Measure allows drivers to pay only the toll amount, eliminating the charge for administrative fines and CNH scores
The federal government announced the suspension for 200 days of the collection of more than 3.5 million fines applied to drivers who were not up to date with the collection system free flowthat is, tolls using tags. The announcement was made by the Minister of Transport and president of Contran (National Traffic Council), George Santoro, and by the chief minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, .
The measure provides that users with debts to concessionaires can pay only the toll amount. If payment is not made by November 16th, the value of the infraction for toll evasion, of R$ 195, and the registration of 5 points on the CNH (National Driving License) will be applied.
Contran’s new resolution, which establishes the new charging regime, will be published this Wednesday. It also provides for the suspension of payment of new fines for toll evasion until the end of the term.
Of the 3.5 million fines registered in the last 3 years, the period in which automatic collection gantries were implemented, almost 1.2 million were registered in Rio Grande do Sul. Another 1.4 million were on federal highways. Minas Gerais recorded 62 thousand fines.
Minister George Santoro stated that the resolution also establishes the refund of the fine for those who have already paid. In the case of those applied to federal highways, the amount to be refunded will reach R$93 million.
Asked what motivated the suspension, the minister said it was the government’s recognition that there was no adequate communication with users of federal and state highways about the functioning of the fine collection and payment system.
“In any situation where you have a debtor who has not been properly informed of his debt and he does not even know who to pay, most of the time“, he stated. “Imagine a person who leaves Belo Horizonte and takes a longer route to Rio Grande do Sul, he may pass through 5 concessions from 3 different States, 3 different regulators. He doesn’t know who to turn to to pay”, he concluded.
UNIFIED SYSTEM
The resolution also imposes obligations on concessionaires, who will have 100 days to implement a unified payment system. Currently, drivers without electronic devices (tags) need to search the websites of each concessionaire individually to pay off debts, which makes the process difficult as it is not always known which company manages each section, says the minister.
The new model must be integrated with the digital CNH, allowing direct access to electronic bills from different operators in one place. The measure aims to provide transparency to the billing process and reduce involuntary default in the electronic gantries system.
Here is the press conference at which the announcement was made (39min53s):
