Cleaning up debris on expressways will charge motorists or owners the same as national highways.

The picture shows waste soil falling on the Xibin Expressway lane of Taiwan Line 61, and the police rushed to deal with it.

(file photo)

[Reporter Zheng Weiqi/Taipei Report] Many drivers are careless, and they go on the road without fastening the goods on the car. When driving at high speed on a high-speed highway or expressway, it is easy to cause an accident if the goods fall, and accidents are more likely to occur when cleaning up scattered objects. accidents, and even death.

Following the collection of cleaning fees from car owners for litter on national highways from September 2019, the 15 expressways in Taiwan will follow suit. Starting from December 1, according to the number of lanes occupied by litter and the cleaning time, A handling fee of 3,000 yuan per lane every 30 minutes is charged to the driver or owner of the vehicle.

In 2017, on the Yunlin section of National Highway No. 1, an iron gear weighing 50 kilograms fell from a large truck and was hit by the rear coupling vehicle and flew to the northbound lane, hitting passenger cars and small trucks one after another, causing the small truck Overturned and hit the outer guardrail, the vehicle was severely distorted and deformed, and the driver died of serious injuries.

The large truck then fell off the iron gear again on the Tainan road section, causing an accident with the vehicle behind.

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From tomorrow onwards, it will charge 3,000 yuan per lane for every 30 minutes on the national highway

There are an average of more than 40,000 scattered objects on national highways every year, 39,780 in 2019, 44,950 in 2020, and 45,677 last year.

In terms of expressways, on the northern section of the Xibin Expressway on the Taiwan 61st Line, there are about 52 pieces of debris dropped on a monthly average, on the Taiwan 64th Line about 320, on the Taiwan 65th Line about 170, and on the Taiwan 65th Line. There are about thirty-three pieces in sixty-six lines.

The most scattered objects are general garbage, followed by tire skins, iron products, sand and gravel, vegetables and food.

In order to reduce the situation of scattered objects when drivers drive on national highways, and to warn and confirm whether the loaded goods are tightly bound, the Gaogong Bureau will charge vehicle owners for cleaning up the scattered objects from September 2019.

Li Shuncheng, head of the road maintenance team of the Public Corporation, said that most of the current expressway litter cleaning is done by the local engineering offices of the General Administration of Highways, and the car owners are not charged. Drive vigilantly, and specially formulate the "Charge Points for Disposal of Scattered Objects on Expressway". From tomorrow, objects scattered on expressways will be handled with the assistance of the company, and the required fees will be borne by the driver or owner of the car.

The time for dealing with debris on expressways starts from the time when the accident handling team (or the manufacturer designated by the State Administration of Highways) arrives at the scene and starts laying out the maintenance, until the debris is removed and the lanes are opened; the number of lanes is calculated based on the debris and the lanes occupied by the vehicles involved.

The toll is calculated at 3,000 yuan for every 30 minutes per lane, and an additional 3,000 yuan for every 30 minutes, which is consistent with the standard for handling litter on national highways.