Southern hospitality apparently extends even to the highways where there has been a long-held tradition of paying the 50-cent toll of the person behind you.

The practice was ceased by Georgia's State Road & Tollway Authority due to drivers wondering if the toll booth workers sometimes kept the toll for themselves.

But, as announced last week, drivers will once again be able to brighten someone's day with a 50-cent donation at the toll booth - or at least until November when the road will be toll-free and the booths will be demolished. (boy, I'd love to see that happen in NYS, but I won't hold my breath)

According to the press release:

“With only a few months left until the tolls are removed from GA 400, Governor Deal felt it was important that we look at the toll payment policy to see if there might be a way to reinstate this long-held tradition of courtesy payments,” Tomlinson said. “Working with staff, we have devised a workaround that protects cashiers from erroneous complaints, while allowing customers to pay tolls for their fellow motorists, confident that other drivers will benefit from their generosity.”
The policy allowing drivers to “pay it forward” will remain in effect until the scheduled ending of tolls on GA 400 the week before Thanksgiving, said Tomlinson.

A little confusing though is the fact that on Aug. 16 (the date of the above press release) other news outlets reported that drivers could no longer pay it forward. I guess I'll go with the state agency's release.