FRAUDscoop

Rich Shopes from the Tampa Tribune write this excellent report about sunpass

TAMPA - Cynthia Hill racked up more than $3,000 in fines for unpaid tolls after her husband borrowed her car last summer to get to his job at MacDill Air Force Base.

The battery for the car’s dashboard transponder ran low, but Hill didn’t realize it until months later when she got a letter explaining her license was being suspended for unpaid tolls on the Selmon Crosstown Expressway.

“This was the first time I was aware there was a problem. I was so upset,” said Hill, a postal worker from Hernando County who needs a driver’s license for work.

Hill’s situation is increasingly common. Escalating numbers of SunPass users – now 66 percent of all drivers on toll roads – and a push by the state to improve its toll-collection rate has resulted in more people facing hefty fines and suspended licenses for seemingly minor violations.

The changes started showing up a year ago when the agency that operates most of Florida’s toll roads lowered the threshold for sending out violation notices.

People previously could skip out on three tolls before a collection letter would go out. Now the threshold is a single violation. And if violators wait around long enough, their unpaid tolls can morph into traffic citations that can affect driving privileges.

The result: longer lines at traffic court as people fight to keep their licenses.

At traffic court in Hillsborough County, the first Friday of each month is dedicated solely to toll violations. A year ago, only a handful of such cases appeared on the docket.

Back then “it was very limited,” said Bill Foster, a hearing officer in Hillsborough’s traffic court. “I hardly saw any toll cases.”

The May 2 docket was typical: about 900 cases.

Blame The Machine

About half of them involved motorists with SunPass transponders. Sensors at toll booths detect the electronic devices and then bill the motorist.

If a toll isn’t paid within three weeks, it can turn into a $25 fine. If still unpaid 30 days later, it can escalate to a $165 citation that adds three points to the driver’s license. At 12 points, the license gets suspended.

As expected, not everybody is happy with the changes.

“There is a belief among a lot of attorneys, even on the law enforcement end, that maybe this can operate a little bit harshly,” said Anthony Arena, a Tampa lawyer who often handles toll cases.

Keith Warshofsky, another lawyer, said, “It’s definitely one of those things that seems unfair.”

Circuit Judge John Galluzzo in Sanford was so incensed at the severity of the punishments that in April he tossed thousands of citations and barred toll road operator Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise from issuing tickets in Seminole and Brevard counties.

Galluzzo was irked that a firefighter incurred thousands of dollars in fines because the transponder in his wife’s sport utility vehicle had a low battery and didn’t register the tolls.

Because the family moved, the toll notices went to the wrong address and were never forwarded. The violations snowballed into more than $3,000 in fines and resulted in suspension of the man’s license. He spent months fighting to get it reinstated.

Tell It To The Judge

Hill and others spun similar stories on May 2 in Tampa’s traffic court.

After appearing before a hearing officer, Hill said she thinks the battery on her transponder ran low, causing the problem. She moved to a new home and didn’t hear about the issue until months later when she got a notice her license was suspended.

“My biggest concern is the lack of communication. I was not even aware of this until the department of motor vehicles contacted me,” she said.

Hill lived in Riverview at the time but now resides in Hernando County. Her husband, a member of the Air Force, is in Iraq.

Cory Jefferies of Tampa lost his license after two trips on the Selmon expressway, one each on April 25 and 27.

Jefferies moved to a new home after the violations occurred and said he didn’t know about the unpaid tolls until months later when he was pulled over by a police officer and told his license was suspended.

“It was suspended as a result of not paying two $1.75 tolls,” Jefferies said. “It’s definitely an injustice. I could understand it if it was speeding. That’s my fault. But here, I have a SunPass account.”

Deficit Disorder

About a year ago, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, which operates most of the state’s toll roads, started cracking down after it learned it lost $20 million the year before in unpaid tolls.

The authority started to address the problem by enforcing its service agreements with customers. Just as customers are required to change the batteries in their transponders, they are responsible for keeping their accounts up to date when they change vehicles or move.

A single toll violation can get out of hand if the agency can’t contact the motorist or if the violation is allowed to linger.

“Some of it is people moving away,” said Arena, the Tampa lawyer. “Some of it is they received the notices and just didn’t react to them. A lot of people let the notices sit there, and the time period runs, and they don’t realize there’s a problem until it’s too late.”

Joanne Hurley, a spokeswoman for Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, couldn’t say how much money the authority has recovered since last year’s push.

The authority recovered $1.3 million in unpaid tolls in the 2007 fiscal year. The 2008 fiscal year ends June 30.

For each violation that escalates to a $165 fine, the authority gets $25, plus the amount of the toll. The rest, in the form of surcharges, goes to various health and safety programs across the state.

There’s a raft of rules SunPass users must follow. Among them: The devices cannot be moved from one vehicle to another unless the second vehicle is listed on the transponder’s account. Users also are obligated to notify the agency of any changes that might affect their accounts, such as a change in a car’s registration or license plate.

“It’s incumbent on these people to keep this information up to date,” she said.

The authority has made one change on its end that might help users.

In February, the authority started forwarding the toll collection notices it mails out.

Hurley said the change should help collection process. She defended the authority’s efforts to recover unpaid tolls.

“Like any good business, you want to make sure you are collecting all the revenue that is due you,” she said.

RULES OF THE TOLL ROAD

•Pay attention to your transponder battery. If the battery is low, the transponder will emit three low tones when you go through a toll booth and its green light will not flash. Those signs also could mean a problem with your account.

•Contact SunPass, 1-888-865-5352, if you get a new license plate, your address changes or the device is being used in a different vehicle.

•If using a prepaid account backed by a credit card, contact SunPass if your bank issues a credit card with a new number.

•If using a transponder in more than one vehicle, make sure the second vehicle is registered with SunPass.

•Mount the SunPass to the windshield, not the dashboard. Go to www.sunpass.com for a list of vehicles and instructions for attaching the devices.