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Toll
According to Merriam-Webster (2013), toll is a “tax or fee paid for some liberty or privilege (as of passing over a highway or bridge).”
In the United States, a toll road, especially near the east coast, is often called a turnpike. The term turnpike originated from pikes, which were long sticks that blocked passage until the fare was paid and the pike turned at a toll house or toll booth as it is known today. Some states have an RF tag that automatically bills the commuters account electronically for tolls. An example of this is Florida’s SunPass (Wikipedia, 2013).
Paying your toll and Florida toll violations
In Florida, “Florida Statute 338.155 requires you to pay a toll if you drive on any toll road or bridge in the state. Failure to pay your toll is a moving violation [commonly referred to as “toll violation”], per section 316.1001 F.S.and if convicted, you may be assessed points on your driver’s license for not paying the toll, in addition to a fine if found guilty.
Tolls may be paid with cash, or with such prepaid accounts as SunPass, E-Pass or LeeWay. Your prepaid account must contain adequate funds to ensure you can pay your toll at the time you travel through the lane, just as cash customers do.
SunPass takes a picture of your license tag as you go through the lane. If we do not receive a signal from a transponder, and cannot match your license plate to an active account, an unpaid toll violation will be mailed to you.” –excerpt taken from the article, “Toll Violations – Florida’s Turnpike”
False accusations
However, in some instances, drivers are accused of toll violations sometimes due to innocent transponder problems. In the news report by WESH 2 News, such problem is discussed. See the video below.
Innocent Drivers Slapped With Toll Violations
In the video, some drivers innocently thought they were paying their tolls, but in fact they were not for a variety of reasons and they never knew about it until they were faced with a stack of toll violations. This poor communication between the turnpike officials and the “violating” drivers, reaching to the point of the filing of a toll violation could be the responsibility of the officials or the drivers.
“I was notified about one [toll violation] and when I called the Expressway Authority about it, they said that I had five others,” driver Jay Jageler said.
Because of these toll violations, the innocent drivers were assessed points on their driver’s license and were asked to pay a fine. Even worse, some had their licenses suspended and eventually revoked (causing them not to be able to get drivers licenses even after paying the fines).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8264DbIInc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
“You may start half way through to get to the point where he tells us about his aleged toll violations.”
And here’s the other side?
What to do?
Accumulated license points, fines, suspended licenses, revoked licenses resulting from toll violations–nobody likes any of these. Do not let petty mistakes, especially when they are not yours, bring you headaches. Act before it is too late. Know how to avoid such problems. For toll violation issues, consult our highly experienced traffic ticket lawyers.
Call us at 305-LAW-FIRM or contact us to schedule an appointment.
