BARRIERLESS toll plazas have long been a dream for Malaysian road users . Traffic congestion is taking a toll on Malaysian road users. Time, money, fuel and what have you are being wasted in endless queues at every toll plaza.
And on public holidays and festivals, multiply this many times and you get the picture of forced wastage. Looks like if we want to go from point A to point B, we have to take into account the time we will spend being stuck at toll plazas along the way.
Experts agree that the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) is the long-awaited solution. But the authorities are silent on when the ANPR system will be implemented.
All we hear is this or that concessionaire is piloting the system at a certain stretch of the highway. But haven’t we heard this more frequently than necessary? How many trial runs do we need before the full dress rehearsal?
The authorities owe the road users an explanation as to why the implementation of ANPR is being delayed. At one point there was a whiff of costs being a cause that concessionaires were concerned about. But that was time past. As they say, many moons have come and gone since then. Or are there too many cooks spoiling the broth?
ANPR is not a strange beast that needs to be introduced in phases to Malaysians. It has been in use in car parks in malls and elsewhere. Sure, there are barriers there, but they do not handle tens of thousands of vehicles as our expressways and highways do.
Barriers are, well, barriers to smooth flow of traffic. We as road users only know this too well.
The ANPR technology isn’t complicated as the delay in implementing it suggests. Experts tell us the camera-sensitive technology is similar to that run by radio-frequency identification (RFID), which is already in use on our highways.
Experts like Wan Agyl Wan Hassan have written extensively on ANPR technology. Writing on Sept 22 in Business Times of this newspaper, Wan Agyl was all praise for the possible roll-out of ANPR on highways. Hopefully, we needn’t wait many moons.
Be that as it may, we are with him when he says the benefits for the average driver are clear: smoother toll collection, easing of bottlenecks and saving precious time. “Unlike costly retrofitting, the technology works with the current plates, so there is no need to buy extra devices”.
The technology also allows for future expansion of the payment system to other systems, giving commuters more choices than what is available now.
We do not dispute this. We agree, too, when he pointed out that the system would work well if implemented transparently. Not one of our strong points.
There will surely be disputes when the technology fails for whatever reasons. This must be resolved transparently.
Then there is the question of personal data, a constant headache for Malaysians. Not only are strong safeguards needed, but they must be backed by accountability, another thing we are not so good at.
ANPR isn’t a cure-all technology, but at least its promise of a smooth journey is most welcome.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
