Honesty On Display As 24,000 Japanese Drivers Pay Tolls Voluntarily Despite Toll System Crash

Last Updated:July 28, 2025, 22:49 IST

After Japan's toll system crashed in April, 24,000 drivers paid online despite free passage. The glitch affected 106 toll gates. NEXCO Central later waived tolls.

Representative Image. (Pexels)

Around 24,000 people voluntarily made the payment at the toll gates after Japan’s toll system crashed in April, and the vehicles were allowed to pass through toll gates for free, with a request to pay later online. Japanese people are known for following rules diligently and obeying social and legal norms.

Despite the opportunity to take advantage of the system failure, most drivers chose to do the right thing, highlighting the country’s reputation for discipline and adherence to social norms.

NDTV quoted a report of Japan Today, according to which the incident took place on April 8 and most of April 9, when the ETC (electronic toll collection) failed for approximately 38 hours. In Japan, the cars have to briefly slow down at the toll gate, and once the card’s signal is read, the gates automatically rise and the vehicle is allowed to pass.

A technical glitch affected 106 toll gates on the Tomei and Chuo Expressways, spanning Tokyo and several prefectures, including Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano, Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, and Mie, rendering them unable to read drivers’ cards.

After this, expressway operator Central Nippon Expressway Co, also known as NEXCO Central, decided to open all the toll gates to let the cars pass through, “keeping traffic flowing on some of Japan’s most-used motorways", NDTV reported.

By 10 pm on April 8, NEXCO Central had received payment offers from around 24,000 drivers whose electronic toll collection (ETC) cards weren’t read due to the system failure. During the outage, an estimated 920,000 ETC-equipped vehicles used the expressways; however, it remains unclear whether all of those cars were travelling within the affected areas.

The company in May announced that it was waiving tolls for vehicles that passed through the affected areas during the toll system failure. Drivers who had already paid would receive full reimbursement through their ETC mileage program or other means.

Reacting to the news, social media users commended Japan’s high-trust society and the residents for keeping the system ticking.

“Japan is a high trust society,’ said one user while another added, “I’d pay too if I was getting services like in Japan."

A third commented: “I drove in Japan last year. The system is so good. You didn’t even have to stop at the toll gates."

Japan

News world Honesty On Display As 24,000 Japanese Drivers Pay Tolls Voluntarily Despite Toll System Crash