New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 19 - OTHER AGENCIES › NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE AUTHORITY › Chapter 9 - NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE AUTHORITY › Subchapter 9 - ELECTRONIC TOLL COLLECTION MONITORING SYSTEM › Section 19:9-9.2 - Toll collection monitoring system violation

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) No owner,
				  operator, lessor or lessee shall refuse to pay, evade or attempt to evade the
				  payment of the toll for passage of a vehicle on a Roadway, unless an exemption
				  exists for the payment of the required toll. Except as provided in
				  27:23-34.3(b), an
				  owner of a vehicle shall be jointly and severally liable for the failure of an
				  operator of the vehicle to comply with the toll collection system monitoring
				  rules. The owner of a vehicle shall be liable if the vehicle was used or
				  operated by the operator with the express or implied permission of the owner
				  when the violation of the toll collection system monitoring rules was
				  committed, and the evidence of the violation is obtained by a toll collection
				  monitoring system. An owner of a vehicle shall not be liable if the operator of
				  the vehicle has been identified and charged with a violation of
				  27:23-25 for the same
				  incident.
(b) Within the time
				  period specified in
				  27:23-34.3, the Authority or its
				  agent may send an Advisory and Payment Request to the owner of the violating
				  vehicle by regular mail as provided for in
				  P.L.
				  1997, c. 59. Upon
				  receipt of the Advisory and Payment Request, the owner of the violating vehicle
				  shall pay to the Authority or its agent, the proper toll and an administrative
				  fee in the amount of $ 50.00 per violation or such other amount as may be
				  established by duly adopted rule; provided, however, that an owner that proves
				  an inadvertent toll violation has occurred shall be required only to pay the
				  toll and shall not incur the administrative fee. If the owner fails to pay the
				  required toll and fee by the number of days specified in
				  27:23-34.3 from the date on which
				  the Advisory and Payment Request was sent, the owner shall be subject to
				  penalties described herein. The Authority or its agent may cause additional
				  Advisory and Payment Requests to be issued in regard to the unresolved
				  violation.
(c) The Advisory and
				  Payment Request shall contain the name and address of the person alleged to be
				  liable as an owner of a violating vehicle, the license plate number of the
				  violating vehicle, the location where such violation took place, and the date
				  and time of such violation.
(d) The
				  Advisory and Payment Request shall contain information advising the person
				  named of the manner in which he or she may contest the liability alleged in the
				  Advisory and Payment Request or assert that liability should not attach in a
				  given instance due to circumstances that caused an inadvertent toll violation
				  to occur. Such Advisory and Payment Request shall also contain notice that
				  failure to pay the indicated toll and administrative fee or failure to
				  successfully contest the liability will render the owner subject to the
				  penalties described in N.J.A.C. 19:9-3.
(e) If an owner receives an Advisory and
				  Payment Request pursuant to this section for any time period during which the
				  vehicle was reported to the police as having been stolen, it shall be a valid
				  defense to an allegation of liability for a violation of this section that the
				  vehicle had been reported to the police as stolen prior to the time the
				  violation occurred and had not been recovered by such time. If an owner
				  receives an Advisory and Payment Request pursuant to this section for any time
				  period during which the vehicle was stolen, but not as yet reported to the
				  police as having been stolen, it shall be a valid defense to an allegation of
				  liability for a violation of this section that the vehicle was reported stolen
				  within two hours after the discovery of the theft by the owner. For purposes of
				  asserting that the vehicle was stolen, it shall be sufficient that a copy of
				  the police report on the stolen vehicle be sent first class mail to the
				  Authority or its agent at the address specified on the Advisory and Payment
				  Request.
(f) An owner who is a
				  lessor of a vehicle for which an Advisory and Payment Request was issued
				  pursuant to this section shall not be liable for the violation, provided that
				  the lessor submits to the Authority or its agent issuing the Advisory and
				  Payment Request a copy of the rental agreement, lease or other such contract
				  document covering such vehicle on the date of the violation (with the name and
				  address of the lessee clearly legible), within 60 days after receiving the
				  original Advisory and Payment Request. Failure to send such information within
				  such 60-day time period shall render the lessor liable for the prescribed
				  penalty. If the lessor complies with these provisions, and the lessee is sent
				  an Advisory and Payment Request within 60 days of such compliance by the
				  lessor, the lessee of the vehicle on the date of the violation shall be deemed
				  to be the owner of such vehicle for purposes of this section and shall be
				  subject to liability for same.
(g)
				  The Authority may designate an employee(s) or agent(s) of the Authority to be a
				  complaining witness on behalf of the Authority and to cause a summons and
				  complaint to issue to the extent permitted by, and pursuant, to the Rules
				  Governing the Courts of the State of New Jersey.
(h) The Authority may adopt a form of
				  contract ("subscription agreement") which may set forth the terms and
				  provisions that govern the responsibilities, duties and obligations of an owner
				  or operator as a subscriber to the ETC System, which subscription agreement may
				  include the termination of the owner or operator as a subscriber of the
				  Authority's ETC System if the owner or operator fails to comply with the terms
				  and provisions of the subscription agreement.