While cities are marked with constant traffic jams, highways are one place where we love our journeys to be seamless. And keeping this in mind, the NHAI introduced the 10-second rule in May 2021. And now, with FASTag integration as high as 96% for most toll plazas, it’s time to revisit the 10-second rule.
The 10-Second Rule
In May 2021, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) issued guidelines to strictly ensure that no more than 10 seconds are spent as service time per vehicle, even during peak hours at every toll plaza in India. The move was taken to ensure minimal waiting time.
The guidelines also ensure that a seamless traffic flow is maintained at the toll plazas. The guidelines called for not allowing vehicles to queue up for more than 100 meters. For the same purpose, toll plazas were also instructed to mark a yellow line 100 meters from the toll booth.
To summarize, the key points of the NHAI guidelines were:
- Waiting time of not more than 10 seconds per vehicle, even during peak hours at the toll plazas on the National Highways.
- Easy traffic flow at the toll plazas by preventing vehicle queues of more than 100 meters.
- No toll collection from vehicles if the waiting queue is more than 100 meters or if it takes more than 10 secs to cross reach the toll booth.
- The marking of yellow line 100 meters from the toll booth will be marked in each toll lane.
- The Government is also working on introducing a more efficient tolling structure wherein the toll tax can now be deducted via your car’s number plate.
- This also means that the currently used Fastag system will soon be discontinued.
The guidelines further stated that since NHAI has transitioned to 100 percent cashless tolling, FASTag passage at toll plazas has reached 96% overall, with even 99% passage at some plazas. Due to this growing electronic toll collection, the government wants passage time to reduce and journeys to become hassle-free.
NHAI also wants upcoming toll plazas to incorporate a new design that considers traffic projections for the next 10 years for efficient toll collection.
