Expressway Exits by Mistake: Basic Toll Should Be Exempted for Re-entries

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Recommends "Expressway Toll Improvement Plan"
Proposal Submitted to Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Expressway Corporation
Prevents Excessive Additional Toll Charges for Simple Mistakes

There has been a recommendation stating that if a driver inadvertently exits a tollgate while driving on the expressway and re-enters within a short period of time, they should not be required to pay the toll twice.

The southbound lanes of the Gyeongbu Expressway viewed from Jamwon IC in Seocho-gu, Seoul, are congested as returning holiday travelers and commuters flood the roads. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced on May 19 that it had recommended the "Expressway Toll Improvement Plan" to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Expressway Corporation, aiming to enhance user convenience and reduce economic burden for expressway users.

Although expressways are widely used, there have been criticisms that the processes for charging, collecting, and paying tolls are inconvenient, highlighting the need for improvement measures.

Accordingly, the Commission requested that the basic expressway toll of 900 won be exempted in cases where drivers, due to being beginners or misreading signs, exit the expressway and re-enter the same tollgate within a short period of time. The Commission also called for an automated system to be established so that the basic toll is exempted automatically without requiring a separate application from the driver.

The Commission also proposed changes to the criteria for imposing additional toll charges. Under the current Enforcement Decree of the Paid Road Act, additional tolls are imposed even in cases where drivers fail to pay the toll due to a simple mistake, leading to complaints about excessive penalties. To address this, the Commission recommended that additional toll charges be limited to cases where a driver evades or reduces the toll through false or fraudulent means.

Additionally, the plan calls for users of certain privately operated expressways—where the toll collection system is not connected to that of Korea Expressway Corporation—to be allowed to use the integrated payment system for unpaid tolls, which is currently managed by Korea Expressway Corporation.

Kim Kiseon, Director General of the Policy Bureau for Civil Rights Improvement at the Commission, stated, "With this policy improvement, unnecessary economic burdens arising from the use of expressways will be reduced, and the convenience of paying expressway tolls will be enhanced."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.