ETC

     I installed the ETC device on my scooter and at that time I wondered if the ETC was well known in the world. The ETC stands for "Electronic Toll Collection System." If a car was equipped with this device, the toll of the highways would be payed automatically by credit cards. You don't need to stop at the gate of the highways. It is supposed to contribute by suppressing the traffic jams. Especially in the case of motorcycles, the rider takes more time to pay the toll than the car drivers. He should take his gloves off and take his wallet out of his pocket and pay. After that he should do those reversely. I'm a happy camper to be free from this bother.
     My ETC device, to tell the truth, I don't know if this word is correct or not, but anyway this device communicates with the authority at the gate of the highways and informs them of the license number of my car. They calculate the toll from the information of the entrance and the exit and charge to my credit card. The antenna of the device is shown in the picture. A small black box attached to the wind screen of my scooter is it. The main parts of the device is set inside of the scooter because of the security.

(Vocabulary)
toll  通行料金
bother  《常に単数形で》 厄介者, 面倒なこと, 悩みの種
be a bother  厄介者である［になる］, 面倒をかける
license number  〈米〉（自動車の）ナンバープレートの番号

 

Comments

[Sarah]

Where I am from, in Oregon, we don't have toll roads, so this device wouldn't be useful. But, since I have lived in Japan, the 'navi' system has started to become popular back home. My father is so excited about his, but the quality of it is so much lower than the most simple devices I have seen in Japan. I wish I could give him one of the Japanese models. He would LOVE it!