PORT ANGELES — A ticket can be frustrating for any driver, especially if it is felt to be undeserved. In Douglas E. Nevill’s case, it’s infuriating.
The 47-year-old Port Angeles man says that the two tickets he has received for bypassing the toll plaza at Tacoma Narrows Bridge — both times unintentionally — are more than just an inconvenience; they are representative of an unjustly designed system for catching drivers that he says don’t intend to break the law.
He started a Web site — http://tnbscam.com/ — in May to protest the tolling system and is speaking with lawyers about a possible class action lawsuit against the state Department of Transportation.
“It seems like it is designed to entrap people,” he said.
Nevill isn’t alone in his frustration.
His Web site — which has had 646 unique visitors — hosts several posts from people claiming that they too were scammed. Twenty of them have signed a form on the site that protests the toll.
Some miss booth
Out of the roughly 40,000 people that cross the eastbound bridge a day, between 1 percent and 2 percent miss the toll booth, said Transportation spokeswoman Janet Matkin.
That means that between 400 and 800 drivers a day receive the $52 ticket.
The toll is $4 at the toll plaza and $2.75 for those with the “Good to Go” pass.
Drivers who bypass the toll and don’t have the pass are sent a ticket in the mail.
Matkin said cameras above the three Good to Go lanes, which bypass the toll plaza, take up to 24 pictures automatically of each vehicle that uses those lanes.
If a scanner doesn’t pick up the electronic pass placed on the windshield behind the rearview mirror, the driver is mailed a ticket. All other pictures are erased, she said.
Nevill said it’s a scam because it can be confusing to drivers.
Signs unclear
While he admits there are lots of signs warning drivers about the toll — 40 to be exact — he doesn’t think that they make it clear when a driver has to be in the far right lanes to access the toll plaza.
“I think it’s significant when one citizen is defrauded,” Nevill said.
“It’s wrong to be a thief, and I think it’s designed to steal.”
Proving that, he admits, would be difficult.
A class action lawsuit, which would be intended to have Transportation refund ticketed drivers, may not materialize, Nevill said.
“They are not finding it easy to get information,” he said, referring to the law firm he hired.
Nevill declined to name the firm.
He said he also is entertaining the idea of a citizen’s initiative to revise the tolling system and get drivers who have been ticketed their money back.
Nevill said he isn’t opposed to the toll. He just wants drivers to be better informed.
He said that both times he missed the toll plaza, he intended to pay the $4 fee.
The first time, he said he just plain missed it. The second time, Nevill said, he was in the carpool lane and couldn’t get over in time due to traffic.
“I didn’t intend to wait too long to move over,” he said. “But I saw it too late to safely get over to it.”
Enough warning
Matkin said the 40 signs along the 22 miles of state Highway 16 prior to the toll plaza provide more than adequate warning and that Pierce County judges who handle challenges to the tickets agree.
“We have a whole series of signs that start actually all the way back at the Gorst interchange,” she said.
“As you get closer to the toll plaza, the signs increase.”
The tolling system, Matkin said, mirrors others installed throughout the nation.
Matkin said it keeps traffic moving by allowing drivers to set up a Good to Go account — “which has a lot of advantages in terms of obliviously keeping highway speeds so people don’t have to stop and go.”
Matkin said that decreases the chances of a collision.
The eastbound bridge was built in 2007. It parallels the westbound bridge built in 1950.
The toll, which is only for eastbound traffic, is intended to pay for the $849 million structure by 2030, Matkin said. It also covers the bridge’s maintenance and the cost of the toll system.
The toll will be eliminated in 2030. It would be up to the state Legislature to determine how to fund bridge maintenance afterward, Matkin said.
Good to Go passes can be purchased by phoning 1-866-936-8246 or visiting www.wsdot.wa.gov/goodtogo/.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
