cook]

IMHO, this is what the states/toll authorities bought into when they went with toll by plate.  Cash or a transponder system (which should be universal, continent wide) are a must.

As a motorist, my main concern is that 100% of the burden of proof must be on the state.  We do not need motorists dealing with some drone at the DMV telling him or her they need some sort of release from some other state, which involves dealing with another state's drone, perhaps over a simple misread of a photo.  We must insist that a simple denial by a motorist triggers a provisional renewal and a hearing HELD IN THE MOTORIST'S STATE, at which all issues must be proven by the tollers. 

[cpzilliacus]

IMHO, this is what the states/toll authorities bought into when they went with toll by plate.  Cash or a transponder system (which should be universal, continent wide) are a must.

Agree with the need for a universal North American (or at least Canada/U.S.) transponder system.

As a motorist, my main concern is that 100% of the burden of proof must be on the state.  We do not need motorists dealing with some drone at the DMV telling him or her they need some sort of release from some other state, which involves dealing with another state's drone, perhaps over a simple misread of a photo.  We must insist that a simple denial by a motorist triggers a provisional renewal and a hearing HELD IN THE MOTORIST'S STATE, at which all issues must be proven by the tollers.

I have seen people go to the MVA office in my state (we have MVA, not DMV) and ask why they cannot renew their registration, and be told it is because of unpaid parking tickets on their vehicle (not unpaid tolls).  They are also told that they may have to contact one (or sometimes several) county or municipal government agencies to make payment before they can renew registration.

At the point where registration renewal is held-up, it generally means that the time to challenge the tickets in court has expired (if a motorist gets a parking ticket from a state, county or municipal agency, it can be challenged in the District Court before a real judge, but only if a hearing is requested within a set time period after the ticket was issued), so there is no longer a burden of proof that the agency that issued the ticket has to meet. I suspect that the same would hold true for unpaid tolls. I do not believe that Maryland will prevent renewal based on parking tickets issued out-of-state (the District of Columbia, which runs a very efficient and very rapacious parking ticket enforcement operation for the purpose of revenue generation) has repeatedly asked Maryland to withhold registrations for Maryland vehicles with unpaid D.C. parking tickets, and Maryland has said that it is under no obligation to assist a non-Maryland jurisdiction in collecting its parking fines.

Having one state adjudicate unpaid tolls in another state might be possible, though the U.S. Supreme Court takes a very dim view of states doing extraterritorial exercises of their powers, and it might not survive a judicial review for that reason.

[CtrlAltDel]

IMHO, this is what the states/toll authorities bought into when they went with toll by plate.  Cash or a transponder system (which should be universal, continent wide) are a must.

Agree with the need for a universal North American (or at least Canada/U.S.) transponder system.

As a motorist, my main concern is that 100% of the burden of proof must be on the state.  We do not need motorists dealing with some drone at the DMV telling him or her they need some sort of release from some other state, which involves dealing with another state's drone, perhaps over a simple misread of a photo.  We must insist that a simple denial by a motorist triggers a provisional renewal and a hearing HELD IN THE MOTORIST'S STATE, at which all issues must be proven by the tollers.

Having one state adjudicate unpaid tolls in another state might be possible, though the U.S. Supreme Court takes a very dim view of states doing extraterritorial exercises of their powers, and it might not survive a judicial review for that reason.

Yeah, it seems to go against Article 3, Section 2, Clause 3 of the constitution:

The trial of all crimes [...] shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed.

That said, whether these toll violations count as crimes for the purposes of this clause, I don't know.

[SP Cook]

Non renewal for a toll violation is not a criminal matter.  It is simply one state requesting another to not renew something based on its say so.  The state is perfectly free to demand that the requesting state prove the matter in the manner it so demands, or deny the request.

[CtrlAltDel]

Non renewal for a toll violation is not a criminal matter.  It is simply one state requesting another to not renew something based on its say so.  The state is perfectly free to demand that the requesting state prove the matter in the manner it so demands, or deny the request.

No, but the toll violation behind it might be, and that is without a doubt what the focus of the hearings you propose would be.


What might work, now that I think about it, would be something where you couldn't really dispute the evidence of the violation presented by the other state, but rather whether that evidence fits the requirements established by the state where the hearing is. That said, all this depends on legal interpretations that I don't know. And also as a practical matter, those requirements would likely be minimal or otherwise easily met, since they would most likely be reciprocal.

[ctkatz]

I wonder how much reciprocity exists regarding driving in general. I got a speeding ticket in Ohio 13 years ago, paid it by mail, and never noticed any adverse impacts. My insurance didn't go up, I didn't see any points assessed to my license, or anything of the sort.

as someone who also got a speeding ticket in ohio almost 11 years ago, I found out at the time kentucky law is that all traffic violations occurring outside the commonwealth do not put points on your license or affect your insurance if you are licensed by the state. so apparently if your wallet is big enough you can speed all you want in 49 states up until you cross the kentucky state line.

[NJRoadfan]

Out-of-state moving violations and license suspensions are handled by two interstate compacts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_License_Compact
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Resident_Violator_Compact

Something similar can be done for tolls. Also, how are they enforcing the non-payment of tolls when someone blows thru a manned toll plaza without paying? Non-payment of a toll-by-plate invoice would be similar. Of course, if you really want to get someone's attention, put a lien for the debt on their credit report.

