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New number plates to curb cloning

‘The operability of the current South African number plate is prone to abuse'

WITH vehicle number plate cloning becoming a worrying issue in Zululand and South Africa as a whole, pressure is building on the National Department of Transport to roll out their new standardised number plates for all nine provinces.

News regarding the DoT’s proposals for new number plates emerged in 2015.

In August last year the DoT revealed the regulations relating to the new number plates, which would essentially be made of aluminium rather than plastic to avoid being burned during accidents.

According to the department, the new number plates will be less prone to security threats and will mitigate abuse by unregistered number plate manufacturers.

Regulations will ensure manufacturers are monitored to ensure the department can account for every motor vehicle number plate that is issued through coding.

‘The operability of the current South African number plate is prone to abuse by unregistered number plate manufacturers. Equally, the system in its current form is also taken advantage of by criminals who clone number plates and commit other forms of crime,’ a statement read.

The department further noted that the new plates will have to be renewed every five years.

Under the new law, the new number plates must contain:

• SABS certification below the licence mark of the province.

• Four dimensional bar code with QR code.

• The abbreviated name of the manufacturer of the blank number plate.

• The unique non-transferable of the blank number plate.

The letters and figures must be displayed in the following colours:

• Black – public transport vehicles.

• Blue – general vehicles and personalised number plates.

• Red – government vehicles.

• Green – diplomatic vehicles.

New number plates must display:

• The SA flag on the top left corner.

• Licence number and licence mark of the province.

• The name of the province under the SA flag, and centered on top of the number plate.

General number plates will also be in blue, while public transport number plates will follow the same format, but be in black

Contentious issue

Speaking to the ZO, a Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) official, who preferred to remain anonymous, criticised the proposals.

‘Essentially this would just be an extra cost to motorists as the number plates would need to be renewed every five years.

‘There is no point in introducing such a system if there is not enough law enforcement personnel on our roads,’ said the official.

‘Why add more laws to the act (National Road Traffic Act) when you can’t enforce the ones already in place?

‘We need more Automatic Number Plate Recognition vehicles to beef up our unit and deal with number plate cloning from the ground.’

Meanwhile Alta Swanepoel of Alta Swanepoel and Associates shared similar sentiments, but admitted the new number plates might just be able to help in putting a stop to cloning.

‘Not being able to identify offending road users is a huge problem. Government needs to do something to stop cloning and false plates.

‘There are different approaches, but whatever they decide on must be backed up by proper law enforcement.

‘This new system flushes out the false plate, so it may work.

‘Any steps taken must be enforced otherwise it will just be one more law not complied with,’ Swanepoel told the ZO.

The DoT reported that the roll out of the new number plates would take place this year – but this seems unlikely.

During an interview with the KZN MEC for Transport, Mxolisi Kaunda, the ZO learned that he too is waiting to hear from the department as to how far the process is.

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