Private Ambulances Have To Pay Tolls At
Escazú; Tolls Increasing On August 5
Wondered what happens if a driver refuses to
pay the tolls? A Diaro Extra news team found
out the hard way.
A driver, caught in action by the cameras of
the Diario Extra, decides not to pay the
¢310 colones toll at the Escazú toll
station, breaks through the barrier and runs
over the Diaro reporter, who was at
the toll station to gather information for a
report of a private ambulance being stopped
for not paying the toll.
The driver, in a while panel truck, ran into
the reporter and left the scene with wheels
screeching, without even a pause to look to
see what he or she has just done.
Fortunately for the Diaro reporter, the
paramedics were at hand and was rushed to
hospital while the hit and run driver fled
the scene.
With the respect to ambulances paying the
tolls, the situation has private ambulance
operators and the paramedics who staff the
emergency vehicle upset.
Claudio Pacheco, an Autopistas del Sol (the
autopoista's concessionaire), explained that
all private emergency vehicles have to pay
the tolls.
Pacheco quotes chapter and verse of the
concession contract which stipulates that
only fire trucks, Cruz Roja (Red Cross
ambulances), police and the Caja
Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS0 -
social security which also operates
ambulances - are exempt from paying tolls.
Paramedic Carlos Jiménez, the same who
attended the Diario reporter, said it is
incredible that a concessionaire can be
above the law, in this case the Ley de
Tránsito, which authorized private emergency
vehicles to operate in the same fashion of
the Cruz Roja ambulances, providing life
support to patients.
For emergency vehicle to reach the CIMA
hospital in Escazú from San José they have
to cross the toll booths.
Huanelgue Gutiérrez, the subdirector of the
Policía de Tránsito, said that even his
police body knows for sure if private
ambulances have to pay or not.
"In the beginning they were even charging us
(Tránsito police). I am of the understanding
that no ambulance pays, although I do not
know how the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y
Transportes (MOPT) sees it", said Gutiérrez.
The situation is just another in the long
list of differences between the MOPT and the
Autopistas del Sol and their interpretations
of the contract.
On a side not, last night the information
sign past the toll booths noted that on
August 5 the tolls at Escazú will increase
by ¢10 colones, to ¢320 colones.
Images captured by the security cameras of
the vehicle hitting a Diario Extra reporter
after failing to pay the tolls.
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