Delaware takes aim at unpaid tolls

State officials are trying to collect nearly $8 million owed by drivers who fail to pay tolls on Route 1 and I-95.

State officials say the worst 400 violators make up almost $600,000 of the total owed to the state.  Those drivers have been sent notices that the state is coming for what they owe.  More notices will be sent out to other violators throughout the summer.  

“We take these violations very seriously and are making every effort to collect the monies that are owed to the state,” says Delaware DMV Director Jennifer Cohan.  She says the money owed is just about equally split between in-state and out-of-state drivers.

In-state drivers will have a hold placed on their vehicle registration, which will prohibit them from re-registering their cars until the fines are paid.  If they owe more than $1,000, the case will be turned over to the Department of Finance’s Division of Revenue for collection.  Out-of-state violators are now being turned over to collection agencies, but the state is working on other ways of getting non-Delawareans to pay up.  In addition to reciprocal agreements with other states to put a hold on registrations in those states, Delaware officials are negotiating with other agencies to determine if there are other methods that could bring those delinquent toll payments into state coffers.