Nation paying price for unauthorized tolls

The number of vehicle height clearance detectors built by various parties over roads in Shandong, Hebei and Henan provinces has caught the attention of the State Council, the country's cabinet, prompting it to instruct local governments to dismantle those that were built without the approval of the transport authorities.

According to the relevant rules, vehicle height clearance detectors can only be built on certain roads, in front of overpasses and at the entrance of bridges and tunnels to prevent heavy trucks from causing damage to the roads and bridges that are not designed to handle so much weight, or to remind drivers to steer clear of the overpass or tunnel if their vehicles are too high.

However, the illegal vehicle height clearance detectors the State Council targets, which are mostly installed with a movable cross bar as the lintel, are those set up intentionally to serve as vehicle arresters to force truck drivers to stop and pay "road pass" managers to buy their way through.

In other words, each of the illegal vehicle height clearance detectors is like an illegal toll station on the road that has become a cash cow for some, but added to the financial burden of the logistics industry, which is finally paid by enterprises and consumers.

That it takes the central authorities to address the problem that has been so prevalent in the three provinces for such a long time shows how strong the vested interest groups have become behind the illegal business.

Interestingly, it is often individuals and organizations related to local governments and transport administrative departments that have engaged in the business, indicating why the "obstructions" to the national economy have been so hard to eliminate.

This was actually not the first time the central authorities have sought to tackle the issue, which dates back to last century and the thriving of the logistics industry in the country. Which shows how low the vehicle height clearance detector is in some places for law-based governance to pass.