I took my elderly father for a walk outdoors today to enjoy the first bit of sunshine we’ve seen in a very long time. With arms linked, we stepped out the door of his nursing home unit only to heard the familiar *bleep* *bleep* as his wrist band activated an alarm at the nurses station. My father suffers from severe short term memory loss and this tagging system alerts the staff as to his whereabouts. What my father didn’t know was that I too was ‘tagged’ today and it made a world of a difference. I just wish I’d done it sooner.
Am I the only person to think it strange that illicit drugs are now being advertised in a large multinational supermarket? On walking through the shop last week, I spotted a leaflet advertising an eTrip. “Mmmm… interesting” I thought … until on closer inspection, I realised that it was a flyer to advertise the latest in electronic tolls. eTrip.ie is the only electronic tag company providing tolling and parking on a single tag. No cash! No ticket! No hassle! Just call and go! I did, and today I crossed the toll bridge for the first time without any need to fumble for coins. I drove up to a cash booth fully expecting that the little electronic tag in my car would fail to activate the barrier but like magic, it worked!
I think I’m hooked as I’m already looking forward to my next trip!
Biopsy Report 
Did It make much of a difference to the traffic jams on the M50 Steph?
Great picture Do you know where I could get CCL images like that
Good to see the nursing home are so vigilant
Hey Steph. We have E-Tag. I know it sounds like a fun game but . . Here we have toll roads everywhere. Costs about $13 to get to the airport one way so without an E Tag I ALWAYS end up in the wrong lane and get a fine . . .the toll plus $10 admin fee. I bought two, one for my car and one for Adam’s and I’m ashamed to say haven’t been on a toll road since! I’m almost keen to take the expensive routes just to work out the tag . .tight arse that I am . . I still travel on the ‘free’ roads.
Elly ordered Easy Passes for George, herself and for me when they were introduced. I go through 2 tolls each time I travel south (4 for a return journey) and it saves me having to find euro for every journey.
I am told I don’t need to make any changes now unless I change my car!
I don’t know what the situation is in Eire, or whether you have a blue badge, but in the UK various tolls are free of charge to disabled people. Of course it’s not that straightforward as I discovered the passes are only issued if you can attend the issuing centre yourself (no, they didn’t have disabled access) or are able to send off your original blue badge and wait around for it to be (hopefully) returned by 2nd class post. Stupid is….
Hugs BG x
Mike – who said anything about the M50? I haven’t tried the tag on the M50 as yet. The eToll covers M1, M4, M50, East Link, Dublin Port Tunnel, and M8.
I use Google Image Search when in need of an illustration. If I were really honest, sometimes I get more pleasure out of researching the picture than I do writing the post. Google images are always good for a giggle.
As regards the tagging system used at the nursing home, my father is one of very few residents who are tagged. He has no ability to remember from one moment to the next so he’s a liability as long as he remains mobile. The nurses’ station also maintains a 15 minute watch on him throughout the day in case his *bleeps* go undetected. He did disappear one day recently and was found a fair distance away, on his way to “get the bus home”.
Baino – a girl’s gotta get her priorities right. I often drive the long way round to avoid paying road tolls but I’ve no problem forking out a few extra €’s for a nice bottle of vino 😀
Grannymar – where would we be without the young wans to keep us sorted? Mind you when we went through a toll area on our way home from the West recently, I noticed that the queue for the Easy Pass lane was longer than the Cash queues. It was probably a ‘Baino’ in the wrong lane 😉
Bendy – I’ve not heard anything about there being a free of charge system in place here. I set up my electronic tag online. I used to carry a blue badge for my mother when I was her principle driver for hospital appointments etc. The card had a registered number and was applicable to my car registration only. I fail to see why this information could not be duplicated to secure online applications for disabled drivers.
Steph
Sometimes the queue with the lorries may look longer but 1 lorry equals = 3 cars so it works out faster 😉