For toll scofflaw, no easy pass on skipping fees

Larry Copeland | USA TODAY

Don't ignore the tolls on Northern Virginia's Dulles Toll Road.

Jason Bourcier, a 33-year-old financial consultant in Arlington, Va., did so. Now, to cover his unpaid tolls, fees and penalties, he will be paying $150 a month until July 19, 2067 — when he'll be 87 years old.

It could have been even worse: Bourcier says his original tab was $202,000; his attorney negotiated that down to $40,000. Toss in another $55,000 in interest payments and other fees, and his total hit is $96,498 — all stemming from $440 in unpaid tolls.

As more and more communities around the USA have turned to tolling as a way to fund much-needed roads in a difficult economic climate, Bourcier's story provides a look at an extreme example of what can happen when you don't pay your tolls.

According to Virginia law, in instances where toll violations proceed to court, the registered owner or operator of a vehicle is liable for a $50 penalty on a first offense, $100 for a second offense within one year, $250 for a third offense within two years of the second offense, and $500 for a fourth and any subsequent offenses within three years of the second offense. In each case, the owner or operator is also liable for "the unpaid toll, all accrued administrative fees imposed by the toll facility operator, and applicable court costs," the law states.

Christopher Paolino, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates Dulles Toll Road, confirmed Bourcier's story late Wednesday. He said Bourcier had 335 toll violations. "I can also say his were one of the largest number of violations that had been taken to court, so it was also one of the largest amounts awarded by the court," he said.

"In fairness to all the drivers who pay their tolls every year, we have responsibility to pursue toll violations and to crack down on those who try to evade collection," Paolino said.

Bourcier says he became a toll scofflaw in 2009, when he was struggling through the recession. He says he was unemployed and had taken a nighttime transport job that necessitated him using the eight-lane, 14-mile toll highway almost every day. The EZ Pass system is used to collect tolls on the highway; drivers can also pay with coins.

"I would go through late at night, and there weren't any attendants," Bourcier says. "One day, I asked an attendant if the cameras were on when there were no attendants on duty. He said they weren't. So I started going through without paying the tolls."

After a month, he says he got a bill for $50 in unpaid tolls, plus $1,200 in administrative fees. "I went to EZ Pass to try to negotiate that (fee) down. They would only come down to $800. I didn't want to pay $800."

He says he couldn't get a transponder because of the unpaid bill. Over the next 3½ years, Bourcier says, he used the toll road almost every day. Sometimes, he paid cash; other times, he sailed through the EZ Pass lanes — on about one-sixth of his trips, he estimates.

"I thought I had to push them to the point where they're going to come to some kind of agreement with me to fix this," Bourcier says.

That didn't happen.

He racked up more than 300 toll violations. "I got a summons for each individual violation," Bourcier says. "They each say I'm being sued for 75 cents, plus a $25 administrative fee, plus a $500 civil penalty."

On Monday, in Fairfax County General District Court, Bourcier agreed to the $150-a-month payment plan. "I had to take a settlement, or go to trial on each violation, which would have exposed me to the entire $202,000. I didn't want to risk that."

He says he wants to see legislation that would prevent an agency operating on a state road from being able to accumulate such fees and penalties. "There are no injured parties here," he says. "There are people who get convicted for DUI crashes, and they don't face this."