Mahindra Thar is currently one of the most popular lifestyle SUVs in India. The current generation Thar has been on sale for a couple of years, and its popularity doesn’t seem to be waning. Even today, there is a long waiting period for select variants of this SUV. The previous generation of the Mahindra Thar was extremely popular among off-road enthusiasts and is still commonly spotted in off-road groups. People who bought the previous generation Thar used to modify it to suit their needs. Lately, we have been seeing several videos on the internet where Thar owners have been violating traffic rules and damaging public properties. This is not creating a good image for the SUV among the public. Here, we have another video where a Mahindra Thar owner actually skipped a toll by jumping over the curb at a toll booth.
The video was shared by Nikhil Rana on his YouTube channel. He probably picked this video from social media. The exact location where this happened is not mentioned here. In this video, we see a Mahindra Thar approaching a toll gate. The pocket road next to the toll gate is usually for bikers or emergency vehicles. This area is usually closed with a barrier, but in this case, we see rocks placed to ensure that car drivers do not skip the toll. The Thar driver drives the car forward, and as he was about to reach in front of the toll barrier, he turns the SUV to the left and drives over the curb.
The Mahindra Thar seen here had aftermarket wheels and looks like the owner also got a lift kit installed in it. The SUV drove over the curb without any major issues. By the time the staff sitting in the toll booth realized, the Thar was already on the other side of the road, having skipped the toll. The video was actually recorded by a person who was traveling in a car behind the Thar. It looks like the Mahindra Thar driver had planned this act and had done this for the sake of publicity. If you look carefully, the car recording the video was maintaining a safe distance from the Thar, and the driver of the car had parked the vehicle right outside the toll lane to avoid paying the toll.
This is not the first time we have seen people do such stunts in public for the sake of publicity on social media. In the past, there have been several cases where car owners have gotten into fights with employees at toll booths for silly reasons. In most cases, the car owners actually break the barrier and drive the car forward. Even politicians have gotten into fights with toll booth employees. After the government made FasTags mandatory for all vehicles using national highways and expressways, we have seen confrontations decrease. Mostly because the FasTag is linked with the account or wallet of the car owner, and the amount is automatically deducted. However, like most cases, there are exceptions in this case too, and the Mahindra Thar driver simply used the off-road capabilities of his SUV to evade toll. Doing this may look like fun on video; however, there are chances of damaging the underbody or any other part of the car. In short, we would recommend that everyone using the roads or highways should pay the toll without resorting to such stunts.