FOR WHOM THE VIDEO TOLLS : OPEN ROAD TOLLING

This article describes how video technology is revolutionizing the electronic collection of road tolls. Toll booths, which impede free-flowing traffic and cause pollution and safety problems, are gradually being replaced by non-stop electronic toll collection (ETC) that allows patrons to travel without stopping at tolling points, or open road tolling (ORT). Both require drivers to have a transponder. The potential for violation increases with greater use of these systems, as drivers attempt to use the lanes without a transponder. The concept of video or image tolling captures the license plate number of a driver who does not have a transponder and the driver receives a bill—slightly higher than the charge would have been had the driver carried a transponder. Recorded and retrieved license plate images are administered by computerized optical character recognition (OCR) algorithms and manual interaction. The article relates that the more automated the process, the less costly it is to translate a license plate image.