High-speed traffic jams miss the free time Should I be charged?

Rushing to the last day of the Spring Festival holiday to return to the workplace for free on the highway, the result was that because of the traffic jam for nearly five hours, the free time limit was missed, and some car owners paid a highway toll of 587 yuan for this.

Many car owners who have the same experience believe that if they miss the free period due to force majeure, the responsibility should not be borne by themselves.

Beijing Youth Daily reporter learned from the Shaanxi High-speed Toll Center that the feedback of car owners has been reported and negotiated, and responded to the discussion on the Internet.

At about 9:00 a.m. on February 6, Mr. Yu departed from Youxian County, Hunan Province, to Shangluo, Shaanxi Province, with a travel time of about 16 hours. He had planned to get off the highway at 11 p.m. on the 6th, rest in Xi'an for one night, and then return to work.

Unexpectedly, at about 8 p.m. on the 6th, a car accident occurred near the Danfeng toll station in the Shangluo section of the Shanghai-Shaanxi Expressway. Mr. Yu said that after the accident traffic control was carried out, there was a serious congestion on the highway, "the car accident was handled at about 11 o'clock, and the next day around 1 a.m. began to let us go." But by then the time limit for highway tolls to be waived had already been missed. ”

At 1:47 a.m. on February 7, Mr. Yu paid a highway toll of 587 yuan and drove off the Shanghai-Shaanxi Expressway.

"I was at the front, the car accident was about 50 meters away from me, I got off the highway relatively early, a friend of mine got off at three o'clock, and some even got off at dawn," he said, many car owners have encountered the same problem, because of traffic accidents, they were stuck on the highway for nearly five hours.

After the release began at 1:00 a.m., it continued to be stuck in traffic for two hours due to charges. Mr. Yu believes that due to the force majeure of rain and snow weather, car accidents and road congestion are not the reasons of the owner's personal reasons, "being charged tolls, a bit incomprehensible, I hope to implement the policy flexibly according to the actual situation." ”

Due to the long-term traffic jam, how much toll should be paid for missing the high-speed free time has also aroused heated discussion among netizens.

Some netizens believe that the exemption of tolls is a benefit given by the state, and car owners who do not pass through the toll station according to the time should bear all the tolls themselves. Some netizens believe that the traffic jam on the highway for nearly 5 hours can no longer be called "high-speed", and the highway has the responsibility of keeping the road smooth, and the time spent by the owner should be compensated. Some netizens quoted Jiangsu's charging rules, saying that other provinces have toll stations queuing for more than 200 meters can be free of charge.

In this regard, the Shaanxi Expressway Toll Center responded that according to relevant regulations, the deadline for toll exemption is 24:00 on February 6, and car owners beyond this time should pay all tolls for high-speed traffic in accordance with regulations, and the judgment time is subject to the exit time.

The staff of the center also explained that Shaanxi does not have a toll station queue above a certain distance to be free of charge, and the Spring Festival expressway is free of tolls. The provision of "more than 200 meters is free" cited by some netizens applies to the situation of "traffic jam caused by the non-opening lane of the toll station", such as the toll station has 6 lanes, but only 5 lanes are opened, which is not applicable to the traffic jam caused by a sudden accident at the Danfeng toll station on February 6.

In addition, for Mr. Yu and other car owners who hope to be able to charge in sections, according to the opinion of refunding part of the toll during the traffic jam period, the staff said, "We have received feedback from the owners and handed it over to the relevant departments for processing."

But Mr. Yu said he and other car owners he knew had not yet received any information on the consultation.

The reporter noted that when there is congestion on the highway, whether it should be released free of charge. Some provinces already have relevant regulations.

The Jiangsu Provincial Expressway Regulations, which came into effect on August 1, 2014, state that "if an average of more than 10 vehicles are waiting to pay dues due to the opening of the toll gate, or the queue of vehicles waiting to be paid at the toll gate exceeds 200 meters, the expressway operation and management unit shall release the vehicles to be paid free of charge, and the vehicles to be paid have the right to refuse to pay the fees".

The Shanghai Municipal Expressway Administration Regulations stipulate: "In addition to the traffic management measures taken by the public security traffic management department, when the length of the queue of vehicles to be paid at the toll crossing exceeds the distance specified by the municipal construction and traffic administrative department, the toll highway operator shall take part or all of the toll road free clearance measures at the toll intersection without obstructing the smoothness of the road ahead."

The Regulations on the Administration of Expressways in Guizhou Province, issued on 12 March 2021, stipulate that expressway operators shall open a sufficient number of toll crossings to meet the needs of traffic flow, and publish complaint and reporting telephones to accept social supervision; when necessary, take emergency measures such as adjusting the entrance and exit toll crossings and enabling portable toll machines to evacuate vehicles. "If it is really necessary to quickly evacuate and divert vehicles due to the handling of emergencies, emergency rescue and relief of congestion at toll crossings, the transportation department of the provincial people's government may decide to temporarily release the vehicles free of charge."

In this regard, Li Xiaojing, a lawyer at Beijing Danning Law Firm, said that road managers and operators of the road section where the accident occurred have regular, timely, periodic and preventive maintenance, repair and cleaning obligations for the expressway and its ancillary facilities, and should maintain the good technical state of the expressway to ensure the safe passage of vehicles.

"If the provisions of the Civil Code of Force Majeure are applied, the parties to the contract shall not be liable for breach of contract. Whether to charge after the free time limit due to traffic congestion is more of a national policy issue. She believes that in the regulations of some provinces, congestion exemption has some qualified conditions, "for example, it must be applicable when congestion occurs at the toll crossing, according to my understanding, in the case of damage compensation for traffic accidents, the court's judgment that the highway management department is responsible for the principle of whether the management department has assumed the obligation of safety and security, and the reasons for the traffic jam are generally more complex and the circumstances are different, and it is not possible to generalize whether it is necessary to bear the responsibility." ”

Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Song Xia intern to yue