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The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is continuously implementing new technology to increase the speed of vehicles on the national highways of the country and to get rid of the long traffic jams at toll booths. In this series, NHAI has recently approved Urban Extension Road-2 (UER-II) India’s second and Delhi’s first state-of-the-art on Mundka-Bakkarwala section. ‘Barrier-less’ toll plazas Has started successfully. The main objective of this entire system is that the vehicles running on the expressway or highway do not have to stop even for a second to pay toll tax and they can pass directly without any obstruction or barrier.
However, with the implementation of this modern and completely camera-based system, a very unique and huge challenge of revenue (tax) evasion has arisen before NHAI. Many cunning drivers have found many illegal and surprising ways to avoid taxes and challans by dodging this modern toll-free system and speed cameras.
How does this AI based toll system work without barriers?
Unlike traditional toll plazas, this ‘barrier-less’ toll system has no physical barriers, boom barriers or cabins on the road.
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State-of-the-Art Cameras and Readers: Under this system, strong iron pillars (gantry) are installed above the road. These pillars are equipped with high-performance RFID readers and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras Fit in.
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Automatic Deduction: As soon as a car or heavy vehicle passes under this gantry at normal or high speed, these high-tech cameras scan its High-Security Number Plate (HSRP) and FASTag stuck on the windscreen in the blink of an eye. After this, the prescribed amount of toll is automatically deducted directly from the linked bank account of the vehicle without stopping it.
People are adopting these 4 illegal tricks to blind the cameras
Since in this new system no boom barrier falls ahead to stop the vehicle, some irresponsible people are taking unfair and illegal advantage of it. Investigation by NHAI and traffic police has revealed the following methods of evading tax and speed challan:
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Deliberate tampering with number plates: This entire digital system rests on Accurate Number Plate Recognition (ANPR). To avoid this, many people deliberately apply mud or dark dirt on the letters on their number plates, or blur the letters by clipping or rubbing them in such a way that the cameras cannot read them correctly.
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Reflective Film/Chemical on License Plate: To beat the flash of speed cameras, people stick a special shiny chemical, reflective layer or transparent film on their number plates. When the camera’s flashlight falls on that plate at night or in high speed, the light gets completely reflected. Due to this, only a bright white spot is visible in the camera footage and not the number of the vehicle.
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Inverting or slanting the number plate: People driving faster than the prescribed limit on the expressway bend the number plate downwards or put it upside down to avoid the sight of automatic speed cameras, due to which the angle of the camera in the moving vehicle is not able to capture the plate.
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Minor changes in font and design: Some people cleverly make minor changes to the font and design of the numbers and letters written on the number plate in such a way that the AI software gets confused and misreads 8 as 0 or 3 as 8.
NHAI and traffic police are tightening the screws
According to senior NHAI officials, the number of vehicles running without Fastag or deliberately hiding Fastag is currently less than 1%, but these fraudsters who tamper with number plates have become a big headache for the department.
To deal with this high-tech fraud and tax evasion, NHAI is now going to launch a special campaign in collaboration with the traffic police. Under this, physical checking will be increased at the entry and exit points of the highway and the vehicles tampering with the number plates will be blacklisted and strict legal action will be taken against them like heavy financial fine and confiscation of the vehicle.
