BENGALURU: Recently, a highway toll plaza employee was hacked to death by a bunch of angry travellers, supposedly because he took his own sweet time to lift the boom barrier. Clearly, hell hath no fury as a driver stalled.
Not surprising too -- tempers can rise pretty high when one is blocked by a bar, and an obstinate driver. It happens pretty often during the course of a long journey, and call it karma/ luck, we almost invariably find ourselves in a queue that barely moves, gazing at the dusty bumper of an unmoving car, which is behind an unmoving SUV, which is behind a minitruck and another stationary car.
Behind us are a few more immobile four-wheelers, all caught neatly in the trap of the toll fee queue. You can’t move ahead, you can’t reverse, and to our envy, others glide past to our left and right. FASTag? What’s that?
The errant driver ahead of us argues with the toll plaza staffer, refuses to pay a fine, and finally bargains and pays cash. By which time, there is an impatient chorus of horns, but he is unmindful of such interruptions. A few furious co-travellers walk up to find out what’s happening and even wave fists. But no go. We make good use of the long break by stretching the numb leg, bending a stiff back, washing sleepy eyes and buying guavas and peanuts from a horde of eager vendors.
Distractions are a-plenty, with the long row making sluggish progress. Of late, we have taken to playing a game of ‘eeny-meeny-miney-mo’, to guess which queue will move first. And say a quick prayer for quick release.
The break also gives us enough time to chew on some questions: What use is a FASTag in the slow lane? Why this waste of collective time, especially after eating up miles of the highway and trying to stick to schedule? Why boast of RFID technology when it cannot be enforced? Is there no way to keep out recalcitrant drivers who attempt to recharge their accounts right under the boom barrier, or bribe their way out of paying heavy fines? T
hen there are those who wave VIP cards into the staffers’ faces, in typical Indian style, with a “Do you know who I am?” It doesn’t work, but no harm in trying. Yet others slink through the VIP/ Ambulance lane if it’s open. Blacklisting doesn’t help either, as drivers brazen it out — they know they hold the advantage, and sooner or later, the barrier has to rise to let them out. Until the next toll plaza.