ÉKM: tolls for trucks on main roads are increasing – new regulations to protect rural settlements from freight traffic

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 12. 02. 09:31

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The Hungarian government has adopted a comprehensive package of measures aimed at redirecting freight traffic back to the expressway network. The changes could make driving on main and secondary roads safer for residents of rural settlements, and reduce environmental and noise pollution in their homes. The legislative amendments will come into force on January 1, 2026, the Ministry of Construction and Transport (ÉKM) informed MTI on Monday.

The ministry states in its statement: by the end of September this year, there had been 126 road accidents caused by trucks in Hungary, 15 of which were fatal. Serious, even fatal, accidents caused by trucks in populated areas represent a significant proportion of the accidents. In several cases, heavy vehicles have run over pedestrians or collided with buildings.

However, motorways and expressways are less risky from a traffic safety perspective, as the roadways are physically separated in each direction, avoid residential areas, and their traffic is not obstructed by slow-moving vehicles.

The aim of the government package of measures that has now been adopted and will come into force in January next year is therefore to divert trucks – if they do not directly serve the residents of a given region or group of settlements – from lower-toll main roads or toll-free secondary roads to the four-lane, expressway network, or to keep them there.

In addition to improving the road safety and quality of life of citizens living in rural areas, the step also has the advantage of generating additional revenue for the state, which can then be used to develop the domestic road network.

Parts of the package of measures:

– National weight restriction program – with 60 new locations. The weight restriction signs are expected to be installed on all affected road sections by the end of December 2025. As the program progresses, the Ministry of Construction and Transport will continuously process additional requests from local governments and the public, and the fulfillment of new requests is expected to be completed by March 2026.

– Tolls for trucks on main roads will increase. The tolls paid by trucks proportional to the distance traveled will be modified as follows. The toll increase will be implemented on expressways (J2-J5, M2-M3 categories), and on main roads, a toll level approaching the toll level of expressways will come into effect in the truck categories (J2-J5).

– A uniform and more restrained fine system. Fines related to road violations will increase: in the toll system proportional to the distance traveled, administrative fines related to unauthorized road use for the period of 0-120 minutes will increase by 30 percent. In case of violation of the “Restricted traffic zone“, “Weight restriction“, and “No trucks allowed” signs, the fine will increase to 100,000 forints, from the previous 47,000 forints.

The current government decision was preceded by a national traffic study, which separately analyzed situations where trucks choose lower-toll main roads or toll-free secondary roads instead of expressways. The study identified the lower toll payment obligation as the primary reason for driving off the four-lane road network – in addition to avoiding potential congestion.

According to experts’ calculations, the toll increase could result in a 5-15 percent traffic diversion from the main road network to the expressway network. The diversion will be greater where weight restrictions are also introduced.

Parliamentary State Secretary Nándor Csepreghy highlighted in connection with the package of measures that the network of domestic four-lane roads has developed significantly in the past 15 years, which creates an opportunity for the government to protect the residents of rural settlements by diverting freight traffic. Thanks to the new regulation, freight traffic will remain on the country’s safest, highest-capacity road network. The expressway network has been under continuous renovation for the past three years, so they are ready to receive traffic diverted from the main road, the ministry said in a statement.