Arrrgh!!!

Buffy, seems like wherever in the world you go, politics stinks!

One of our poilticians here (who, I might add, is being groomed for possible Prime Minister), is quoted as saying, "People who play by the rules get shafted!"

Need I say more?

Well.... Tomorrow is my day in court, oh, wait, it's a hearing, not court, but they can susspend my liscense if I don't pay... Well, I did pay, the first time... now, becasue thier system is flawed, I'm supposed to pay again, and again...? It doesn't make sense that Becasue I don't wait for up to 5 seconds after paying that I will be charge $20.50 (for my toll... $20 fine, .25 cent toll, .25 cent toll fine)... I even bought an IPAS 2 months before I was sent the fines...
Unreal.. I've been paying for 20 years to be able to sit in traffic at 6 am every morning...

So Wdnesday I will go, plead my case, rant a little and still get shafted... Hell, If I can find a lawyer to help me for 1/2 what they want to charge me.. I'd pay it....

I'll fill you in more Thursday when I get back...

I wish I knew what to expect before going in....

keith

Please, DO tell us what comes of your hearing. I want the guys who don't pay to get caught in this, not the ones who do pay. I hope the purchase of the IPAS works in your favor.

Hello,

If it helps anyone, take a look at this: http://www.illinoistollway.com/TollInfo/video.htm

Here is an exact quote

" We are also aware that there are times when toll money is deposited and the light does not change from red to green. Wait a reasonable amount of time before proceeding through the lane. "

Well, well, well.... my thoughts on this ought to be clear. Five seconds is not a reasonable amount of time to me, I always waited 3 at most. If I get ruled against in a hearing I'm going to dispute it and get a lawyer purely for the principle of the matter.

They have sent out over $7 million in violation fines in the last few months. On average they are trying to fine individuals a grand a piece for supposed missed tolls (god knows if the tollbooth was broken as is normally the case on an average day). I recieved one of these violation notices myself. I pay my tolls. I'm going to court and probably to jail if I don't win as I refuse to pay these lying a$$holes. I supposedly didn't pay over 50 tolls, which is a downright lie.

I'm not done ranting yet either.

If I recieve violation notices almost a year after the fact is that even legal? That would be like getting 20 parking tickets at once but never getting the individual tickets when you parked in an incorrect spot for a few weeks a year ago.

People with I-Pass, an automatic tollway payment system don't have to pay the fines as there were "technical" issues with the devices. On that logic could there not have been technical issues with the toll booths themselves as well?

If I stop at a toll, pay the correct amount of change or more and the light doesn't turn green what do I do? Do I pay them more money? If I drive through I'm going to get fined 20 dollars even though I paid the requisite amount.

As the Illinois Tollway Authority is a commercial entity (.com website) that means that they are providing a service to me. Yet I cannot get a reciept for this service, I can't get a return if I pay a toll only to find out that 2 miles down the tollway there is construction that will hold myself and others up in traffic. There is no quality assurance like I would get if I purchased say a new CD player, if the CD player doesn't work as advertized I can get a refund, not so with the tollway.

There is no accounting where all the extra toll money goes. If a toll doesn't turn green after depositing the correct amount of money, people tend to put more money in to compensate and make the sign turn green to go. Where does this extra money go?

The Illinois tollway authority is simply trying to squeeze the average working joe dry with these belated collection of violations. True toll skaters aren't going to pay the fines anyways, the people who will pay are the people who are getting screwed out of hard earned money, especially if they utilize the tollway to get to and from work as most people do.

Illinois has one of the largest tollway systems in America whereas many states like Wisconsin do not demand toll to use their roads like some mid-evil bandit or troll. Think of it, whenever you read of tolls being charged who are doing it? I'll tell you, the thieves and bandits. Or even Robin Hood, but dare I say that its highly doubtable that the Illinois tollway is giving its millions in profit to the poor or working class. Instead they try to fine them even more. What total bullshit.

I'm so pissed off that I started a yahoo group for those of you who want to vent or swap ideas on what to do about this fraudulent violation spree that the Illinois Tollway Authority is on.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/I_hate_Illinois_tollway

We received notices for 50 violations (bill over $1000) from the Illinois tollway. We always pay our tolls. Always! But we do regularly go through before the light changes because it is so erratic.

Spokesmen for the tollway told us (and our state Senator and channel 5 news) that a violation is triggered when you go through on a red light. But on June 30th in the Tribune "Getting Around" column a spokesman for the tollway said that the picture is snapped if you don't pay and has nothing to do with the light. This is a LIE.