[jeffandnicole]

...Of course, if you really want to get someone's attention, put a lien for the debt on their credit report.

No can do.  They don't know who the driver of the vehicle was.

[MCRoads]

I wonder if Canada cares that it is loosing (what I assume to be) a ton of revenue from US Citizens on the 407.

Story time!

We were told by the customs person at the border about the fact they can't charge US plates tolls when we asked if we would have to pay extra to drive on an international toll road. My folks took that with a grain of salt, assuming that there would be a bill in the mail, like when we drove on E-470. But, 8 years later, we still haven't gotten charged the CA$4.50.

[Rothman]

...Of course, if you really want to get someone's attention, put a lien for the debt on their credit report.

No can do.  They don't know who the driver of the vehicle was.

Wasn't a problem for enforcement by camera (red light or speed).

[cpzilliacus]

Non renewal for a toll violation is not a criminal matter.  It is simply one state requesting another to not renew something based on its say so.  The state is perfectly free to demand that the requesting state prove the matter in the manner it so demands, or deny the request.

But as with the case of unpaid Maryland parking tickets and registration renewal being held up, the time to for an adjudication of unpaid tolls has probably expired once it gets to this point.  I am not saying that is fair, but it is reality.

[hbelkins]

...Of course, if you really want to get someone's attention, put a lien for the debt on their credit report.

No can do.  They don't know who the driver of the vehicle was.

Wasn't a problem for enforcement by camera (red light or speed).

A friend of mine got a mailed citation for a red light camera violation in Tennessee a few years ago. Problem was, he wasn't driving at the time. His wife was. I'm not sure how they handled that one. It's why I have a major problem with camera enforcement. A vehicle cannot commit a violation. Only the operator, and a photo of a license plate does not prove who was driving the vehicle.

As for unpaid tolls, I've told the story before. I had a couple of misreads of an E-ZPass in Pennsylvania several years ago. Got two mailed notices with photos of my vehicle. Pennsylvania had apparently communicated with Kentucky to get my registration information and the address to which to send the notice, and Kentucky obviously complied. (A copy of my statement from the WV Turnpike Authority's E-ZPass program resolved the issue.)

So, what would have happened if I didn't have an E-ZPass and used an E-ZPass-only lane? I wonder how much trouble I would have been in?

(I still haven't gotten a bill from the Bush Turnpike in Texas from using it in 2010).

[vdeane]

I wonder if Canada cares that it is loosing (what I assume to be) a ton of revenue from US Citizens on the 407.

Story time!

We were told by the customs person at the border about the fact they can't charge US plates tolls when we asked if we would have to pay extra to drive on an international toll road. My folks took that with a grain of salt, assuming that there would be a bill in the mail, like when we drove on E-470. But, 8 years later, we still haven't gotten charged the CA$4.50.

The 407 actually has the ability to send bills to people from many US states.  In fact, that list seems to grow every year.

[MCRoads]

I wonder if Canada cares that it is loosing (what I assume to be) a ton of revenue from US Citizens on the 407.

Story time!

We were told by the customs person at the border about the fact they can't charge US plates tolls when we asked if we would have to pay extra to drive on an international toll road. My folks took that with a grain of salt, assuming that there would be a bill in the mail, like when we drove on E-470. But, 8 years later, we still haven't gotten charged the CA$4.50.

The 407 actually has the ability to send bills to people from many US states.  In fact, that list seems to grow every year.

My dad is military, and his dad was military. So, when my dad was still living in Alaska with my grandparents, he enlisted. This means that he is an Alaska resident, and both our cars are registered in Alaska. Wonder if AK will ever be on that list, since it is so isolated, and has so few cars...

[GaryV]

I wonder if Canada cares that it is loosing (what I assume to be) a ton of revenue from US Citizens on the 407.

Story time!

We were told by the customs person at the border about the fact they can't charge US plates tolls when we asked if we would have to pay extra to drive on an international toll road. My folks took that with a grain of salt, assuming that there would be a bill in the mail, like when we drove on E-470. But, 8 years later, we still haven't gotten charged the CA$4.50.

The 407 actually has the ability to send bills to people from many US states.  In fact, that list seems to grow every year.

Is that because the states cooperate with the 407 authority?  Or is it because there are private companies that retrieve public state records on car registrations and the 407 pays those companies to search their data?

[SP Cook]

The 407 actually has the ability to send bills to people from many US states.

At the most technical basis, so do you and I and everybody else.  You slap a stamp on an envelope containing a bill, and there you go. 

The question is can the Ontario authorities actually do anything to enforce payment, either through some denial of renewal by a US state, or by legal process?

[HighwayStar]

Cash or a transponder system (which should be universal, continent wide) are a must.

An even better idea...just get rid of toll roads entirely.

[bwana39]

Texas has trouble collecting from in-state drivers. On the other hand, out of state drivers in reciprocal states really don't get away. Texas actively petitions for suspensions.

[vdeane]

Isn't Texas also the state that holds onto license plate data for years so they can bill after the fact if/when they gain access to a given state's license plate database?

[HighwayStar]

Isn't Texas also the state that holds onto license plate data for years so they can bill after the fact if/when they gain access to a given state's license plate database?

Maybe, but I have no issue with Texas collecting.