“It was on a trip to Vijaywada when I came across a chock-ablock toll plaza. The idea of working on something to reduce traffic at plazas has stuck with me since then,” says Nazeer Shaik, a Class 9 student from the Atal Tinkering Lab of AP Model School, Guntur.

Commuters in India need to have extra patience every time they come across toll plazas. They usually find themselves waiting for long stretches, sometimes even for hours, to cross the plaza.

In some cases, even emergency ambulances are stuck in traffic at such places. While smart cards have been proposed for some places, they will still need to be handled by a ticket collector manually. All of this means a new innovation is the need of the hour.

“To save time for commuters, we have come up with our innovation prototype called FATCOP (Fully Automatic Toll Collection Plaza). Our device needs to be inserted on the car’s registration plate, and a scanner at the toll booths will deduct money automatically from the registered bank account of the car owner,” says Nazeer.

“This method does not allow anyone to escape toll booths and can save time for all the commuters. We believe our approach is a one-stop solution to solve all the traffic problems at the toll plazas.”

“Our innovation is here to make the experience of crossing toll plazas smoother, easier, and faster!” Nazeer says, adding “My message to all young people across India is that we need to think creatively to solve problems in society. That is how we, as a nation, will be able to grow and develop.”