A look at the coming euro-style plates

Woah. People have a hard enough time remembering 6 characters/numbers as the perpetrator speeds away from the scene. With 7, the police might as well just scratch that question off their incident reports.

Queensland lets you have Hello Kitty numberplates.

Where are our ‘Feel the Power of Hello Kitty’ numberplates, I ask you???

MASTAB8

My cute little Japanese car looks great with standard ACT plates. My boyfriend’s European car looks great with the custom plates he picked.

I don’t think it matters either way but I would like to thank the custom plate buyers for their contribution to the services we all enjoy.

Very Busy said :

cranky said :

Remaking the plate that bit smaller runs the risk of attracting the interest of the plate police, resulting in Court time. Ask me how I know. As if our Rego inspectors didn’t have anything else to do.

Did it have the correct number? Could you read it from a distance? Yes. Could it have been made to deceive? No. But you didn’t buy it from a shopfront, and Govco missed out on the dollars you spent. So off to court we go.

Is it reflective?

Reflective of……. ???

The black and white one will look nice on my Barina.

drfelonious said :

Watto so sorry to have diverted you from your crusade to end world poverty.

I hope you are back at the grindstone soon.

Bit harsh? Don’t think watto was criticising these new plates which will, undoubtedly, bring peace and enlightenment to all third world countries.

And that’s why I’ll be considering them for all my cars. Because I care. 😛

Watto so sorry to have diverted you from your crusade to end world poverty.

I hope you are back at the grindstone soon.

I’m amazed at what people get upset with on RA. Actually I shouldn’t, I’ve heard many a rant around town at things which I consider well above first world problems and more about they have a personal problem and why doesn’t everyone agree.

Most likely these plates will cost the same or more, the government are not handing anything out for free, if your car has a sport for a euro sized number plate, then I can see why. Its kind of like wanting to wear clothes that fit nicely.

I-filed said :

First-world problem or what!

You’re welcome to forgo the luxuries of life Canberra and Australia offers and choose to live in third world conditions if you like. 😉

Feel the power of… Europe

First-world problem or what!

drfelonious said :

Ok at the risk of being branded a trouble-maker, I am just going to give my unvarnished opinions.

I don’t think the ACT government should be catering to people who want a Euro style numberplate to go with their car. Those kind of people can move to Sydney where they will feel much more at home.

I’ll go a step further – I think the use of these numberplates is symptomatic of the Australian unwillingness to stand on our two feet. We in Canberra should take ownership of our difference – we have the Y plates, we have the options for different colours. Why on earth are we so pathetic as to feel the need to ape the Europeans?

Or we could just catch up with every other state in the country and not be considered behind the times.

If you’re going to allow one variation from standard blue/white tin plates, why get bothered by how many options there are?

Moreover, it’s a bit easier to offer plates with sizing that fits the ever increasing number of European cars on the road than expect the manufacturers to alter their bumpers etc for our relatively insignificant market (ACT or Australia, take your pick).

drfelonious said :

Ok at the risk of being branded a trouble-maker, I am just going to give my unvarnished opinions.

I don’t think the ACT government should be catering to people who want a Euro style numberplate to go with their car. Those kind of people can move to Sydney where they will feel much more at home.

I’ll go a step further – I think the use of these numberplates is symptomatic of the Australian unwillingness to stand on our two feet. We in Canberra should take ownership of our difference – we have the Y plates, we have the options for different colours. Why on earth are we so pathetic as to feel the need to ape the Europeans?

sorry Doc, there’s at least 2 other States that now start their plates with a Y – they’re getting on the band wagon. [see what I did there?] 🙂

Ok at the risk of being branded a trouble-maker, I am just going to give my unvarnished opinions.

I don’t think the ACT government should be catering to people who want a Euro style numberplate to go with their car. Those kind of people can move to Sydney where they will feel much more at home.

I’ll go a step further – I think the use of these numberplates is symptomatic of the Australian unwillingness to stand on our two feet. We in Canberra should take ownership of our difference – we have the Y plates, we have the options for different colours. Why on earth are we so pathetic as to feel the need to ape the Europeans?

montana said :

How do they know if the plate has been re-made?

Given the “legal” plates do not fit I guess it will be pretty straightforward to identify a re-made plate if your car has one that fits the space.

Last time I looked into the fine for fitting a homemade plate, no matter if its quality was better than the authorised options, it was $1200 or thereabouts.

I figured it wasn’t worth the risk.

cranky said :

No thought seems to have been applied to the (originally) sourced Japanese and American vehicles. Both countries standard plates are that bit smaller than the Australian standard 370 x 130mm plate, meaning our standard plates have to be trimmed or bent to fit the standard hole.

Remaking the plate that bit smaller runs the risk of attracting the interest of the plate police, resulting in Court time. Ask me how I know. As if our Rego inspectors didn’t have anything else to do.

Did it have the correct number? Could you read it from a distance? Yes. Could it have been made to deceive? No. But you didn’t buy it from a shopfront, and Govco missed out on the dollars you spent. So off to court we go.

Sorry. I do get pretty uptight about what I consider to be Govco maximising their return from the monopoly they hold.

