ATLANTA — It’s not your imagination: Drivers in the Peach Pass lane are getting free rides about 1,500 times a day -- at least for now.
Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Erica Byfield looked into Peach Pass cheats and what the state does to try to collect the money.
An estimated 25,000 cars use I-85’s Peach Pass lanes every day. Georgia State student Isaiah Peek is one of them. %
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Byfield rode along with him recently and told him that there’s a chance that some of the people in the lane that day did not pay.
“I thought everyone that uses the lane was paying,” Peek said. “It's unfair that people are using this lane when people are paying their money and they're just getting away with it, and just getting all the benefits and not paying anything.”
Under federal law, the state Tollway Authority can’t release the names of people who’ve gone into the toll lanes without paying.
So to put a face to the figures, Byfield had to dig deeper. And that led her to court.
But not a regular court, because Peach Pass violators don’t get a traffic ticket, they get a bill in the mail.
The Office of State Administrative Hearings handles toll violators. The day Byfield attended court, the judge expected to hear 39 cases.
Only three defendants showed up.
It’s a long road from a few violations to being put on a court docket.
Here’s how it happens:
If you don’t pay a toll, you get a notice. In addition to the actual toll, the state adds a $25 fine for each violation.
But if you keep racking up fines and still don’t pay, you’re called to court where a judge can tack on an additional $70 for each instance you rode in the Peach Pass lane.
If you still don’t pay, 30 days later your vehicle registration is suspended.
Francisco Ramirez went to court.
“I showed up because I want to solve the problem,” Ramirez told Byfield.
Ramirez said he thought his debit card was attached to his Peach Pass, but he had 101 violations.
When he walked into court, he was facing up to $9,800 in tolls, fines and fees. He cut a deal and settled for $2,700. For him, that’s still a lot of money.
“I'm not very happy,” Ramirez said.
But the no-shows are on the hook for much larger bills.
We tried to find a woman who, according to court records, owes $30,573.81.
Records show the owner of a limousine service owes more than $10,000.
Add it all up, and the no-shows from this one day in court owe the state $168,000.
“It's critical that people pay. It's really the only way the system works and that it's fair,” said Tollway Authority Executive Director Chris Tomlinson.
Byfield talked to one woman who didn’t show up to court.
“I had no idea. I got no notices, I got no phone calls,” Kristen Capovilla told Byfield.
Capovilla's case is old.
So old that it involves the 400 toll road, which isn't even a toll road anymore.
She had a Peach Pass, but she was driving a rental for weeks after a car accident. She says she paid the state $600.
“It's insane. And it's wrong. I took care of the bill. I paid off what they told me I needed to pay off,” Capovilla said.
But the Tollway Authority now says she still owes $6.50 in unpaid tolls.
But because she wasn't in court, that $6.50 grew to more than $1,200.
Capovilla says she'll pay the tolls.
“But all these additional charges for a charge I wasn’t even made aware of that existed? It’s going to be a problem,” she said.
Court records show Capovilla’s address in Midtown Atlanta. But her permanent address is a 30-minute drive away in Marietta.
“I have no idea how they got the address that they said they were sending things to. It was a very temporary address and as far as I know, I've never registered anything to that address outside of some forms from my nursing school,” she said.
Some other violators said the state needs to do more to make contact with people.
The Tollway Authority can’t talk about Capovilla’s case because of privacy laws. But we did learn the state only requires the Authority to send one letter to a customer who owes money before the state sends out notices to appear in court.