Motorists to Pay Reduced Tolls During Traffic Jams
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
South Korean motorists are likely to enjoy cuts in expressway tolls in the event of traffic congestion starting next year, according to an opposition party lawmaker Sunday.
Rep. Yoon Doo-hwan of the Grand National Party (GNP) said he had submitted a revision bill of the Toll Road Law along with some other legislators, who will pursue the passage of the bill in the regular session of the National Assembly in September.
If the bill is approved, users of expressways would get a reduction or exemption of the toll in cases where they have to drive their vehicles slower than the posted speed limits due to traffic jams or reasons such as flood control and snow removal operations.
According to a recent report by the state-run Korea Expressway Corporation, driving speeds stood below the speed limits set by related laws in as many as eight sections extending 255.2 kilometers, or roughly one third of the country’s 24 expressways whose total length is 2,874 kilometers.
On the 31.4-kilometer Singal-Hobeob section on the Yeongdong Expressway, for example, the average speed at the peak time of 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends was around 26 km/h, just half the speed limit of 50 km/h.
Conditions usually get worse during holiday periods such as the summer vacation season as well as the traditional New Year’s and Chuseok (Thanksgiving) holidays.
Legislated in 1963, the Toll Road Law stipulates clauses on the creation, reconstruction and maintenance of toll roads, thereby promoting convenience of transportation and contributing to the national economy.
Tolls are imposed differently, depending on driving distances and the types of motor vehicles, for up to 30 years. However, the total money collected on a turnpike road should not exceed the total cost of its construction and maintenance.
Yoon, a member of the National Assembly’s Construction and Transportation Committee, said he is seeking to revise the law so that tolls could also be abolished or at least halved on certain roads which have already collected enough money to offset the cost of construction and maintenance.
``Expressway tolls are imposed on the grounds that they are useful in terms of time and money,’’ one of Yoon’s aides said. ``Drivers should get a reduction or exemption if they cannot make the full use of the roads due to poor management.’’
He added that the revision bill will likely be endorsed in the Assembly’s regular session without much difficulty since most lawmakers share a common understanding of the problem. If passed, the revision bill would go into effect next year.