Va. Toll Road Scofflaws, Beware: State Says Pay Up

Morning traffic approaching the west bound toll plaza at Tysons Corner. (James M Thresher - James M Thresher -- The Washington Post)

The judge continued the case, and talks were scheduled with the private company that handles photo-enforcement for VDOT. Ahmed declined to comment after his court appearance Wednesday.

Charles Stanley has been driving his 1996 Acura down the Dulles Toll Road for years, making the trip from Reston to his job as a barber in Alexandria a little less painful.

Stanley, who also works as a highway lane closer for construction projects, said he only started receiving notices about unpaid tolls in March.

"They sent me like two violations, three violations. And then a whole bunch of them just came in at one time," Stanley said.

He said he always pays the tolls. Sometimes the machines get jammed, he said.

Last year, VDOT dismissed thousands of violations after officials determined that technical and human glitches led to wrongful violations notices.

Brown said most of the alleged violations that are subject to the court cases occurred in the E-ZPass-only lanes, and new processes are in place to filter out violations if there is an equipment failure with one of the automatic coin machines.

Neil Schroeder said he came home from a business trip to find a thick stack of summonses. He sometimes takes the Dulles Toll Road to Herndon for his job at an engineering firm, and he said he has had a Smart Tag on an automatic payment plan for years.

"The first notification of a problem can't be a $15,000 bill. I'm hopeful they'll agree with me on that," he said.