How do they know if the plate has been re-made? For instance do they have it on record or something that you bought plastic plates of a certain size and colour? i want to go down this path as I need to fit a smaller plate in my JDM Supra bumper.

how can you not remember the 2nd plate?

it says ‘customs’

As soon as cars are required to carry a gps enabled tracking (and self destruct device) we can do away with these plates altogether.

I just love the constant rants on here:

“I hate people because they choose to do something different to me!”

Always refreshing to see about all parts of society, personalised plates, European cars etc.

“how are these people with European cars going to remember there numberplate when they can’t even remember to use their blinkers.”

The same way most people remember the difference between “they’re” “there” and “their”, I suspect. How did you get it wrong once and right the second time?

how are these people with European cars going to remember there numberplate when they can’t even remember to use their blinkers.

p1 said :

Makes sense if you own a car which has places specifically designed to hold numbers plates this shape. As usual it as only taken the ACT Gov’t a decade to provide something which was called for (and could have been provided in a fraction of the time).

Hear, hear! How dare Govco overlook this issue of vital relevance to 21st century living! >:0

cranky said :

Remaking the plate that bit smaller runs the risk of attracting the interest of the plate police, resulting in Court time. Ask me how I know. As if our Rego inspectors didn’t have anything else to do.

Did it have the correct number? Could you read it from a distance? Yes. Could it have been made to deceive? No. But you didn’t buy it from a shopfront, and Govco missed out on the dollars you spent. So off to court we go.

Is it reflective?

noma said :

Looking at the number plate makes me wonder if it will make it harder to memorise number plates of people who do hit & run or involved in crime because all 6 characters are together. Isn’t that the same reason why mobile phone numbers are usually displayed in 3 lots, e.g. xxxx xxx xxx

Style and size great. I agree too many characters to remember and not clear, the first style is better. with Yxx nnx this gives 1,757,600 combinations, enough for Canberra ? remove a few for YUP 00H, YIP 15S, YOB OO0, etc, plenty !!

Also I am surprised that with the advent of P2P cameras (and more to come) that there hasn’t been a ACT.GOV Pty Ltd message about legible + clean + visible plates.

No thought seems to have been applied to the (originally) sourced Japanese and American vehicles. Both countries standard plates are that bit smaller than the Australian standard 370 x 130mm plate, meaning our standard plates have to be trimmed or bent to fit the standard hole.

Remaking the plate that bit smaller runs the risk of attracting the interest of the plate police, resulting in Court time. Ask me how I know. As if our Rego inspectors didn’t have anything else to do.

Did it have the correct number? Could you read it from a distance? Yes. Could it have been made to deceive? No. But you didn’t buy it from a shopfront, and Govco missed out on the dollars you spent. So off to court we go.

Sorry. I do get pretty uptight about what I consider to be Govco maximising their return from the monopoly they hold.

dvaey said :

p1 said :

Makes sense if you own a car which has places specifically designed to hold numbers plates this shape. As usual it as only taken the ACT Gov’t a decade to provide something which was called for (and could have been provided in a fraction of the time).

How is this different to non-standard plates, other than the addition of another character? If you have an unusual car that needs a ‘number plate this shape’, then you simply fill in the form and pay the fee.

http://www.rego.act.gov.au/registrations/regononstandardplate.htm

*sigh*
They are a different shape. Longer and skinnier.

bikhet said :

I’ve never understood the desire for personalised plates, but I’m happy for them to make a voluntary contribution to general revenue.

+1

p1 said :

Makes sense if you own a car which has places specifically designed to hold numbers plates this shape. As usual it as only taken the ACT Gov’t a decade to provide something which was called for (and could have been provided in a fraction of the time).

How is this different to non-standard plates, other than the addition of another character? If you have an unusual car that needs a ‘number plate this shape’, then you simply fill in the form and pay the fee.

http://www.rego.act.gov.au/registrations/regononstandardplate.htm

Looking at the number plate makes me wonder if it will make it harder to memorise number plates of people who do hit & run or involved in crime because all 6 characters are together. Isn’t that the same reason why mobile phone numbers are usually displayed in 3 lots, e.g. xxxx xxx xxx

finally, since buying my first car that would suit them (and looked terrible without them) I have been agitating for them to be introduced. I received an email from Barr last month saying they were on the way but still wasn’t holding my breath

Roundhead89 said :

Wow! All those letters and emails worked.

I’ve sent a few over the years, including to Road User Services and the relevant MLAs, but gave up about 5 years ago, haha.

bikhet said :

I’ve never understood the desire for personalised plates, but I’m happy for them to make a voluntary contribution to general revenue. Will these cost any more than an ordinary plate?

These plates aren’t really personalised, just a different style. Have no doubt you could get them personalised and sure as s*** they will cost more than normal.

Makes sense if you own a car which has places specifically designed to hold numbers plates this shape. As usual it as only taken the ACT Gov’t a decade to provide something which was called for (and could have been provided in a fraction of the time).

Wow! All those letters and emails worked.

I’ve never understood the desire for personalised plates, but I’m happy for them to make a voluntary contribution to general revenue. Will these cost any more than an ordinary plate?