Stricter Laws Are In The Works To Clamp Down On Toll Dodgers

New penal laws are in the works to clamp down on toll evaders.

With plans to introduce multi-lane free-flow (MLFF) lanes in 2025, the biggest hurdle when moving to a barrier-free toll system is the concern that some road users will try to take advantage of the free flow toll system and dodge payments.

With this in mind, the government is looking into implementing new laws that will penalise toll evaders as they face pressure from operators who are concerned about the probability of high unpaid tolls under the MLFF system.

According to FMT, Works Minister, Fadillah Yusof has confirmed that his ministry is proposing a new criminal law against toll evaders as part of the measures for the MLFF implementation in the next 24 months.

"This is to avoid leakages as we are looking into the provision of the law that includes a penal code and whether toll evasion can be considered a criminal offence since there is no lane barrier under MLFF." 

When it came to how they would be detecting these toll dodgers, the Works Minister said that they would rely heavily on automated number plate recognition (ANPR), as the MLFF's gantry structure is equipped with it. 

On top of the ANPR, Fadillah said the cameras at the MLFF lanes would be zooming on the face of the drivers at the gantry.

"What if the users don't pay when passing through the MLFF lanes?" he asked. "So, there must be good censors at the gantry locations and the camera image quality has to be very fine to capture the details of the vehicle and also the driver."

According to FMT, in the past, concessionaires had to take a civil suit action against repeat offenders, including transportation companies where their drivers had committed frequent acts of not paying tolls.

This is probably one of the reasons why the concessionaires of highways and expressways have insisted that the government update and enhance the legal framework so that they do not have to go to the moon and back to recover unpaid tolls.

In Australia, the ANPR system would detect vehicles without RFID tags or those who have not paid the toll and will send a notice to the registered address of the vehicle owner. The vehicle owner will be given a period of time to pay, after which the failure to do so will result in a fine as well as legal action.