License plate fraud / solutions?

[martybrisbania]

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/it-p...829-250x2.html

Just read the above article and wondered what causes vehicle registration plates to be misread on such a massive scale. Are they really being 'misread', or might there be other factors involved as well? My first guess is that as far as the former is the case, it might be related to the mediocre design of Australia's standard issue plates. Apart from the colour scheme, Queensland plates for example have been the same for decades. However, my second guess is that there's a massive fraud going on. It's too easy to drive around with false registration plates without being caught out.

Why we don't have a federal car registration system yet? Our current state-based system has many flaws. First of all, the the system is inefficient. It's quite ridiculous that you have to re-register your vehicle if you move interstate. Second, as I already mentioned, I don't want to know how many people are driving around with false or stolen registration plates. Particularly personalised license plates are sensitive to fraud: over the past years we have seen a massive increase in designs, and it has become virtually impossible for police officers to pick out forgeries. Another possibility is that people drive around with genuine plates which aren't theirs. Automatic number plate recognition is only part of the solution, because as long as stolen plates are attached to a car of the same make, model and colour, no one will notice, not even during a random on the spot check. Note that some states have already abolished the use of windscreen stickers whilst others have taken it into consideration. And then - third - there's the problem of stolen care trade. Our current state-based registration system makes it quite difficult to track a vehicle once it has crossed the state border.

Thoughts anyone?

[invincible]

I don't think there is any fraud here. 200 misreads out of 2.4 million trips is tiny - a tolerance of 0.01% is acceptable considering that human error is eventually inevitable.

If someone was affected, I'm sure they could call up or write a letter and have the issue resolved very quickly.

The best thing an operator (and any business) can do is understand that their staff will make mistakes and make sure a process is in place to deal with it (a disputes handling process would be fine in this case).

[ajw373]

Originally Posted by martybrisbania

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/it-p...829-250x2.html

Another possibility is that people drive around with genuine plates which aren't theirs. Automatic number plate recognition is only part of the solution, because as long as stolen plates are attached to a car of the same make, model and colour, no one will notice, not even during a random on the spot check. Note that some states have already abolished the use of windscreen stickers whilst others have taken it into consideration.

Bullshit. All states now have number plate recognition technology, if a plate is stolen and they drive past the cops with this the alarm bells will ring. Window stickers have nothing what so ever to do with it.

[martybrisbania]

Originally Posted by ajw373

Bullshit. All states now have number plate recognition technology, if a plate is stolen and they drive past the cops with this the alarm bells will ring. Window stickers have nothing what so ever to do with it.

That means that if my plates get stolen and I pass a number plate recognition camera with my replacement plates, the alarm bells ring as well. After all, you don't get a new registration number, do you? At least not if you have personalised plates.

[RDSA]

Originally Posted by martybrisbania

That means that if my plates get stolen and I pass a number plate recognition camera with my replacement plates, the alarm bells ring as well. After all, you don't get a new registration number, do you? At least not if you have personalised plates.

pretty sure you get a new rego number.

Originally Posted by martybrisbania

Why we don't have a federal car registration system yet?

you've seen what happens at COAG, haven't you?

[chuboy]

You can choose whether you get new numbers or not, but the DoT people will make sure you know you will be subject to a lot of police attention if you keep your old number.

[Fyver]

They won't reissue the same combination unless it a personalised plate, you own that combination (well at least in QLD you do). The thing about plate recognition is they also get a pic of your car, so it's pretty easy to tell if it's right or not - the odds of it happening to the exact same car is far slimmer than the odds your seeing in the article. For the record, if I went through life with 99.99% accuracy I'd be pretty damn happy with that (and so would my wife ). Imagine if those figures were of our public transport on time running, we'd be rejoicing.

[chuboy]

Just to clarify, you can personalise your standard issue numbers, so if they ever got stolen or damaged you could order replacements.

That's why you sometimes see the odd new car with the old green on white Sunshine State plates from the 90s (or, a green on white plate that is in better condition than you would expect for its age).

[Fyver]

Yes, but most only did it as a cheap way to get the combo or to get the front slimline, I doubt there's many - as I don't think holding std issue plates is legal (you used to be able to call up DOT and ask where certain plate combo were sent, trick was you had to know a person who worked there or buy a car from them). If you're refering to the green on white ones that have the QLD map logo, they were the first of the proper personalised plates, they weren't standard issues - subsequently, some of these are very sort after now - originally issued in the late 80's I believe, I think to coincide with Expo.

[chuboy]

No I mean you can personalise the combination AFTER it's issued to your vehicle. It only costs about $50 and as you say it's to get one or two slimline plates most of the time. Although my set of plates from the B-series has sentimental value because they were the plates issued to my first car, so each to their own.

Getting a standard issue with your choice of combination in advance is much harder to do if at all. My brother-in-law went to register his new used Skyline the other day and asked if there was any chance of getting a plate with 'SKY'. The guy at the counter was very obliging and checked and even shared the disappointment that they had only recently run out - so he got SKZ instead. Oh well...

There was a case years ago, though, when a BMW dealer in the city ordered all 1000 BMW plates from the factory to be issued with new cars they sold with rego. From time to time you might still see a BMW with a green-on-white BMW plate. It'd either be old - close to 20 years - or the plate combination will have been customised as I alluded to and attached to the owner's next Beemer.

[TOCC]

I dont have anything to really contribute in terms of the number plates..

However i tend to move around every few years, and it is such a pain in the ass when it comes to reregistering my car in another state, there should be some form of national registration so we don't have to do that.

[chuboy]

I agree, unification of the road rules and licencing/registration would be a step in the right direction. The fact that it is illegal everywhere except Victoria to do a u-turn at an unsigned intersection says a lot about our basic inconsistency. Not to mention different rules for P-platers depending on where you got your licence...

If we didn't have a state government I don't know if there would be an argument for state-regulated road transport.

[martybrisbania]

Originally Posted by chuboy

If we didn't have a state government I don't know if there would be an argument for state-regulated road transport.

You're right, there isn't. The problem is that (as far as I remember) road transport is a responsibility of the states by constitution. Probably a hell of a job to change that and as long as the states make money out of it they're not gonna give it up. Judging from what's currently going on in Queensland I fear that the dominance of the states will increase rather than decrease. Unfortunately.

[TOCC]

Im happy if the states want to retain road funding, im sure even if we nationalised registration/licenses then state govt's could still retain their ability to set fee's based on a vehicles garaged/residential address..

But make the rest of the process easier for the general public, have one license and registration that you are able to renew in any state regardless of where you first got it or where you are technically from.

[chuboy]

I suppose you could do that easily enough... in Ireland a car is issued one plate when it is first registered and that plate corresponds to the county it is registered in at the time. From then on the car keeps the number even if the owner changes or moves. Don't see why that wouldn't work here although I'm sure there's plenty of people who wouldn't dream of having such-and-such's plate on their car.

[redbaron_012]

The only plate problems I see are from stolen plates for Petrol station drive offs ? I have black and white personal plates and lived in Sydney for a few years and many thought they were NSW plates ? If typical rego windscreen stickers were like our current Vic reg all you need is high res cameras to see the sticker as an alternative to the plates on the car.