Toll facts for kids

The word toll has several meanings. It can be a payment you make to use something, or it can describe the number of people affected by something, like an accident.

What is a Toll?

A toll is often a payment you make to use certain roads, bridges, or tunnels. This money helps pay for building and maintaining these transportation routes.

Paying for Roads and Bridges

• Toll roads are special roads where you pay a fee to drive on them. This fee is called a toll.
• Toll bridges are bridges where you pay a toll to cross.
• Toll tunnels are tunnels where you pay a toll to drive through.

How Tolls Are Collected

• A toll plaza is a specific area on a toll road, bridge, or tunnel where you stop to pay the toll.
• In the past, people paid tolls at a small building called a toll house.
• Today, many places use electronic toll collection. This means you don't have to stop. Your car might have a special tag that is scanned, and the toll is paid automatically. This helps traffic move more smoothly.

Special Types of Tolls

• Sometimes, a toll is charged to cars with only one person in them when they use special lanes called high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. These lanes are usually for cars with two or more people. This is called a high-occupancy toll. It helps reduce traffic jams.

Other Meanings of Toll

The word "toll" can also mean other things, not just money for roads.

Road Toll (Accidents)

• The road toll refers to the number of people who die each year because of road accidents. It's a way to measure how many lives are lost on the roads.

Funeral Tolling

• When church bells ring slowly and sadly during a funeral, it's called funeral tolling. It's a traditional way to show respect and sadness.

Toll in Science

• In science, especially in biology, there are special proteins called Toll-like receptors. These proteins are important parts of your body's natural defense system, which helps fight off germs and sickness. They were named after a similar protein found in fruit flies.

Toll in Phone Calls

• In older telephone systems, a toll could also mean the charge for making a long-distance phone call. That's why you might hear about "toll-free" numbers, which means you don't have to pay extra to call them.