Cars allowed to pass freely when Japan's toll system crashed for 38 hours—but 24K drivers's honest response stunned the world

Around 920,000 ETC-equipped cars were driving around the expressways when the system crashed.

PUBLISHED AUG 1, 2025

(L) A car passing through a toll booth. (R) A man making an online payment with his phone. Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Taro Hama

People can surprise others with their honesty at times. So when 24,000 drivers in Japan offered to make a payment after they passed a toll when it was down, the action surprised people around the world. Japan's expressways require people to pay a toll to use them and the same can be done by slowing down at a booth. Their prepaid card gets scanned automatically, deducting the toll amount from it, allowing the car to get through. But the system was down for a couple of days and the company requested the payment from the drivers who had passed the booths and many people stepped in, per Japan Today.

Cars passing through a toll booth on a highway. Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Walter Geiersperger

The ETC system stopped working at 12:30 AM on April 8 and didn't start back up until 2 PM on April 9. Around 106 toll gates were affected because of the glitch. Quite a few of them were really busy ones, including Tomei and Chuo Expressways in Tokyo and the Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano, Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu and Mie prefectures. As traffic couldn't be stopped at such places, the expressway operator, Central Nippon Expressway Co., decided to keep the gates open, so the drivers could pass through easily, without facing any hassles. But the company clarified that the toll hadn't been waived and they were expecting anyone who passed through the gates on April 8 or 9 to pay the fees.

A sign encouraging people to pay the toll fees. Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Meinzahn — A sign encouraging people to pay the toll. Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Meinzahn

"There are situations listed within the [ETC] terms of service in which drivers do not have to pay the toll, but there is no clause that drivers do not have to pay in the event of what can be called system malfunctions, as was the case here," Tadashi Nawada, NEXCO Central president, shared in a statement about the incident. The company knew that getting people to pay after they had used a service wouldn't be an easy feat, but they got messages from 24,000 people, offering to pay the fees by 10 PM on April 8. The honesty was impressive and people were ready to pay as the expense would have been expected by them while driving through a highway, per the outlet.

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The company had estimated that around 920,000 ETC-equipped cars were driving around the expressways during the time when the system was down. They weren't sure if all of those cars made use of toll gates that weren't functional or not. But way more cars than 24,000 passed by, according to the estimates. The people who don't offer to pay the fees might get accused of fraud by the company. The ETC cards are linked to people's bank accounts and are quite convenient, but in this case, people will have to calculate the fees they owe and then make a payment.

A woman making an online payment with the help of her card and laptop. Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Fiordaliso

NEXCO Central has offered to cover any bank fees people might have to pay for the transaction. The systems were down because they were going through an update to allow discounted late-night tolls. The company was going to go through CCTV camera footage to find out people who hadn't offered to pay the toll and didn't have any past ETC records. They hadn't talked about any legal action against people who didn't pay the toll, but the fees hadn't been waived either, per the source.