Prague, 17 September 2020 - During the first half of this year, the new toll system revealed a total of 135,000 toll incidents (violations of rules by carriers). The most common offence committed by drivers is an incorrectly set number of axles, driving an unregistered vehicle or an insufficient credit in the prepay toll mode. On weekdays, the new toll system checks up to 250,000 trucks and buses per day.
Although the cost of operating the satellite toll system is two-thirds lower than that of the previous system using microwave gantries, new technologies make it possible to efficiently check carriers' compliance with their toll payment obligations. The new enforcement system uses, among other things, 60 static control gantries operated by CzechToll operators and 25 mobile enforcement vehicles operated by the Czech Customs Administration.
"New toll system technologies at control gantries can distinguish in a matter of seconds whether a passing vehicle is subject to toll payment, whether the vehicle is properly registered and has a correctly set OBU. The busiest control gantry is on the Prague ring road. On working days, it records an average of 7,000 passages of vehicles that are subject to toll payment. If the system detects any irregularity, it is time for enforcement by humans and possible handling of the incident," said Petr Chvátal, CzechToll COO.
The most serious offences include driving on toll roads in a vehicle that is not properly registered, or driving without an operational OBU. The penalty for these offences can reach up to 100 thousand Czech crowns in administrative proceedings, and the carrier must also pay the prescribed tolls.
In absolute numbers, drivers of vehicles registered in the Czech Republic committed the most toll incidents (58 thousand incidents), followed by the Polish (27 thousand) and Romanians (7.5 thousand incidents). The ratio of the number of incidents in relation to the number of vehicles in the system from the given country is the worst in case of Spain: for 1 toll incident, there are 1.4 vehicles registered in the system.