Are we going to get a fair hearing? Or are they going to lie and there will be no way we can defend ourselves? We feel pretty powerless right now. Not a good feeling.

We sure agree with Zach. This is really going to hit the average working folks who commute through toll areas every day.

If we had received a violation notice immediately we would have called and found out right away what was happening and we could have stopped going through on red before we had $1000 in fines(although this will really screw up traffic at toll booths if everybody just stops and waits 5, 10, 20 seconds or more.)

By the way does everyone know what we're supposed to do when we go through a tollbooth on red because the light does not change within 5 seconds (or not at all which the one we commute through does a couple of times every week). They tell us we're supposed to call the toll authority every time this happens and tell them the date, time and toll booth number and what happened. How many of us will remember to do that?

We have a hearing at the end of this month but have no idea how to prepare or even if the whole thing will be just a waste of our time.

It's been a lousy feeling seeing the Tribune articles which assume that everyone who received these notices is guilty. Some of us are not.

thanks for listening.

Here is an e-mail from the Citizen's Advocacy Center to help people out if they find this page. I strongly recommend contacting these people as well to keep in synch with the latest news and updates.

Has anyone found out a way to get the fine lowered by going to court? I have a hearing scheduled soon and was wondering if it's worth going, or if I should just send in the money.

Thanks very much,
Vicky

Hello,

We have a court hearing the middle of this month. Our issue is this it took the tollway authority 10 months to notify us of any violations to the sum of $2,748.65.

We were not even aware of this because it was our 17 year old. It seems alot of kids were doing it and when one of the friends was fined that's when she started paying. The tollway would have let it keep going, but when they realized she was done and was paying only then did they send the violations. They saw it was easy money. We should have been notified after the first 5, 10 or 15 not 10 months from the first violation. It would have been stopped immediately if we were made aware sooner, and we only got 16 days to pay the fine not 21 but they took 10 months to notify me.

That is unacceptable, why should I be penalized because they don't have enough manpower that's not my problem. We were very distraught when we found out it was our 17 year old.

She knows she was in the wrong and is paying big time!

The tollway authority wants my money in 16 days, but it took them 10 months to notify me. I should have been notified immediately.

My husband has I-pass and I only use the tollway when I have to, always paying and at times putting more in then needed because of not have exact change. I have no violations whatsoever, so what did they think all of sudden I decided not to pay tolls. No questions asked. If a company was run like the tollway authority they would be out of business. Unfortunately we are capitve.

Thanks for the outlet,

JMC

I received a notice for fines totaling $1020.00 for my stupid actions of over a year ago. I took a deep breath, paid the fine and learned a lesson. Today, I received a six seperate mailings with 5 fines in each envelope for another $700.00 dollars in fines. This is a rip-off and the punishment is EXCESSIVE. I'm going to their "hearing". And, dread what additional little notices will be in the mail on Monday. Isn't there a cap on this bullshit???

Can anyone who has received several notices in the mail tell me if the notices are in cronological order or are they sparatic? I received mine fining me up until April of this year and I am wondering if they are still researching ones from earlier than this. I just done want any suprises from 2002!!!

Yet another that paid the initial fines I got hit with, $1100, in January. Like you Chris, I took a deep breath, and paid because I knew there were many mornings where I just threw change because it was backed up and I was late.

I am now getting sporadic charges in separate mailings. Something is definately wrong here. I believe an undisclosed outside firm is being paid. On top of that I am laid off. There is a site, notoll.org and I am signing up for legislation and legal information.

I know I was wrong, but this was allowed to accumulate over two-three years before anything was sent. I am now paying more than a felon on a dui, on top of that the felon would get to keep his/her car. On top of that I have never, ever, trusted where this money goes. Now I am demanding to know.

I also want to know exactly which authorities are imposing this and why there are now sporadic mailings and where my vote can eventualy count.

You know they say follow the money, I think maybe it best we do that in regards tho the extent of these fines.

Not paying the tolls were wrong, but I agree that creating the IPASS and Bypass lanes while the rest of the tolls were backed up initiated the trouble. To impose the charges years later to this extent just smacks of some tupe of corruption. They're getting the money they wanted, now where is it going?

Just did a search and found this amusing story from july 2003. An Illinois Tollway Chief is fined $1300 for a dui and accident in Florida.

