Reston man runs up $202,000 bill driving through E-ZPass gates without paying

Washington Post ^ | 11/25/2013 | Tom Jackman

[markomalley]

So what happens when you repeatedly drive through one of those E-ZPass gates without paying? On the Dulles Toll Road, Reston’s Jason R. Bourcier decided to find out. He told NBC4′s Chris Gordon that “a friend told him that when the toll booths were unmanned after 11:30 p.m., you could use the road without paying.” Boy was that friend wrong.

Bourcier, 33, received a bill for $202,000 (!). Not all of that was for tolls. Some was for the fines for not paying the tolls, which is $500 for the fourth and subsequent offense, and some was for administrative fees. Bourcier told USA Today that he was working at night and asked an attendant “if the cameras were on when there were no attendants on duty. He said they weren’t. So I started going through without paying the tolls.” More bad info.

[Graybeard58]

If push comes to shove, you cover up your license plate.

If a cop sees your covered license plate, there's a hefty fine for that too.

[Zhang Fei]

If a cop sees your covered license plate, there's a hefty fine for that too.

And they tend to hang out near toll plazas.

[Venturer]

Mysteries to most common sense Americans, and yet we allow them first pick of our Presidential Candidates, in their New Hampshire primaries.

[dennisw]

“Bourcier had 335 violations beginning in 2009”>>>>>>>>>

I can’t see how the actual dollar amount of tolls evaded came to more than 335 x $5 which is about $1600.

Anyone know the toll rates he dodged?

[verga]

No tolls will ever make up for the liberacity I would have to put up with, not to mention the earthquakes.

[bk1000]

“Why don’t you have free Interstate freeways?”

That has always bothered me. The road is called I-95 all the way to Florida, but as soon as you hit New Jersey it becomes the “Jersey Turnpike” and you are charged a considerable toll.

[cuban leaf]

If a cop sees your covered license plate, there’s a hefty fine for that too.

---

Yeah. My bad. I meant remove it. As an out of stater, on the rare chance you find a cop behind you and he pulls you over, you can claim that some local collector must have stolen your out of state plates. And my state only has a rear plate. :-D

[SatinDoll]

Try looking at a map of voting patterns next election.

That “liberacity”, as you call it, is centered in huge population centers like San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle.

[vette6387]

“I understand the desire to streamline traffic by removing the toll booths, but why can’t there be at least one manned toll booth for the people for whom crossing that bridge might be a one-time event?”

Don’t know where you went in CA, but up here in the Bay Area ALL the toll crossings have manned toll booths 24/7. The other thing is that so long as you have the car you are driving listed with FasTrak, it doesn’t matter whether or not you have a transponder because they take photos of your license plate and charge your account. We had a bad transponder, and after a couple of months, they sent us a letter asking us to send it in for a free replacement. No fines for the fact that the transponder was inop.

[Paladin2]

"pay $150 a month"

LOL.

Bammy'll pardon him.

[Paladin2]

Get the ‘rat ward healer’s plate # and put it on over your plate for the crossing.

[Paladin2]

Uh, the turnpike was there first.(b4 '55)

Please review history. It explains a lot.

[Fightin Whitey]

Not indexed to inflation, he will be able to pay it off cheaply in a few years when the dollar is worthless.

True enough. And when the entire economy collapses, and the East Coast goes up in flames, he'll come out ahead!

[Billthedrill]

And when the entire economy collapses, and the East Coast goes up in flames, he'll come out ahead!

There's a catch somewhere in there, isn't there? Lemmesee...what is it? What is it?

[Paladin2]

"Algonquin"

Interesting. I always thought Algonquin was a (large) Provincial Park in Ontario (no, not near LA).

[tanknetter]

The system is automated whether it's sending out the first notice or the 100th. There is no 'administration' taking place.

"Administration" and "Court" fees are used extensively in VA, where (particularly in NoVA and the Hampton Roads area) there's a sizable population of drivers who hold security clearances. Ones that require, in the clearance process, acknowledgement and documentation of traffic fines above a certain dollar level.

So the "fee" portion is a way out of this. You aren't getting nailed for $150 dollars for driving on the shoulder - you're getting nailed for $25 and assessed a $125 processing "fee."

A big reason for this is enough people with clearances get pulled over (just because they're a larger portion of the population than elsewhere, not because there's a higher preponderance of traffic infractions amongst them) that if a lot of them chose to fight the ticket (going before a judge and stating that the fine was going to cost them their clearance and therefore their livelihood) they'd probably win and in the process (and even in losing) would drive the court-related costs to the locality/state up enough to generate a negative return.

As to the Dulles Toll Road, it's a massive scam at this point. Only a few years back most of the toll - which were priced to support maintenance on it - were $0.25, and $.50 at either end. Not. A. Big. Deal.

But then the powers that be decided to rapidly and outrageously jack up the tolls in order to support the construction of the Silver Line from West Falls Church to Dulles. Raising the tolls (and they're going to continue to go up) serves two purposes: One, it subsidizes and therefore masks the true costs associated with the Silver line. Second, it works as an experiment in social engineering - raising the tolls high enough is going to make taking the Silver Line competitive with driving. Essentially pushing people onto a transportation mechanism that is not the most cost-effective option, but which they have to pay a price premium (either by taking it, or by NOT taking it) for.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I can take Route 1, or other side roads, but the New Hamshire Turnpike, Mass Turnpike and the Maine Turnpike are toll roads. Route 1 is mostly not limited access which means a traffic light every half mile. The Maine and New Hampshire Turnpikes are basically blocks of I-95, which goes from Florida to the Canadian border, and is pretty much a toll road from Maryland North, except through Rhode Island and Massachusetts. (The small leg in NYC is over the George Washingtion (toll) Bridge). In Maine and New Hampshire it carries a lot of tourist traffic, who are obvious marks for tolls.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

I live in north San Diego county and have a Fastrak transponder to use the I15 HOV lanes. In Orange County they use Fastrak....same name and logo, but you can’t drive in their lanes. SIL got a several tickets In the ma after driving up there.

[exDemMom]

Don’t know where you went in CA, but up here in the Bay Area ALL the toll crossings have manned toll booths 24/7. The other thing is that so long as you have the car you are driving listed with FasTrak, it doesn’t matter whether or not you have a transponder because they take photos of your license plate and charge your account. We had a bad transponder, and after a couple of months, they sent us a letter asking us to send it in for a free replacement. No fines for the fact that the transponder was inop.

We were visiting the Bay Area, right when they were closing the Bay Bridge to make the switch to the new Bay Bridge. Most of the bridges did have toll booths, and we used them. However, the Golden Gate does not have manned toll booths, and they don't put up signs until the last minute to warn you. At that point, it is difficult to avoid crossing the bridge--with the heavy traffic, it can be hard to get to the exit, and there aren't any alternatives for crossing the bay if you are coming from the north.