Can I drive on the highway without an ETC?
1 Answers
Yes, you can. However, vehicle owners are encouraged to install ETC. According to the regulations of the State Council, vehicles without ETC will not enjoy toll discounts starting from 2020. In the future, only one manual lane will be retained at highway toll stations, and tolls can only be paid through the manual lane. Additionally, newly installed ETC devices cannot be used on the highway immediately; they need to be activated first. During free holiday periods, vehicles with ETC can still use the highway, and ETC users passing through ETC lanes will not be charged. ETC charging principle: There will be one or more ETC lanes on the highway. Through the dedicated short-range microwave communication between the vehicle's electronic tag installed on the windshield and the microwave antenna in the ETC lane, the computer network technology is used to settle accounts with the bank in the background. This achieves the purpose of vehicles not needing to stop at toll stations to pay tolls, all based on the principle of passing first and deducting fees later. Benefits of installing ETC: Time-saving: Eliminates the hassle of waiting in line; Green and eco-friendly: Low-carbon, as vehicles pass through toll stations without stopping, reducing noise and exhaust emissions and minimizing pollution; Reduced wear and tear: Saves costs by reducing the frequency of vehicle starts and brakes, lowering wear and fuel consumption; Improved efficiency: The efficiency of passing through ETC lanes can theoretically increase by 2-3 times, making traditional ETC more updated, faster, and more high-tech. Compared to license plate payment, ETC technology is more mature and advantageous. More policy support: The State Council clearly stated in the "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of a Modern Comprehensive Transportation System" that "by 2020, the interoperability of transportation cards in key city clusters will be basically achieved, and the proportion of vehicles equipped with ETC will be significantly increased." It also explicitly set the goal of "achieving a 50% ETC usage rate for road passenger vehicles by 2020" in the main indicators of the "13th Five-Year" comprehensive transportation development. More future possibilities: In addition to continuously improving the convenience of ETC installation and usage and increasing the ETC usage rate for passenger vehicles, efforts will be made to promote ETC usage for trucks in the future. There will also be exploration of deep integration between the ETC system and smart transportation development directions such as vehicle-to-vehicle communication and vehicle-to-road coordination, providing comprehensive travel services for vehicle owners. This means more application scenarios will support ETC usage.
