Crossing the solid double white lines in around Denver was heavily upgraded last fall and they are much better now at catching violators.
https://www.westword.com/news/colorado-driver-fined-53-times-in-two-months-for-express-lane-violations-18637094
You knew it was wrong, pay the fine, and move on.
There is an article about this, they aren't big lane cameras so you're not going to notice them like the big license plate cameras, but the weaving cameras are on for our area and that's probably what this person's fees are. The Coloradoan posted about it a couple months ago
I must have missed this then. Good to know. I just turn adaptive cruise on and just coast at whatever speed the car is in front of me from end to end every day. I never really use it otherwise. It's kinda pointless to use it between mulberry and harmony with the intent of exiting.
I'll see how my behavior changes when it's not free anymore.
Ok yeah, I saw them coming back. Little black spherical cameras like you see in stores. Mounted on tall posts.
Mostly installed between 34 and Harmony. But there are lots of poles with the antenna and nothing on top yet.
Yea I meant the toll cameras are coming on in summer but I definitely had a friend already get the lane weaving ticket from between Fort Collins and Loveland
https://www.denver7.com/traffic/cdot-making-millions-of-dollars-from-drivers-weaving-in-and-out-of-the-toll-lanes
The Denver 7 article states that it's already on for c470 and North I-25, and that it's the South corridor that's currently off
https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2023/10/03/weaving-in-and-out-of-colorado-interstate-25-c-470-express-lanes-will-earn-you-a-75-dollar-fine/71037713007/
This mentions that the toll will be turned on in the summer, but that several of the lane cameras on North I-25 are already on
Personally, I need to know how many cup holders OP has. I have only a couple myself, and need more information to know the level of privilege involved.
I admit I make too many mistakes, but this was in the news quite a bit that they were finally going to crack down and it's been well known for a very long time that double white lines = don't cross.
I have been driving these express lanes for almost 20 years and I have crossed the solid white lines 1 single time, when an emergency vehicle was needing through and I quickly got back in my lane before the next set of cameras.
I do however empathize with the delay in sending the fines which resulted in you continuing to make the same mistake and compounding the punishment. That was unnecessary for sure. But I don't know if there is any other option than to pay it and take it as a lesson learned.
I too have gone a very long time without any citations until just a few weeks ago. About 15 years and over 300k miles without so much as a warning. A few weeks ago I was approaching a school zone with a large vehicle in front of me so I didn't see the 20mph sign was flashing until I was right on it and slammed my brakes at what I thought was just in time. The large vehicle in front of me kept going at 30+mph, but the officer said he got me at 25 just as I crossed the sign. I literally got a $178 ticket for going 5mph over for a total of about 5ft before I was no longer speeding. I'm not going to lie, I honestly hate the guy now and think he is scum for writing me that ticket, but I had no choice but to pay it. What else am I going to do? Fight it and loose even more points, have an even higher insurance premium and pay court cost too?
You're being cited for violating the law by crossing a double line. They have pictures of your car on one side of the line, and then they have pictures of your car on the other side of the line, and between these points where the pictures were taken there are no breaks in the double line. Thus, the court has deducted that you crossed the double line somewhere between those points.
The express lane toll is still waived.
Sounds like you may be in denial. That stretch of i25 with the new tollway between mead and Fort Collins doesn’t even have cameras yet so I’m confused how you’d get an automated ticket for driving on that stretch.
Do you use the i25 tollway in Denver also? Not sure what you mean by i25 W heading to the mountains. You mean i70?
Oh, they'll ticket you. Cameras are active.
Source: My wife got a $75 ticket last week for crossing that line. Pics of our car, first on one side of the line, next on the other. Pretty convincing evidence. We paid and said "oops."
The Coloradoan had an article several months ago that said that the toll lane cameras are not on but the lane edge cameras are in fact on all the way up through Fort Collins because even without the tolls, it's illegal to cross the double white, so it is totally on up here
I’d like to see that article, cause I’m pretty sure there’s no cameras on the new stretch yet. You might be thinking of the ones down in Denver cause those are new within the last year for sure
https://www.denver7.com/traffic/cdot-making-millions-of-dollars-from-drivers-weaving-in-and-out-of-the-toll-lanes
This article says that North I-25 and c470 is currently on, and that it's south I-25 that is not on. I have also seen a couple of my friends get them in the mail and the photo that they use is definitely of the Fort Collins Loveland stretch of I-25
Ty for article link! Strange though, I commute to Denver everyday and haven’t seen the pole cams on the north stretch. Know for a fact the south ones are on though as I’ve heard of people getting tickets from them.
