Netizens’ drive against fancy number plates

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From writing slogans and names to displaying landscape and even the national flag, car number plates are getting fancier by the day. However, it seems some alert Delhiites have taken the onus upon themselves to keep a track of those who love to flaunt fancy number plates. And many are eagerly posting numerous photos on the Facebook page of Delhi Traffic Police (DTP) of cars and bikes with fancy number plates with minute details like when and where the vehicle was last seen at the time of being clicked.

Management employee Abhishek Sinha, who has been a victim of an accident, and wasn’t able to note the number of the vehicle because it was in a decorative font, thinks that it’s important to crackdown on vehicles that display fancy number plates. “It’s not a dress or an accessory that one needs to display in a fanciful manner. Neither is it a status symbol,” says Abhishek, who feels that strong measures should be taken against such people violating the rule.
In fact, the Ministry of Transport is also looking into the matter and will come down heavily on such people displaying faulty number plates. Prachi Chandel from Encourage India, a non-profit organisation working towards spreading awareness about road safety, says she met the authorities from the ministry to talk about this issue some days ago. “Forget the number plate, sometimes, name of a political party etc is highlighted in a much bigger font than the vehicle number on the plate. It is illegal. We do our best to click pictures of such vehicles and pass it on to the police. And, we also conduct awareness programme about the same,” she adds.
As per the rules mentioned on the official page of Delhi police, All the letters should be in English and numerals/numbers should be in Arabic e.g. DL2CA 1234. “All those driving motor vehicles with registration number plates not conforming to the specifications, will be penalised,” is written on the website.
But there many who openly flout this rule. Sandeep Jha, a media professional, says, “I know many people who like to show-off with a fancy number plate. One of my friends has a stylish number plate with letters and numbers in multiple colours and decorative font. He believes it shows his sense of style. Another acquaintance, who is working with a political party, thinks that showing off his designation on the number plate is a status symbol.”
Various shops in the capital that design number plates, say that they get at least two requests a day for fancy number plates. “Most requests come from youngsters who want funky, colourful and stylistic designs,” says Rakesh, owner of a car accessories shop in Lajpat Nagar. He says that he does warn these clients before designing a number plate for them. “But very few listen to us. It’s our job to inform them, rest is up to them,” says Rakesh.
Kiran, owner of a garage in Karol Bagh, says that some clients come up with strange ideas. “A guy wanted a skull above all the characters on his car number plate. It’s our job so we relented. But we did alert him about the rules,” he says.
“This menace would not end only by penalising the people who exhibit fancy number plates. Tough steps should be taken even to crackdown on the shops who are running this business,” concludes Prachi.
(Some names have been
changed on request)