Imagine receiving thousands of dollars in violations from toll authorities located almost a thousand miles from your home. It’s happening to an SUV-driving dad from suburban Chicago who, for months, has been mistakenly identified as a big rig truck driver running tolls in the Northeast.
“Usually, I get a handful of them each week and then I have to call each on one of the state’s and plead my case, basically, to explain to them that this is not my vehicle,” said Brian Dooper of Zion.
Dooper’s passenger vehicle license plate shares the same sequential number as a semi-truck with Illinois plates. Although, there is a slight difference: Dooper’s plate includes a space between numbers while the semi-truck’s plate is labeled “apportioned”.
Still, the tollway technology has used Dooper’s vehicle registration information to mail him more than 30 violation notices totaling nearly $2,000. He has been able to get most of the violations dismissed, but they keep showing up in his mailbox.
“One person says that I won’t get any more. The next person says I might still get some, but sure enough I always seem to get more,” Dooper said.
NBC 5 Responds reported a similar license plate mix-up issue last Summer in which a suburban business owner had received numerous toll violations from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The violations were meant for a rental van with an identical plate number to a car his business purchased for scrap several years ago.
“If the plate was recognized correctly, then none of this would have happened,” the business owner said.
Local
Illinois issues multiple license plates with the same sequential number no matter if it’s an economy car or a commercial truck. The plates are distinguished by phrases such as “apportioned” or “b truck”.
A spokesperson for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority said the agency has had difficulties in the past with Illinois license plates.
“Our hope is that we’ll be able to work out a way with Illinois to ensure that when our computer sends them an apportioned plate number, they back the owner of that plate rather than the owner of the passenger vehicle with the same number,” said New Jersey Turnpike Authority spokesperson Tom Feeney.
The Illinois Tollway said it dismisses about 2,000 violations per year related to license plate mix-ups.
Meanwhile, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission and Massachusetts Department of Transportation told NBC 5 Responds that Brian’s issue with receiving toll violations has since been resolved.
There is no word yet on if the trucking company will be issued the violations.
NBC 5 Responds also contacted the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, which issued Dooper a new license plate at no charge to help clear up the confusion.
“It’s great that they’re gonna help me and fix my situation, but are they really helping everybody else?” Dooper asked. “If there’s a flaw in the system and they’re only fixing it for me, people, who else could be getting these violations will still have the same the problem until they fix it internally?”
In a statement, the Illinois Secretary of State’s office said it was glad to help Mr. Dooper. But the statement also included a strong message for the out-of-state toll agencies.
“We are very disappointed with the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission and New Jersey Turnpike Authority for their inability to correctly read Illinois license plates,” the statement read. “It is unacceptable for someone who owns a car to be getting a ticket for a totally different plate designed for a truck. We are reaching out to these agencies and insisting that they do a much better job of reading license plates.”
