You must remove FASTag from car in case of a road accident: Here’s why

Roads in India are filled with surprises like potholes, cattle, people crossing roads and motorists coming from wrong side of the road. Roads accidents are quite common on our roads and one thing people do after their vehicle has an accident is to leave the car at the spot or get in touch with the nearest police station. After the car gets involved in an accident, the occupants including driver have several things going on inside their head. We are pretty sure that removing FASTag from the car is not one of them. They’ll all be busy taking care of the injured and informing the authorities.

Removing FASTag from a car that has met with an accident is actually quite important. By not removing the FASTag the owner of the car might have to bear a huge loss. FASTag is a electronic toll collection system operated by National Highway Authority of India. FASTag has a chip in it which is connected to an account. Every time, the car crosses a toll plaza on national higway, the amount automatically deducts from the account. In case of an accident, the money that is already in the account will be of no use if not removed.

The National Highway Authority of India Official informs, “FASTag must be removed for two major reasons. A small chip in the FASTag with all the details can be damaged in case the front glass is broken or cracked. The FASTag will look fine, but the chip won’t function. In such a case, the vehicle will be considered without FASTag, and the driver may have to pay the fixed penalty. Secondly, it is necessary to remove the FASTag from the damaged vehicle because the balance in the FASTag has to be transferred to another FASTag. The remaining balance amount can be transferred to the new FASTag from the registered number itself. Therefore, after an accident, FASTag must be removed.”

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Officials of the Ministry of Road Transport stated that the FASTag must be removed from the vehicle after an accident. They say if the car was involved in an accident and damaged, the chances of damaging the windshield is very high. Cyber expert also had a similar opinion about the FASTag. Ritesh Bhatia, Cyber expert said, “Sometimes throwing or leaving FASTag anywhere can be harmful, especially those FASTags that are linked to the bank account. The cybercriminals can indulge in some fraud with the FASTag installed in your vehicle.”

Government had made FASTag mandatory on vehicles in India. The main motive of FASTag is to reduce the waiting time of vehicles at toll plazas. Normally when people are paying by cash, it consumes lot of time which leads to long queues in front of the toll. In case of a FASTag, the chip inside the tag will be electronically read by the sensor and the amount will be deducted from the account directly. Vehicle entering the toll plaza without FASTag can still go through the toll but, they’ll have to pay double the amount of regular fees.

Via: News18

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