Indiana drivers may get dinged by Illinois for back tolls, fines

Approximately 116,000 Indiana motorists soon could be hit with Illinois Tollway notices of violations for back tolls and fines totaling $7 million.

The Illinois Tollway Authority board of directors is slated to vote Thursday on a recommendation that the violation notices go out, following the discovery that for more than two years the Tollway Authority's open road tolling system had problems identifying Indiana license plates.

Those motorists owe $1.6 million in unpaid tolls and are expected to pay about $5.4 million in fines, Tollway Authority spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said.

The problem stemmed from the way the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles assigned license plate numbers, where a vehicle such as a car with one type of license plate and a truck with another type of plate could be assigned the same number, according to Graig Lubsen, a spokesman for BMV.

For several months, collections from Indiana drivers were put on hold while the Illinois Tollway Authority worked with the BMV to ensure the Indiana plates and vehicles could be properly identified. But when the contractor handling toll collections flipped the switch to again register Indiana plates, a filter was inadvertently left on that kept notices of violations from going out to Indiana drivers.

"These drivers, they were caught in a kind of limbo," McGinnis said.

The notices of violation will cover the two-year period from July 2008 to June 2010.

The vast majority of Indiana drivers have 10 violations or less, McGinnis said. In addition to having to pay the missed tolls, drivers will be assessed a $20 fine for each violation.

However, I-Pass, I-Zoom and other EZ-Pass customers in good standing will be able to have the fines waived by calling the I-Pass customer service center and will have to pay only the missed tolls.

Illinois Tollway Authority Executive Director Kristi Lafleur said the authority will conduct a third-party audit of its violation enforcement system due to continuing problems with collecting tolls from out-of-state motorists.