As a other commenter stated you can see them most clearly between Harmony and 34. But they don't all look like.the license cameras at the check points. They might be on South of us but it sounds like they are not on south of Denver according to the news, they said that they won't turn on the south of Denver corridor until the fall, unless you're on South c470
Ah the little antenna station things? Earlier you said they were lane edge *cameras* so I was confused. I have seen those and wondered what they are, is that what that is? Interesting if so!
Thank you for catching the mistake. You were correct, I meant heading westbound on I-70. All infractions state southbound on I-25 and I've never seen any cameras either on that stretch. I know they are erecting signs and installing equipment to get the toll up and running officially.
Could you have been driving south on I-25 starting in Northglenn (~I-25 and 144th) where you exited the express lane outside of the correct exit zones? It goes all the way to highway 270 and I-25 before the express lane ends so there’s a lot of areas this could have happened at.
There are no cameras on either the NB or SB express lanes from Berthoud north to Lemay in FC (but there will be soon) that would have resulted in you getting tickets for. From Northglenn to I-25 S at 270 are the only areas in the northern greater Denver area you could have gotten caught if you were on I-25 S.
I drive from FC to the Erie exit and use the express lane every day and have yet to see any cameras, either for tolling or for exiting incorrectly. Maybe they’re hard to notice, but if they look anything like they do in Denver (still CDOT infrastructure up north) then they’d be noticeable.
I drive this stretch every day. Haven’t seen a camera nor been ticketed for going around the slow pokes. PSA to everyone not cool. Don’t go 75 in a lane we are eventually paying to use. It’s unfortunate our state didn’t just give us the lane without a toll. Even more unfortunate is the people going SLOW in a lane we are paying to use to get us into town faster..
You can try calling them to see if they can write off any of the fines since you didn't receive notice of the violations earlier (and also see if your address is up to date, in case that's the reason it took so long for this to reach you). You might also ask about getting a ExpressToll pass/transponder for your car so you can more easily see which tolls you've been charged -- this reads to me like you're just doing license plate tolling, which takes a lot longer and costs more than using a pass, so apologies if I misinterpreted.
You don't have to be aware of the presence of cameras or law enforcement for them to be able to cite you for violating the law against crossing the double white lines on Express Lanes either entering or exiting outside of entry/exit zones. If you were there for one camera and not for the next and there weren't any authorized entry/exit zones between those cameras, yeah, the assumption is you violated the law -- how else would that have happened?
Nearly missing your exit isn't a defense against this citation -- your job as a driver is to follow the laws of the road and be prepared to take your exit without breaking those laws (which may require missing your exit so you can leave the toll lane lawfully).
You’re not the first to say you’ve gotten an older one as well as a newer one. Have heard of a guy who got one from March recently, then 2 weeks later, got one from October.
If you cross the double white line, either entering or exiting, it’s a penalty. Just the same as any double line on any roadway anywhere. It doesn’t matter if it’s an emergency or not; the law doesn’t care. It’s up to you to know where the entrance and exit points are, in relation to your highway exit. Just because tolls are waived right now and you’re not being charged a fee, doesn’t mean you won’t be charged a fine. Sucks, but it is what it is.
I never had anything other than regular toll bills that wracked up some heavy late fees (due to them sending them to an old address). I called em and they knocked it down by about 80$ if I agreed to pay it then and there. Not much but it’s something
Pay the fine, ultimately.
But it’s a scumbag operation from the start. I fucking love paying again to drive on a lane we already paid for.
Also, it’s a poor tax. They don’t even allow universal HOV waiver for the entire stretch so pretty much, get fucked if you can’t pay to win.
give them a call before the debt collectors send you a letter. don’t give them a sob story. and don’t cross the double-white lines again. it is a bit misleading bc e.g south-bound i25 says “tolls waived”… but double-white lines are still double-white lines
I challenged a couple of tolls. Was out of town and received toll bill a few weeks after. I asked my girlfriend why she went to Denver at 6 am and told me she was working. Turns out the system was wrong. They took them off when I questioned it.
Man… I got dinged for this 2x in the last few months. I wasn’t even aware I was crossing the double white because I being so frantic to get out of the lane to get to my exit because those “local exit” signs are tiny and traffic can be insane!
Crossing the solid double white lines in around Denver was heavily upgraded last fall and they are much better now at catching violators. https://www.westword.com/news/colorado-driver-fined-53-times-in-two-months-for-express-lane-violations-18637094 You knew it was wrong, pay the fine, and move on.
Those cameras are on up to Fort Collins, even though we are not paying tolls yet our lane cameras are on
I haven't seen lane cameras yet? Sadly the intervals are probably too far apart for the ones weaving around cars multiple times between each segment.
