Motorists are risking accidents over problems with advance registration for the new electronic tagging system for the M50 motorway, Fine Gael claimed today.
Transport spokesman Fergus O’Dowd said an ‘e-tag’ he had registered this morning would not allow him to pass through the M1 toll at Gormanston.
“I had to reverse against the oncoming E-toll traffic as had another driver who had the same problem with his tag,” Mr O’Dowd said.
He said the National Roads Authority must immediately inform customers that the newly designed toll tags, which are required for barrier-free tolling, must be activated 24 hours in advance for all toll locations other than the M50.
“The remote help console at Gormanston is located too far away from the driver and can only be accessed by physically leaving your car and crossing a barrier. This is not good enough and adds to the delay and confusionm,” Mr O’Dowd added.
“This situation is dangerous and must be dealt with immediately. It is incomprehensible that the NRA omitted to inform people of this crucial fact. It must immediately set about informing people, who intend to use their E-toll tag at locations other than the M50 that tags must be activated 24 hours in advance, before a serious accident occurs.”
An early analysis of the new system by the NRA has shown a number of difficulties - some of them systematic and some ascribed to motorist error.
Some tags operating on the new M50 barrier-free toll system at the West-Link would not operate at other toll plazas such as the M4 at Enfield and the M1 at Drogheda.
The NRA conceded some tags had suffered delays of 10 hours before they were working properly at the different toll facilities.
In addition, some vehicles had been registered twice by mistake. Some motorists also failed to place their tags correctly in their vehicles and some even waved the tags out the windows, the NRA revealed.
The NRA has asked customers to bear in mind that it is an electronic system and that with different operators and tag manufacturers some tags will have problems.