The waiting periods at most toll plazas have reduced substantially since the implementation of the FASTag payment system. However, to further ensure seamless moments at toll booths, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued new guidelines for its toll plazas to minimize the standing time below ten seconds.
Also Read: Government Proposes New 'IN' Series Of Vehicle Registration Number Plate
To ensure this, NHAI has guided the toll plazas to draw a yellow line at a distance of 100 meters from the toll booth in each lane. And, if the waiting vehicles queue will exceed the 100-meter mark due to some reason, they will be permitted to cross the toll without paying till the line comes within 100 meters.
This comes after a recent announcement from Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), to introduce a GPS-based toll-collection system that will eliminate the need for physical toll booths in the country. It will track the movements of the vehicles, and upon crossing the predetermined area limit, the toll amount will be subtracted automatically from the linked bank account of the vehicle owner. The government has set a two-year target to make most of the highways “toll-booth free”. These new guidelines issued by NHAI seem like an intervening solution until MoRTH goes on its stated plans.
In the other news, MoRTH has recently issued a draft notification proposing mandatory norms for new tires to improve their performance & safety perspectives. Click here for more details.