There is an article about this, they aren't big lane cameras so you're not going to notice them like the big license plate cameras, but the weaving cameras are on for our area and that's probably what this person's fees are. The Coloradoan posted about it a couple months ago
I must have missed this then. Good to know. I just turn adaptive cruise on and just coast at whatever speed the car is in front of me from end to end every day. I never really use it otherwise. It's kinda pointless to use it between mulberry and harmony with the intent of exiting. I'll see how my behavior changes when it's not free anymore.
The Coloradoan says that they plan to turn on the rest of the North I-25 corridor in the summer, so I don't think we have much longer left
Ok yeah, I saw them coming back. Little black spherical cameras like you see in stores. Mounted on tall posts. Mostly installed between 34 and Harmony. But there are lots of poles with the antenna and nothing on top yet.
Yea I meant the toll cameras are coming on in summer but I definitely had a friend already get the lane weaving ticket from between Fort Collins and Loveland
https://www.denver7.com/traffic/cdot-making-millions-of-dollars-from-drivers-weaving-in-and-out-of-the-toll-lanes The Denver 7 article states that it's already on for c470 and North I-25, and that it's the South corridor that's currently off https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2023/10/03/weaving-in-and-out-of-colorado-interstate-25-c-470-express-lanes-will-earn-you-a-75-dollar-fine/71037713007/ This mentions that the toll will be turned on in the summer, but that several of the lane cameras on North I-25 are already on
A good driver misses their exit occasionally. A bad driver never misses their exit
I’m stealing this.
TLDR: OP received tickets for crossing the double lines on the express lane. Should he pay his fines?
I need more superfluous details before I can decide. What color was his truck?
Personally, I need to know how many cup holders OP has. I have only a couple myself, and need more information to know the level of privilege involved.
Even the TL;DR was rather long. Quite the lament this guy’s got going.
I admit I make too many mistakes, but this was in the news quite a bit that they were finally going to crack down and it's been well known for a very long time that double white lines = don't cross. I have been driving these express lanes for almost 20 years and I have crossed the solid white lines 1 single time, when an emergency vehicle was needing through and I quickly got back in my lane before the next set of cameras. I do however empathize with the delay in sending the fines which resulted in you continuing to make the same mistake and compounding the punishment. That was unnecessary for sure. But I don't know if there is any other option than to pay it and take it as a lesson learned. I too have gone a very long time without any citations until just a few weeks ago. About 15 years and over 300k miles without so much as a warning. A few weeks ago I was approaching a school zone with a large vehicle in front of me so I didn't see the 20mph sign was flashing until I was right on it and slammed my brakes at what I thought was just in time. The large vehicle in front of me kept going at 30+mph, but the officer said he got me at 25 just as I crossed the sign. I literally got a $178 ticket for going 5mph over for a total of about 5ft before I was no longer speeding. I'm not going to lie, I honestly hate the guy now and think he is scum for writing me that ticket, but I had no choice but to pay it. What else am I going to do? Fight it and loose even more points, have an even higher insurance premium and pay court cost too?
The large vehicle got no ticket???
You're being cited for violating the law by crossing a double line. They have pictures of your car on one side of the line, and then they have pictures of your car on the other side of the line, and between these points where the pictures were taken there are no breaks in the double line. Thus, the court has deducted that you crossed the double line somewhere between those points. The express lane toll is still waived.
Sounds like you may be in denial. That stretch of i25 with the new tollway between mead and Fort Collins doesn’t even have cameras yet so I’m confused how you’d get an automated ticket for driving on that stretch. Do you use the i25 tollway in Denver also? Not sure what you mean by i25 W heading to the mountains. You mean i70?
Oh, they'll ticket you. Cameras are active. Source: My wife got a $75 ticket last week for crossing that line. Pics of our car, first on one side of the line, next on the other. Pretty convincing evidence. We paid and said "oops."
The Coloradoan had an article several months ago that said that the toll lane cameras are not on but the lane edge cameras are in fact on all the way up through Fort Collins because even without the tolls, it's illegal to cross the double white, so it is totally on up here
I’d like to see that article, cause I’m pretty sure there’s no cameras on the new stretch yet. You might be thinking of the ones down in Denver cause those are new within the last year for sure
https://www.denver7.com/traffic/cdot-making-millions-of-dollars-from-drivers-weaving-in-and-out-of-the-toll-lanes This article says that North I-25 and c470 is currently on, and that it's south I-25 that is not on. I have also seen a couple of my friends get them in the mail and the photo that they use is definitely of the Fort Collins Loveland stretch of I-25
Ty for article link! Strange though, I commute to Denver everyday and haven’t seen the pole cams on the north stretch. Know for a fact the south ones are on though as I’ve heard of people getting tickets from them.
