Skip to main content

Texas House votes to cap toll violation fees

The Texas House has unanimously passed a bill that caps total toll fines at US$73 every six months for any given customer, according to the Austin–American Statesman.
May 23, 2017 Read time: 1 min

The Texas House has unanimously passed a bill that caps total toll fines at US$73 every six months for any given customer, according to the Austin–American Statesman.

The amendment said toll violations would carry a US$6 administrative fee, capped at US$48 each six months for any given person, plus at most a US$25 civil penalty every half year. The amendment does not cap court costs associated with taking a toll violator to court, but it also stipulates that failure to pay tolls would be a civil offence, not a criminal violation as is the case now.

It would apply only to TxDOT tollways, which owns just five tollways in the state; Austin-area drivers could still, in theory, rack up larger fines on the 183-A, US 290 East and Texas 71 tollways, operated by the 5681 Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, as well as the MoPac Boulevard, US 183 and Texas 45 Southwest tollways that are now under construction.

Related Content

  • February 1, 2012
    Infrastructure funding and road user charging – debate continues
    Jack Opiola provides an overview of the ongoing debate over US infrastructure funding and the progress – or lack of it – towards vehicles miles travelled road user charging. The future funding of transportation and mobility infrastructure is attracting increased attention. There has been sharp debate in the US, where landmark reports from the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission and the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission both stated that the cu
  • December 16, 2014
    Do satellites provide a heavenly view of tolling’s future?
    Satellite-based tolling opens up new options for authorities and can be integrated with DSRC systems as David Crawford discovers. As the proud custodian of the European Union (EU)’s longest road network covered by a single (truck) charging scheme – and the only one to include all major roads - Slovakia has become the continent’s poster-nation for the virtues of GNSS/CN (Global Navigation Satellite System/Cellular Network)-based tolling. It is also proved to be a very fast implementer. Speaking at the 2014 I
  • April 25, 2012
    Debating contactless toll charging by smartphone
    Developments in the mass transit sector could provide indicators of potential for greater use of mobile consumer electronic devices for charging and tolling, according to Consult Hyperion’s Mike Burden. However, opinion among toll system suppliers is divided. Jason Barnes reports The combination of mass-market devices and their protocols, typified by smartphones featuring near field communication (NFC), points to some exciting cross-fertilisation possibilities in the charging and tolling sector, says Consul
  • January 25, 2012
    Los Angeles Express Lanes links multiple modes of transportation
    The Big Apple's loss is the City of Angels's gain, according to Ken Philmus