Del. DMV Chief Cracking Down On E-Z Pass Toll Cheats
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - If you routinely blow through the E-Z Pass through lanes on I-95 or Route 1 in Delaware without paying, a top state official says she's coming after you to get the money.
Delaware's Department of Mother Vehicles director Jennifer Cohan says the state is owed a lot of money by toll cheats, "Right now, which is why this is such a huge priority for us, there's about $8-million in outstanding toll violations, with half of that being from Delawareans and the other half being from out-of-state (drivers)."
Cohan says if you live in Delaware, she's already got your number. "If you don't pay, we will put a registration hold on your vehicle until you either pay in full or set up a payment arrangement to pay it in full through payment plans."
One person, she says, is a huge delinquent, "We even have one individual who owes $40-thousand, just one, single individual. And, I think, because, historically we've turned them over to collection agencies who have only had like a 10% collection rate, I believe they think they're getting off scot-free."
Cohan says she's talking to her counterparts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, where the balance of the toll violators live, to see if they'd be willing to adopt sanctions to get the deadbeats to pay up.
She says she decided to get tough after the toll administration operations were merged into the DMV last year and Cohan learned that collection agencies it hired had a dismal track record in recovering what was owed.
Reported by Mark Abrams, KYW Newsradio 1060
