Highway Basic Toll Waived for Re-Entry Within 15 Minutes After Wrong Exit

Ministry to Implement Toll Exemption for Mistaken Exits Starting in October

From now on, if you accidentally exit a highway at the wrong interchange and re-enter through the same toll gate, the basic toll fee will be waived.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on September 29 that this new policy regarding toll exemption for mistaken exits on highways will take effect starting October 1. Previously, even when drivers exited at the wrong spot due to confusion, they were required to pay the basic toll twice, even for a short distance. In many cases, drivers made dangerous lane changes to avoid this, leading to frequent accidents.

Highway tolls are calculated based on a basic fee of 900 won per vehicle, plus a driving fee that is determined by multiplying the distance traveled by the per-kilometer rate. According to the ministry, this measure is expected to result in approximately 7.5 million cases of toll exemptions annually, with about 6.8 billion won (as of 2025) in total toll savings.

This policy applies only to government-constructed and operated tax-funded highways. To have the basic fee waived, drivers must re-enter the same toll gate within 15 minutes. The exemption is limited to three times per year for each vehicle and requires the use of an electronic payment method such as Hi-Pass.

No separate announcement regarding the exemption will be made on the Hi-Pass terminal. The basic fee will be deducted immediately when exiting tax-funded highways, but for privately funded highways, the exemption is automatically applied during the next use of a tax-funded highway about two weeks later, due to the time required for verification of mistaken exit data. For immediate reimbursement, drivers can apply through the highway toll website or the Highway Toll+ application. Jeong Cheonwoo, Director of the Road Policy Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "We expect that this system will resolve the inconvenience where drivers had to pay the basic toll fee twice due to mistaken exits."

Meanwhile, the ministry also encouraged families with multiple children to actively take advantage of the weekend and holiday toll discount policy implemented since July 28. Families with three or more minor children are eligible for a 20% discount, while households with two children can receive a 10% discount, available for a limited period of three years until August 21, 2029. Pre-registration can be made on the Korea Expressway Corporation toll website or by visiting a toll office. The multi-child family discount is only applicable to segments operated by Korea Expressway Corporation and is not valid on privately funded highways or on journeys involving both types of highways.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.