Texas woman owes $180K in back tolls

[Initech]

Texas woman accused of $179,596 in skipped tolls, among 25,000 deadbeat drivers

If you've ever driven around Dallas, chances are you've paid a vig to the North Texas Toll Authority, an agency that builds roads, tunnels and bridges using fees collected from drivers. But since the NTTA lacks police powers, it's had trouble collecting tolls that went unpaid -- and today, turned to naming and shaming 25,000 of its worst offenders. The surprise? Twenty-two drivers owe more than $100,000 in unpaid tolls and penalties -- with the list topped by a Dallas woman whose bill stands at $179,596.43. That's a Texas-sized bill in any state.

To break into the NTTA's list, one needed a minimum of 100 unpaid tolls, no response to bills and several notices after six months and at least $2,575 in back fees. The top offender, identified by the NTTA as one Amber Young of Dallas, supposedly sped through the toll booths 8,366 times without payment, with her total including some level of penalties the NTTA didn't disclose. The NTTA said last year about 3 percent of users were dodging about $13 million in tolls, and that a previous drive to publish the names of the worst offenders brought out more response than any other tactic.

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/texas-woman-accused-179-596-skipped-tolls-among-153435675.html

Anyone else reminded of the "Scofflaw" episode of Seinfeld?

[sofa king]

1. I'm not sure this is going to work.

My first thought, of which I am not proud, was, "note to self: don't pay the tolls in Texas."

My second thought was that states always amplify the penalties exponentially, so the headline is almost certainly incorrect. I would not be surprised to learn that the person actually owed something more like $596.43 in tolls, and $179,000 in penalties.

[MicaelS]

2. NTTA is getting rid of most of their Toll Booths

Either you set up an account for a Toll Tag, or else you rely on NTTA's system to send you bill in the mail which shows a picture of your license plate. The problem with the latter is NTTA's billing system flat sucks. I live in Ft. Worth, (no Toll Roads on this side of the Metroplex) and seldom drive over to the Dallas area. Last time I did, and used the NTTA Toll Roads, it took 3 MONTHS, to get a bill in the mail. I even called NTTA after 30 days, and was told "Well, our system is running behind."

https://www.ntta.org/custinfo/zipcash/Pages/default.aspx

ZipCash customers receive invoices depending on the frequency of their tollway use:

ZipCash customers who use the tollways frequently will receive an invoice for every 30 transactions.

Customers with five to 29 transactions will be billed every 30 days.

Customers with four or less transactions will be billed 30 days after they reach their fifth transaction.