Johannesburg Will Get ‘Intelligent’ Number Plates

Miscellaneous, South Africa | Dean | January 28, 2010 at 14:46

Johannesburg drivers, you’re about to rage. Uncontrollably.

The government people up north have said that as of January, 2010 there will be new-car registration numbers starting in the letter ‘Y’. It’s been said that the Gauteng province is running of letters and digits to use on cars, and this is predicted to run out by October, 2010.

Plans for new plates have been in the system since 2007, and it includes high-tech “intelligent” number-plates which should be introduced from June onwards. The new number plates will be made from aluminium and they will be “permanently” attached to the vehicle. Following the permanent attachment will be a radio-frequency identification tag.

These plates will be trackable back to, both, the driver and the manufacturer. This, in essence, should make manipulation of plates a lot harder.

If this project is successful, the new plates will become a tamper-resistant link between the car and it’s owner. The theory set behind this idea states that bad guys can no longer just obtain fraudulent plates by walking into a signage shop.

The GP transport department said that the new system “is linked to the provincial crime reduction strategy”, “will curb the practice of car cloning and vehicle theft” and will “sanitise the current vehicle registration information system”.

Furthermore following the permanent plates, a new law says that vehicles registered after 2009 should have their plates either riveted into the bumper, or there should be a bracket to hold it.

Following the new technology in plates, will obviously be the kicker — the price increase. There will be a R50 higher cost (about R250+ already) for plates, and this is without any mounting materials. The chips alone would cost an extra R50 per piece, and you would need two. Some companies estimate the cost for number plates to be about R400 to R800.

The process is expected to take about 3 years to complete.

Overall this means that the plates will soon be more intelligent than half the drivers in the car.