The Ohio Turnpike is considering new ways to catch drivers who try to bypass the toll booths.
The turnpike said commercial truck drivers are the top offenders of driving on the turnpike without paying. Drivers are obscuring their license plates by inverting them or greasing them so the characters won't be caught by the cameras.
Obscuring your license plate is against the law. If caught, drivers can face a fine between $100 and $200.
The turnpike said it is working with the Ohio State Highway Patrol to catch these offenders, but the Ohio Turnpike Commission is starting to have conversations about how it can catch these criminals.
Placing pictures of the biggest offenders on a website and investing in technology that could detect license plates even better are two things the commission is considering.
The turnpike said it isn't just commercial truck drivers trying to bypass the tolls. Non-commercial drivers are also riding on the Ohio Turnpike without paying.
These drivers often ignore their toll invoices.
Toll violators will be sent three invoices before debt collections get involved. If debt collection is ignored, violators can be taken to court.
The Ohio Turnpike said it has lost $26 million in unpaid tolls.
It wants to find a solution to catch these offenders, keep things fair for those who pay, and maintain infrastructure along the road.
"We have something like 500 bridges that we take care of across the 241 miles," Ohio Turnpike Spokesperson Brian Newbacher said. "We have aging pavement. We are 34% completed on replacing the original pavement across the entire turnpike. All of this costs millions of dollars. If we're losing millions of dollars, that's money not going back into the infrastructure and that's not fair."