Lovely, that is less that what I am being fined.

http://www.naplesnews.com/03/07/florida/d946274a.htm

I'll be the first to admit i didn't pay my tolls all the time. Traveling back and forth from school five days a week adds up to 5.00 dollars a week, I'm a student who's pretty independent. On top of that I'm a sociology major and i'm not putting up with this shit! I've got books to pay for, gas, and a whole lot of other shit. People lets take a stand and not pay, the 8th amendment clearly states; nor excessive fines imposed, seems pretty excessive to me. Were being scammed and you they no it. Don't get me wrong I'll pay a fine, but not this excessive. Tolls were suppose to be gone a long time ago what happened? I'll tell you what happened somebody's pockets were full of those fucking quarters we put into those booths. Take a stand people lets get together and do something abot this.

Go to www.notolls.org

Some helpful info

Hello, If your like me and was screwed at the hearing take action ASAP. I would recommend filing for an Administrative Hearing at the Dupage County Courthouse that same day. It is very important to file within 30 days or else the Courts will not hear the case. I'm under the impression that the DuPage County Courthouse is getting swamped with ISTHA disputes. That is GREAT!!!

Hi Folks,

I only use the Toll Way once a year to
go downtown to the Chicago Auto Show. Yesterday I got caught in one of those I-Pass lanes and was unable to get out of the lane because of those rubber barriers on both sides of the lane. Will I have to pay the $20 dollar fine for my trip to the Auto Show?? Steve O.

I think this is some bull@### and the state is broke and of Course to compensate for their misuse of money they will bully toll road users. How in the hell does $.40 turn into $20.40. They are absolutley ridiculous.

I got nailed with this scam, too. I got the first notice for $1020 in July 2003. For the past 9 months, I had been driving through EIGHT tolls a day on my way to and from work. I had calculated out at the time it was costing me about $5.00 a day, because at least twice a day I would have to throw extra change in to get the barrier to raise. After an estimated 1600 tolls, I guess I had finally gone before the green 50 times.

I was pretty shocked to see the bill for $1020 -- for violations reaching back in a couple cases to 16 months before that date. Then I noticed some screwy things about the violations -- a couple were days when I was out of the state.

I went to the hearing -- it is interesting but useless. They pay some lawyer who probably can't get a real case to look at their pictures and decide in their favor. I gave them the receipt for a plane ticket showing I wasn't in the state on the days of two of the supposed violations. Their response: "It doesn't have to be you driving the car, you are still liable." I pointed out that my car was parked in the long term parking -- NO ONE was driving my car those days. They asked to see a receipt for AIRPORT PARKING for that day. Didn't have it -- fines stood.

I gave up and paid. Then two weeks later, then sent me ANOTHER notice for 5 more violations. I called them up and pointed out I was JUST there -- we couldn't handle this then?? Also, according to their notice I received that day, I only had five days left to pay before my lisence would be suspended. They calmly explained that a lot of the notices hadn't gotten mailed out on time -- nothing they could do about it. I would simply have to pay the $693.95 before the due date. $693.95?? I didn't have violations for all THAT. After a lot of bickering, I got through to someone who admitted something was screwed up. They Fed Exed the rest of the volation notices to me. And guess what, the fines didn't even add up to $693.95 -- They missed by $13.95 somehow. After a LOT of phone calls to make sure this was the end of it, I agreed to pay so they would leave me alone. I did, that was then end of it.

Until this last Monday. They sent a notice saying my lisence would be suspended in 7 days if I didn't pay my outstanding fine of $680.00 from a year ago. They'd messed up again. I looked up my old credit card statements online -- sure enough, I'd paid it. I called them up and told them so. Oh -- and in their system, the fine was still $693.95 (despite the fact they had it right on the paperwork they sent me this time). They insisted my bank fax a copy of the statement. Unfortunately, after a year, records go in the archive. This can take a couple days, so you risk having your lisence suspended. I paid again (this time, I had to do $693.95) and now have to hope for a refund.

Not only are these people seriously corrupt -- they are really, really stupid, too.

What and abysmal story! I think I would have taken all the money and hired a lawyer to sue their pants off! I know....it would have been a waste and you would have spent even more money with no satisfaction. Why don't you call one of the big newspapers and tell them your story? It's about time someone researched what's been going on since they broke the story.

No government agency should have the ability to abuse it's citizens this way. What do they mean....it's not their fault the fines weren't mailed out in a timely manner. If they KNOW they didn't go out, the least they could do after all these years of sitting on the fines, is to give you a little leaway to get them paid. This sucks!

