Turnpike fires up cameras to catch toll cheaters

PORTLAND – After years of delay, cameras have begun snapping photos that show the license numbers of motorists who drive through Maine Turnpike tollbooths without paying.

“We’re going to have a photograph of your license plate. The photograph is very clear. It’s almost indisputable,” said Dan Paradee, spokesman for the Maine Turnpike Authority.

Technicians who operate the system are looking for repeat violators, who will be sent letters containing the visual evidence and ordering them to pay up.

“They will get a letter from us where we ask for the toll amount. And nine times out of 10, we get that,” Paradee said.

Those who ignore the letters will be subject to fines.

The cameras were installed when the turnpike launched its Transpass electronic toll collection system more than three years ago but were never activated.

Officials were concerned that glitches in the system would mean that tickets would be mailed to motorists whose Transpass failed as well as to toll cheats.

Paradee estimated the number of scofflaws at one-half of 1 percent of the 55 million vehicles that use the toll road annually, or roughly 750 per day.

The authority estimates it loses $4,800 a month because of toll cheats and Transpass malfunctions, according to Paradee. The authority collects $4.4 million in tolls each month.

At present, officials are only confident in processing information from five cameras at a time.

The cameras went into operation in October, and their locations are being switched from site to site.

That stragety was designed so that motorists can never know for certain where cameras have been placed.