DENVER — Nine months into a new program aimed at catching toll violators, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has issued more than $40 million in fines to drivers who weave in and out of toll lanes.
Steve On Your Side requested the data after receiving complaints from some drivers who called the $75 violations excessive. Anyone who crosses into or out of a toll lane outside of a designated entrance or exit can be fined $75. If the driver doesn’t pay within 20 days of notice of the fine, the fine doubles to $150.
The data shows between October of 2023 and June of 2024, since the agency has begun collecting actual fines rather than simply issuing warnings, the agency issuing tolls has billed drivers $40,478,309 in fines.
Tim Hoover, spokesman for the Colorado Transportation Investment Office (CTIO), told Steve On Your Side the $40 million number is misleading as it doesn’t reflect how much money has actually been collected.
“Just remember that there's going to be tickets that we can't collect,” he said. “It can take a while to even collect stuff that we can collect.”
Hoover told Steve On Your Side the agency is currently only collecting about two-thirds of the fines issued. After calculating costs associated with the implementation, the state has netted about $16.4 million.
“We have to pay the vendor,” Hoover said. “They own the equipment, they operate the equipment, they maintain the equipment, they operate the system, and we've contracted with them for a collection service for billing services. That’s all very costly.”
Hoover didn’t budget for how much the agency anticipated to collect in fines, because the program was novel, and that number was unknown. He said the $16.4 million netted by the state so far this year will be likely be reinvested into safety improvements in the corridors where the toll lanes exist including improving signage, striping and guardrails in the area.
He also said some of the money would be invested into educational campaigns to drive down the number of violations further, including TV ads.
Lisa Reiff said she thought she knew the new rules of the road after watching news coverage and reading about the new toll lanes violations. It’s why she was surprised in March when she received a fine in the mail.
Reiff had been charged $600 for weaving in and out of toll lanes on C-470 eight times between November and February.
“I was absolutely shocked,” she said. “They've said over and over again, you can't cross the double solid line. So, I know I don't do that. Never ever, ever do that. I always wait to get into the broken line.”
Reiff’s dashboard camera recording shows her vehicle entering eastbound C-470 twice after Santa Fe. She drives across a dotted line and then over a solid line. The tollway fined her because she had entered a toll lane at an exit instead of an entrance. She paid extra to appeal the fines.
“I ended up paying $850 to them because of the fines for being denied my appeal,” she said.
Both Hans Gebhard and his wife have been ticketed for entering toll lanes illegally. Gebhard’s fine was sent days after his violation in November. Records show his wife received her violation in April after crossing the line in late January.
“The bill came several months later,” Gebhard said. “So, it was like ‘what's this?’”
The Gebhards said they paid the fee on time for $75, begrudgingly.
“I think it's highway robbery,” he said. “$75 is like so far out there. How about like $25?”
Hoover with CTIO said the fines are meant to work as a deterrent and the deterrent factor appears to be working. He said 81% of drivers who’ve been fined once have never violated again. He said overall, toll weaving violations are trending down. And he said the agency’s goal is to drive the citation number down because of it.
“We would like to see that get smaller,” he said.
Have a question about a toll ticket? Contact Steve On Your Side and Consumer Investigator Steve Staeger.
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