A DRIVER thought she was doing the right thing to avoid breaking the law but instead ended up with a ticket.
She got slapped with a fine after following a clear road sign that warned of a closure.
9NewsHeather Elliott was fined after exiting a toll lane she believed was closed[/caption] She fought the ticket and won refunds for herself and other drivers who were caught out9NewsIt happened in Denver, Colorado, on Interstate 25, as she was heading to work in April.
Heather Elliott exited the toll lane after seeing a red “X” overhead, the signal drivers rely on to know a lane is shut.
But instead of praise for making a “smart and safe” move, she received a violation for “toll weaving.”
“I’d been warned twice now that the lane was closed, so I chose to get out of the lane because that was the smart and safe thing to do,” Elliott told NBC affiliate KUSA.
When she crossed the double white lines to exit, the system flagged her.
Despite doing what she believed was right, she was fined for an improper exit, and when she tried to justify her actions, the authorities didn’t want to hear it.
“I thought ‘no problem,’ all I would have to do is tell them that there was an accident and I made the right choice to get over,” Elliott said.
But her initial appeal was rejected without explanation.
Not willing to back down, she requested a formal hearing to challenge the citation.
It was not until she reached out for further help to fight the fine that the extent of the lane issue was revealed.
According to the local news outlet Elliott wasn’t the only one penalized that day.
Forty-eight other drivers were ticketed at the exact same spot, on the same day – four times the usual number.
That raised red flags about what really happened.
Just days before Elliott’s scheduled appeal hearing, the Colorado Department of Transportation canceled it and her fines.
3 Tips for Fighting Unfair Fines
Document everything: Snap clear photos or videos of road signs, traffic signals, and conditions, if it’s safe to do so. These visuals can be critical evidence. Dispute the fine immediately: Don’t wait. File a formal complaint with a detailed explanation and include all your supporting evidence. Push back if denied: If your dispute gets rejected, don’t stop. Contact local news outlets or consumer advocacy groups; they may be able to investigate and help.Officials admitted that tickets had been issued by mistake.
The red “X” signal, meant to warn drivers of a closure, had been left on after an earlier accident.
The warning was never cleared, leading dozens of drivers to exit early and trigger the toll-weaving citations.
CDOT has now thrown out all 49 tickets and is refunding a total of $3,600 to drivers who paid without challenging the fine.
Had Elliott not fought the unfair fine, the mistake could have gone unnoticed and dozens of drivers left out of pocket for no reason.
Meanwhile another driver was hit with a $2k bill after filling up his tank but the dash said it was empty.
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