Report: Maryland Does Little to Chase Down Toll Road Cheaters
Nearly 650,000 vehicle owners owe about $6.7 million in unpaid tolls dating back five years, The Washington Post reported.
What's to stop Maryland drivers from blowing through an E-ZPass toll without a transponder? Apparently not much of anything.
Thousands of vehicles are repeatedly using E-ZPass lanes without an E-ZPass transponder, and the state is doing little to collect the millions of dollars in unpaid tolls, The Washington Post reported.
In total, nearly 650,000 vehicle owners owe about $6.7 million in unpaid tolls dating back five years, the Maryland Transportation authority told The Washington Post.
Some of the biggest offenders are rental car companies, The Post reported. One company owes the state nearly $209,000 in unpaid tolls and penalties despite having received nearly 7,000 letters over four years and eight others owe between $80,000 and $200,000.
In addition, about 15,000 single vehicle owners owe more than $500 each.
According to the report, the MTA could suspend a vehicle's registration for failure to pay, but the punishment hasn't been doled out in more than two years.
"That’s because the authority hasn’t been hitting violators with a $50 citation, which it has to do by law if it wants the MVA to suspend registrations," according to The Washington Post.
