The Directorate General of Highways (DGH) under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications says that it will be inspecting the first batch of new license plates for issuance at the end of the month. After enough of the plates are collected, it will begin issuing them to anyone applying for tags. The plates currently being used do not need to be replaced, it says, which means that both old and new plates will be in use at the same time. The size of the new plates and the font have been altered to accommodate the new design. Forgery prevention mechanisms have also been added and readability has been enhanced.
The DGH says that the number of license plates in circulation every year exceeds one million. It also says that the plates they are purchasing now for use next year are all new plates, which have an extra letter added to them. It is expected that half of next year’s plates will be ready by the end of November, which will be enough for distribution to every motor vehicles office in Taiwan. The DGH has announced that it is very likely that the new tags will be available by the end of the year.
After the new plates are in circulation, the DGH says that the current plates can still be used until a vehicle is declared unserviceable. It says that although the new and old plates have different numbers of digits, it will not create any problems with vehicle registration or readability because each plate is unique and has its own distinct set of numbers.
Photo: Tsai Wei-chi, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者蔡偉祺
The Motor Vehicles Division says that the materials and paint used for the new plates is the same as the current plates, but since the font size stayed the same and an extra number has been added, the new plates are slightly bigger than the old ones, going from the current 320mm by 150mm to 380mm by 160mm. The thickness, however, has gone down from 2mm to 1.4mm, making the new plates lighter despite the overall increase in size.
The font used for plate numbers has also been altered. The Motor Vehicles Division says that it has taken into account how the numbers “3” and “8” and the letter “B” were often confused, so it modified the font to enhance readability and make it more difficult to forge.
The division also says that the original license plate design with letters coming first followed by numbers, where cars had two letters followed by four numbers and motorcycles had three letters followed by three numbers, eventually had to be changed, either mixing up the combination of letters and numbers or placing the letters behind instead of before the digits because there were not enough combinations available. The new license plates, having added an extra place, will have three letters followed by four numbers for car plates and three letters followed by four numbers for motorcycle plates. Since the extra spot on the plates for cars is for letters, there are now 26 times more combinations available. For motorcycles the added place is for numbers, so there are 10 times more combinations available. It is estimated that there will be enough new plates to be used for the next 100 years.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
交通部公路總局指出,第一批新式車牌月底將驗收,等累積足夠數量後,就會全面對新請領牌的車輛改發放新式車牌,但因舊車牌不必換發,所以將出現新、舊車牌並用情形。且增碼後,車牌大小會調整,字體也將更換,增加防偽功能和辨識度。
公路總局表示,每年各式車輛的車牌使用數量超過一百萬面,現在採購明年使用的都是新增一碼的新式車牌。預估到十一月底可完成全年使用量的半數,足夠分發到全台各處監理單位。該局宣布新車牌年底前發放的機會相當大。
公路總局說,全面改發放新車牌後,現有車牌仍可繼續使用,直到車輛報廢為止,雖然新舊車牌的號碼數不同,但因每面車牌都有「單一性」,在車籍管理和辨識上不會有問題。
監理組指出,新車牌材質和烤漆都和原本車牌相同,但因字體大小不變,又要增加一個號碼位置,車牌面積也會增大,以汽車牌為例,長度從現在三十二公分,增為三十八公分,高度從十五公分,長高至十六公分,但厚度從零點二公分,減為零點一四公分,雖然車牌變大,但重量卻減輕。
另外,現在車牌使用的字體也將做改變,監理組說,像數字「3」、「8」和英文「B」等號碼,就常會有混淆的問題,新車牌使用的字體也都加以修正,加強辨識度,且也更不容易變造。
監理組還說,原本車牌設計都是「英文加數字」形式,汽車牌長度為「二加四」,機車牌為「三加三」,後來不敷使用才出現英數夾雜,和前後區顛倒情形。未來新車牌增加一碼,汽車變成「三加四」,機車也是「三加四」,汽車因增碼在英文區,所以車牌數量可擴充二十六倍;機車增加在後數字區,約增量十倍,但評估都能滿足未來百年的使用量。
(自由時報記者蔡偉祺)
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