Just got two notices for 102.00 each. This is bull crap but I'm paying anyway and will be getting an I-pass. I don't live in Illinois but my fiancee does and we both think that Gov. Rod is an idiot!! I pay 40 cents to sit in traffic and be late for work every day for what? This system doesn't make traffic move any faster(remember the lies they're selling us to sell I-pass?) just ask any one who travels south on I294 going into Indiana on any given day to find six solid lanes of stopped traffic. Hopefully this @$$hole is a one term governor. I'm also scared that more notices will be on their way then what do I do? I guess go hungry that month-oh well

I'm absolutely astounded that the state is allowing this department to abuse the citizens this way. It's not OUR fault that they are so screwed up that they couldn't get the mailing for the fines done in a timely manner, or that they can't seem to maintain their own toll booths! Furthermore, it's absolutely inane that we should pay an outside company 80% of the income from the fines to collect the fines. What's even worse is that they are talking about doubling the tolls for non-Ipass users to pay for a stretch of road to be added between 355 and 80. If they had run the department right, they would HAVE the money they need already. Besides, the Ipass lanes can't handle the amount of drivers who will switch to using Ipass....and trucks are excluded from the discount even if they have Ipass. Somebody needs to take over this division and make it run RIGHT!

I heard some news from my fiancee who drives one of those nasty trucks that supposedly tear up the tollways that the I-pass lanes can now monitor how fast you go through the lane and are issuing speeding tickets to offenders. Not sure if its fact or rumor but they are talking about it on their CB radio's. Big brother is alive and well and living off our money.

I'M ALSO ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS GETTING SCREWED IN THIS B.S., 9 MONTHS AFTER THE FIRST "VIOLATION" I WAS SENT 20 PAGES OF "VIOLATIONS", ABOUT 3 WEEKS LATER I WAS SENT ANOTHER 10 PAGES OF "VIOLATIONS". I WENT TO THE HEARING, WHO WAS OVERSEEN BY AN ATTORNEY HIRED BY THE TOLLWAY, AND HAD THE "VIOLATIONS" LOWERED BY ABOUT 25 OR 30 BECAUSE THEY KNEW IT WAS RIDICULOUS. (BY THE WAY, I DIDN'T WAIT FOR THE THANK YOU LIGHT EITHER). WE HAD A REAL HEARING SET UP, WHEN THE TOLLWAY LOST THE AUDIO TAPE OF THE FIRST HEARING. BACK TO SQUARE ONE. WE HAD ANOTHER HEARING, BUT THIS TIME WITH A REAL JUDGE THAT REALIZED IF MY WINDOW WAS DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF JAN. OR FEB. IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT I HAD PAID THE TOLL, ALSO IF MY BRAKE LIGHTS WERE ON AFTER THE TOLL (AS IF I WERE BRAKING WHILE WAITING FOR THE THANK YOU LIGHT) IT WAS REDUCED EVEN MORE. THE ORIGINAL FINE WAS OVER $3,000! AFTER 2 HEARINGS ITS BEEN REDUCED TO NEARLY $1,200. I HAVE A THIRD AND HOPEFULLY FINAL HEARING THIS THURSDAY. OH, AND THE TOLLWAY WANTED TO SETTLE WITH ME FOR $800..HA, NO FRIGGIN WAY! THEY KNOW THEY SCREWED UP AND NOW THEY'RE JUST LOOKING FOR ANY MONEY THEY CAN GET. TO ANY OF YOU WHO ARE STILL GOING THROUGH THIS, I HIRED A LAWYER AND ITS BEEN A BIG HELP. ALSO, THE LAWYER IS LOOKING TO SEE IF THE FINE OF $20 IS TOO EXCESSIVE...AN ALMOST 700% INCREASE FROM THE TOLL TO THE FINE SEEMS ALITTLE EXCESSIVE!! IF ANYONE HAS ALREADY GONE THROUGH THEIR FINAL HEARING, LET ME KNOW HOW IT WENT OR WHAT THE CHANCES ARE WINNING ARE. THANKS!

Okay so this "quarters" guy gets busted on something related to the hired truck scandal in Chicago but what really gets me is that while he stole at least four million dollars from the tollway, he has only repaid $792.00 and only spent two years in prison!!!! Meanwhile those of us "violators" get notices and are forced to pay or we lose our licence. I just don't get it!!! The story is in the October 13th issue of the Sun Times. Why do we have to pay the state for their screw-ups when this guy get off easy?

I've never understood why the Tollway authority has been allowed to hire a company to collect its debt, when the cost of collection just about equals the debt. There are so many iniquities in government. It seems that the worst offenders get off lightly....and those of us who try to be good citizens are taken advantage of again, and again. I said it earlier today, and I'll say it again, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton.