I am a Florida resident and received notice of 7 tollway violations from the Illinois Tollway authority supposedly incurred during the first week of July when I visited the Chicago suburbs on vacation. The unpaid tolls totaled $6.50 plus $140 in fines. The violations were coded as IPass violations and the letter included pictures of my vehicle allegedly driving through the IPass lane. My husband and I are not toll evaders and tried to remember how this could have happened. As Florida licensed drivers, we were unfamiliar with the toll lane structure of the Illinois tollway. We are Florida Sunpass holders and the Florida Sunpass lanes are within the toll booth structure. We did not realize the open road lanes we used were for Ipass holders.
I requested a hearing by mail and sent a letter presenting my case and offered to pay the $6.50 in toll fines. This was to no avail and I received the Hearing Officer's Final Order to pay the $146.50 or it could result in an additional $50 fine per violation -$496.50! Talk about extortion!!! Apparently, I am not alone in this outrage - just search "Illinois Tollway scam" on the internet and see all the documented "ripoff/scam" experiences people have had with the Illinois tollway system. I'm just a victim of a long ongoing, hot mess! I will also be sending a letter to the Illinois Tollway Inspector General's office which was created to "maintain the public's trust in administration and operation of the Illinois tollway." Ha, that's a good one!
For fear of having my vehicle registration/driver's license suspended, I will pay the $146.50. To make matters worse, I was let go from my job when I returned from vacation and have had to ask family members for monetary assistance.
Something needs to be done about these IPass/IL tollway scams... Things are just not right here: (
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