VDOT Glitch Falsely Tickets Thousands

RESTON, Va. -- Instead of taking your money, a local toll violation system may actually owe you some.

WTOP has learned that an electronic malfunction over a four-month period resulted in thousands of false tickets.

The Virginia Department of Transportation says the malfunction occurred between February and May on parts of the Dulles Toll Road and Powhite Parkway Extension.

"We found that there were several things that could bring into question some violations that were captured," says Shannon Marshall, Communications Project Manager with VDOT. "As a result, we conducted an internal review of our [toll violation] system and found that it was not properly filtering out suspect violations."

The toll violation system has an automated review process to identify inaccuracies with a particular violation or ticket. It is supposed to catch situations where violation data is due to other reasons than non-payment by a customer. That system was not working properly.

"We have enhanced this process and the new rules were retroactively applied to open violations, meaning those that are currently in the system, as well as paid violations," Marshall says.

Drivers were charged $25 for the violations, which could have been caused by anything from a transponder not registering, to a license plate being snapped for no reason.

In the four-month period, 8,000 tickets are being dismissed, and $105,000 is being refunded.

People who were incorrectly charged were also sent notices in the mail, VDOT says.

Individuals who think they may have a dispute can call VDOT's customer service center at 1-877-762-7824.

VDOT says it plans to check the system monthly to make sure it is working properly.

"We will select lanes for detailed review, just to make sure that the violations accepted by the system are consistent with our data," Marshall says.

(Copyright 2007 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)