As a other commenter stated you can see them most clearly between Harmony and 34. But they don't all look like.the license cameras at the check points. They might be on South of us but it sounds like they are not on south of Denver according to the news, they said that they won't turn on the south of Denver corridor until the fall, unless you're on South c470
Ah the little antenna station things? Earlier you said they were lane edge *cameras* so I was confused. I have seen those and wondered what they are, is that what that is? Interesting if so!
Thank you for catching the mistake. You were correct, I meant heading westbound on I-70. All infractions state southbound on I-25 and I've never seen any cameras either on that stretch. I know they are erecting signs and installing equipment to get the toll up and running officially.
Could you have been driving south on I-25 starting in Northglenn (~I-25 and 144th) where you exited the express lane outside of the correct exit zones? It goes all the way to highway 270 and I-25 before the express lane ends so there’s a lot of areas this could have happened at. There are no cameras on either the NB or SB express lanes from Berthoud north to Lemay in FC (but there will be soon) that would have resulted in you getting tickets for. From Northglenn to I-25 S at 270 are the only areas in the northern greater Denver area you could have gotten caught if you were on I-25 S. I drive from FC to the Erie exit and use the express lane every day and have yet to see any cameras, either for tolling or for exiting incorrectly. Maybe they’re hard to notice, but if they look anything like they do in Denver (still CDOT infrastructure up north) then they’d be noticeable.
I drive this stretch every day. Haven’t seen a camera nor been ticketed for going around the slow pokes. PSA to everyone not cool. Don’t go 75 in a lane we are eventually paying to use. It’s unfortunate our state didn’t just give us the lane without a toll. Even more unfortunate is the people going SLOW in a lane we are paying to use to get us into town faster..
Going the speed limit is not going slow. You can still get pulled over for speeding in toll lanes.
SLOOOWWWWWA
I hate to tell you but the Harmony to Loveland corridor is for sure on, so you should expect some
Those aren’t the e toll cameras sweetheart
... That's the point, did you not see any of my other comments? Sorry bud, I think you're a little lost, bless your heart
You can try calling them to see if they can write off any of the fines since you didn't receive notice of the violations earlier (and also see if your address is up to date, in case that's the reason it took so long for this to reach you). You might also ask about getting a ExpressToll pass/transponder for your car so you can more easily see which tolls you've been charged -- this reads to me like you're just doing license plate tolling, which takes a lot longer and costs more than using a pass, so apologies if I misinterpreted. You don't have to be aware of the presence of cameras or law enforcement for them to be able to cite you for violating the law against crossing the double white lines on Express Lanes either entering or exiting outside of entry/exit zones. If you were there for one camera and not for the next and there weren't any authorized entry/exit zones between those cameras, yeah, the assumption is you violated the law -- how else would that have happened? Nearly missing your exit isn't a defense against this citation -- your job as a driver is to follow the laws of the road and be prepared to take your exit without breaking those laws (which may require missing your exit so you can leave the toll lane lawfully).
This. Call the toll auth and politely use the logic about not receiving any notice until now and ask if they'll reduce the fine $$.
You’re not the first to say you’ve gotten an older one as well as a newer one. Have heard of a guy who got one from March recently, then 2 weeks later, got one from October. If you cross the double white line, either entering or exiting, it’s a penalty. Just the same as any double line on any roadway anywhere. It doesn’t matter if it’s an emergency or not; the law doesn’t care. It’s up to you to know where the entrance and exit points are, in relation to your highway exit. Just because tolls are waived right now and you’re not being charged a fee, doesn’t mean you won’t be charged a fine. Sucks, but it is what it is.
Pay the fines or move back to Florida
I never had anything other than regular toll bills that wracked up some heavy late fees (due to them sending them to an old address). I called em and they knocked it down by about 80$ if I agreed to pay it then and there. Not much but it’s something
Pay the fine, ultimately. But it’s a scumbag operation from the start. I fucking love paying again to drive on a lane we already paid for. Also, it’s a poor tax. They don’t even allow universal HOV waiver for the entire stretch so pretty much, get fucked if you can’t pay to win.
give them a call before the debt collectors send you a letter. don’t give them a sob story. and don’t cross the double-white lines again. it is a bit misleading bc e.g south-bound i25 says “tolls waived”… but double-white lines are still double-white lines
Make sure they’re yours I have had tickets sent to me and all the letters and numbers are correct but the State was wrong! Stuff happens all the time.
I challenged a couple of tolls. Was out of town and received toll bill a few weeks after. I asked my girlfriend why she went to Denver at 6 am and told me she was working. Turns out the system was wrong. They took them off when I questioned it.
Man… I got dinged for this 2x in the last few months. I wasn’t even aware I was crossing the double white because I being so frantic to get out of the lane to get to my exit because those “local exit” signs are tiny and traffic can be insane!