If you’ve ever driven on Pennsylvania’s turnpike or any of its toll roads, you may have wondered, what happens if you drive through a toll without paying in PA? With options like the EZ Pass PA system available, it’s important to understand the consequences of skipping a toll.
Whether it’s an accidental oversight or a conscious decision, not paying tolls can lead to significant penalties. In this blog, we’ll explore what happens if you drive through a toll without paying in Pennsylvania and how to avoid unnecessary fines.
Understanding Tolling Systems in Pennsylvania
Let’s first get a sense of the workings of a toll in Pennsylvania before talking about the impacts. It combines both toll booths and electronic tolling systems such as the EZ Pass PA for payment collection.
Classification of toll collection systems
States employ different systems of charging tolls, and Pennsylvania is no exception:
- Standard Automated Toll Collection: This includes the physical payment or grouped auto payment systems and holders of the EZ Pass PA that automatically deduct toll charges.
- GANTRY Tolling: The unique feature of certain highways is the absence of toll booths. Instead there are toll gantries which cross certain sections of the highway and capture the registration details of vehicles passing over them while billing electronically.
It is good to know about the repercussions of all the toll collections which can either be automated or can be encompassed by a physical booth, especially the implications of missed payments.
Driving through toll in PA Without Making a Payment
Being conscious of when you need to make payments for which installment of your EZ Pass PA account will help preempt a lot of unnecessary penalties and fees in Pennsylvania.
1. Pennsylvania Toll Violation
The tolling systems in Pennsylvania are meant to identify those who pass the tolls without making the payment. And this is what generally occurs:
- In all electronic fees: Payments made in non-toll regions capture your car registration. Afterward, a toll violation letter is sent to the owner of the vehicle specified in the registration.
- In Automatic or manual booth: If the use of EZ Pass PA is absent, you’ll be recorded if cash was not paid, and in turn, may receive a penalty violation letter.
In most cases the letters in question will have three things:
- Stating the number of violations and the total outstanding balance
- Late fee charges as a fine
- Methods supporting the payment, or how to dispute the claim
2. What Happens When A Toll is Not Paid While Driving In Pennsylvania
What happens if you drive through a toll without paying in PA? It’s not just about the toll you missed; penalties can stack up quickly:
- Fees: If not paid in time, the fee becomes overdue and results in additional charges being added on top of the initial fee.
- Additional charges: Collection charges also exist and are applied where the missing penalties are disregarded
- Lawsuit: If the violation is done repeatedly, there can and will be legal issues that will follow and escalate to dire cases.
Non-payment fines can occasionally exceed the toll fares by a wider margin. The amount payable for a toll is more reasonable than the penalties that accrue from defaulting on a payment. So it’s best to both pay tolls and pay them quickly
3. EZ Pass PA and Violations
It is recommended that every user of EZ Pass PA adheres strictly to rules set forth by the system because violations do occur. Once you own an EZ Pass PA, you are able to afford such incursions, but how about forgetting your tag or having insufficient balances to cover the tolls. Phew!.
- How it works: The edge with a tag is that it acts as a balance accordion, once situated on a perimeter it will self deduct the balance linked till the average preset value.
- What happens if the tag malfunctions: Since systems are prone to errors, malfunctions may occur due to one reason or the other, be it bugs or issues with the account balance. In such events, violation notices are likely to be sent to you even though it is usually not your fault.
- Solution: Tags on the perimeter represent an ideal state of passive balance, and thus, should all be active, whilst the account should have enough balance to avoid deductions.
Keep your EZ Pass PA tag in working order to prevent unexpected fines.
How to Pay a Toll Violation in PA?
If you find yourself asking, what happens if you drive through a toll without paying in PA, it’s important to know how to pay the violation. Once you receive the notice, you’ll need to act quickly to avoid escalating fines.
1. Pay the Toll and Fine Online
There are a few methods regarding payment, but the recommended option is to use an online platform and pay the due as well as any additional charges that turn up. Here is the recommended procedure to follow:
- The first step requires the user to go to the specified sites on the search engine as Germans would say it “Schritte”. The sites in question are – Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission or it would be wise to check the PA Tolling Authority’s official site.
- After the aforementioned step has been completed, the next step would be to type in the details or payment id. The violation notice or license plate number would suffice when paying particularly against a toll.
- Complete the required payments which in this case consists of the particular toll along with any additional fines.
2. Pay by Phone or Mail
Alternatively toll could be paid off through an over the phone call or mailing, however the fastest method would still be online so just keep that in mind. In the case that you want to pay off through a phone call there is an option for that available as well.
3. Contesting the Violation
There may be a few situations where one may feel unsatisfied regarding the toll charge applied. Thankfully there is a good solution for that, in order to contest that specific charge a few steps can be followed:
- The first one would be to get in touch with the toll charging authority and voice your concerns over the matter.
- Provide them with any specific evidence that may be relevant to the case. The evidence can range from zoning a malfunctioned E-Z pass in Pennsylvania to a more relevant explanation on why you were in the designated zone.
Dispute the issue in case you feel a violation has occurred.
What Happens if You Ignore the Toll Violation?
If you continue to ask, what happens if you drive through a toll without paying in PA, ignoring the violation is never a good idea. As a result, this is where the heard and unheard consequences tied to this specific law come into play.
- Higher Fees: Ignoring the violation leads to heftier fees that may quadruple after some time.
- Car Registration Bar: Pennsylvania may renew car registration but it cannot allow an individual to drive the vehicle without clearance.
- Court Orders: Putting the county lockholds on a toll violation on a heavy record can adversely affect someone.
Considering all the above mentioned issues, from a legal and personal viewpoint, it is never a good idea to ignore a toll violation.
How to Avoid Toll Violations in PA?
It goes without saying that no one wants to get penalized for some toll violations. So here are some easy steps that can help any driver out.
1. An EZ Pass Is Required for All Drivers
An argument can be made that the EZ Pass PA, is one one the most convenient toll payment methods available in Pennsylvania because it eliminates long wait times at toll booths, resulting in minimum chances for any toll lapses to occur.
- Benefits: The need to manually pay at toll booths is eliminated which leads to less time being spent traveling and an even better price through toll discounts.
2. Your Account Balance Should be Monitored
Automatic account refill mechanisms should be available at all time which can help avoid any issues. Maintaining regular checks on your account can also help avoid the trouble of a dormant or empty tag.
3. Was the Toll Paid or Can it be Reflectively Paid?
The old fashioned toll booths existed and if you happened to be around them, do make it a point to confirm the payment wasn’t ignored. It’s not the most time consuming task and why wouldn’t you pay for the toll as a final precaution.
An easy trick that can save you a huge fee is simply checking whether the toll was paid or not.
Conclusion
So, what happens if you drive through a toll without paying in PA? It can lead to a variety of consequences, from fines to legal action. The best way to avoid these hassles is by using the EZ Pass PA system and keeping track of your toll payments. By staying vigilant and informed, you can prevent unnecessary fees and enjoy a smoother driving experience on Pennsylvania’s toll roads.
