SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. – Amy Niemann says she was shocked when she opened a recent bill from E-Pass addressed to her dead father.
"There had to be a mistake because my father passed away in 2015," Niemann said.
Niemann said what's even more peculiar is that the invoice was not sent to her parents' home in Indian Harbor Beach, but to her house 2 miles away in Satellite Beach.
"My parents never lived at this address," Niemann said.
Niemann said not only that, she says the family no longer owns the car or license plate that her dad used.
"When he passed away his car was sold and the license plate was destroyed," Niemann said.
The Central Florida Expressway Authority, which runs E-Pass, admits there was a mistake.
"The license plate was keyed in incorrectly, so they inadvertently received the bill," said Brian Hutchings, spokesman for the Central Florida Expressway Authority, also known as CFX.
Hutchings admits some of their cameras are getting old, and only provide a black and white picture of the cars coming through.
"You have a damaged plate, a dirty plate, bad weather," Hutchings said.
Hutchings said that can make it hard for their image review clerks to read and record the right data, especially since those clerks are required to process 500 images per hour, which amounts to one every 8 seconds.
"It’s very rare but you have situations where humans are reviewing images and humans can make mistakes," Hutchings said.
CFX records show their clerks’ collection accuracy rate is 98 percent.
News 6 crunched the numbers and discovered tens of thousands of Pay-by-Plate tolls could be wrong.
Hutchings said last year, E-Pass logged more than 2.4 million Pay-by-Plate tolls.
So even though CFX touts an error rate of less than 2 percent, 1 out of every 50 Pay-by-Plate tolls could be wrong. That means around 48,000 Pay-by-Plate Tolls issued last year could have been charged to the wrong person.
While Niemann said she didn't pay the bill she received, she wondered how many other people just paid their invoices without checking.
"I was most worried about other people who might receive a bill like this and think 'OK, it's just $3.80, I'll just pay it,'" Niemann said.
Hutchings said CFX encourages customers to review their bills.
"We own up to it, and we fix it, and that's what we did in this case," Hutchings said.
Hutchings said the Pay-by-Plate invoice sent to Niemann's dad was voided and reissued to the correct owner.
However, Niemann wants to know what is being done to stop it from happening again.
"In this day and age of technology, it seems odd to me that they have human beings doing this," Niemann said.
Hutchings said improvements are already underway as part of the CFX $85 million Toll System Improvements project upgrade that started in 2017.
New cameras equipped with flash are already replacing the old ones in more than a dozen spots.
"And they are color HD cameras," Hutchings said.
Four cameras will be installed for every one camera replaced.The new cameras are equipped with flash, and will now capture both the front and back of the car.
The new system will also have new computer software that will help workers see the entire car and license plate better.
According to CFX, the new system will take a picture of every single vehicle that passes through toll zones no matter if they pay through E-Pass, cash or Pay-by-Plate.
New computer software will also help workers zoom in and see clearer images of both the front and back sides of the cars driving through.
It even has an audit system in place to check for worker accuracy.
"This new system is really going to help them do their jobs better," Hutchings said. "It's a lot of work. It's going to take some time."
Niemann said she's glad it’s happening.
"And I hope this new technology really works," Niemann said.
Hutchings said CFX is halfway done with the installs of the new cameras and says the plan is to have them all in place by the end of 2019.
Hutchings said 42 lanes of equipment have been replaced so far, but 300 more still need to be done.
So far the following locations have been upgraded:
Full Speed E-Pass lanes:
Coral Hills Road (State Road 414)
Forest Lake Drive (State Road 429)
New Independence Parkway (Sate Road 429)
Beachline Expressway (State Road 528)
John Young Parkway (State Road 417)
Boggy Creek Road (State Road 417)
Wekiva Plazas:
Ponkan Road (State Road 429)
Mt. Plymouth Road (State Road 429)
Coronado Road (State Road 453)
The remaining Full Speed E-Pass lanes that need to be completed:
Hiawassee Road (State Road 408)
Pine Hills Road (State Road 408)
Dean Road (State Road 408)
Conway Road (State Road 408)
Curry Ford Road (State Road 417)
University Boulevard (State Road 417)
Goldenrod Road (State Road 551)
Dallas Boulevard (State Road 528)
According to CFX, the ramp plaza lanes will also need to be converted over to the new system. None have been converted yet.