Man evaded tolls hundreds of times by placing up near car

OSAKA Prefectural Police on January 24 arrested a man who allegedly evaded expressway tolls hundreds of times by following closely behind the vehicle in front of him when passing through automatic toll gates.

The 26-year-old Kensho Sano of Neyagawa, Osaka, admitted to the allegations, saying, I did it 300 to 400 times. Paying the tolls was a waste of money. Osaka police claim that while riding a motorcycle, Sano evaded payment for the electronic toll collection ETC lanes, in violation of the Act on Special Measures regarding Road Construction and Improvement and other laws. Since 2016, the Expressway Traffic Police Force says that he illegally entered the lane 364 times, amounting to around 370,000 yen around $2,900 in unpaid tolls. The suspect has been accused of using methods such as bending his license plate and platooning, following closely behind the car ahead in a duckling fashion to access the lanes without paying.

Sano was arrested on December 6th and 21 of last year on the Hanshin Expressway's Moriguchi Route on his motorcycle, skipping a total of 2,180 yen, about $17 in fares, after being arrested on suspicion of entering an ETC lane at a toll booth on the Hanshin Expressway's Moriguchi Route.

Sano can be charged double the amount in penalties for allegedly violating the special measures law that he was charged with in addition to the unpaid fares.