Solve major problems in toll collection
Perhaps the most disheartening news in "Toll Gridlock," the three-part Daily Herald report on the gaping holes in the way the toll highway authority collects unpaid tolls, is the assessment by tollway officials that the findings are minor issues.
"We have enough safeguards," said Matt Beaudet, head of the authority's I-PASS and violation enforcement system. "I believe it is fair."
Fair?
One victim of the toll authority's system who was turned up by Projects and Politics Writer Joseph Ryan is Leslie Boudreau. She hadn't paid for $179.50 in tolls. She was given a bill of $4,619 and given two weeks to pay up or owe $15,739.
Boudreau said she had not been aware that her credit card had expired and that it wasn't paying the tolls. But let's assume the worst -- that she willfully blew through the tolls without paying.
Even if that were the case, would the penalty fit the crime? For $179.50, would $4,619 be fair? Would a two-week deadline to pay be little more than heavy-handed coercion?
Would $15,739 be fair? For $179.50 in unpaid tolls?
No, it's outrageous.
And that type of usurious penalty could happen to anyone. Perhaps not at that volume of missed tolls. But almost any of us could miss a few tolls and instead of paying a dollar or two find ourselves owing hundreds.
It's only one of multiple issues raised by the Daily Herald study, and while we believe the toll authority's move to Open Road Tolling in general has been a great boon, the enforcement and toll collection system clearly needs attention. It is a system, as "Toll Gridlock" shows, that is inequitable, insensitive and inept.
Among the issues are these: Scofflaw cameras have trouble reading as many as one out of four Illinois license plates. Most cases appealed to the Illinois secretary of state are thrown out. Local scofflaws are penalized more severely than out-of-state drivers. The toll authority assesses huge fines but doesn't allow for payment plans. And the authority, in the end, still doesn't know how many people are cheating or how much money is owed.
These are not minor issues.
These are indications of a dysfunctional system that is not fair to motorists, law-abiding drivers as well as scofflaws, and is not competent in safeguarding the public purse.
Toll authority officials are obligated to go after those who repeatedly and willfully evade tolls. But they must also show some reasonableness. And they must show a sense of urgency to correct the system and put pressure on their contractors to solve the problems in a timely fashion.
The last thing the toll authority needs is to develop an image that it behaves like an arrogant governmental agency. Tollway officials need to remember that drivers are customers and that the toll system exists to serve them.
If they fail to remember that, then the legislature must take action.