Tolls have been assessed for passage on roadways since the early 20th century. Traditionally, vehicles were required to stop at toll booths or toll plazas where toll booth operators or machines collected tolls manually in the form of cash or coins. However, developments in electronic toll collection (ETC) systems have eliminated the requirement for drivers to carry cash or coins, reduced the manual labor required to collect the tolls, decreased the time for the toll collection process, increased vehicle throughput at toll plazas, and, in some implementations, eliminated the need for vehicles to stop during toll transactions. Many ETC systems use a transponder issued to and associated with a driver or a vehicle. As the vehicle with the transponder passes through a toll collection point (e.g., a toll booth, a toll plaza, or an open road tolling lane or gantry), the transponder communicates its identity to a receiver at the toll collection point and a debit transaction is initiated on an account connected to the transponder in the amount of the assessed toll.
Although ETC systems have both streamlined the collection of tolls for implementing entities and improved the overall toll road experience for most drivers, ETC systems can be subject to mistake and fraud, which can reduce the effectiveness of the ETC system as well as increase the overall cost to implement the ETC system.