Number Plates News

USA Plans Advertisements on Number Plates

28 June 2010

The authorities in California are considering a radical, if somewhat convoluted, plan to raise much needed revenue.

In an attempt to make a sizeable hole in their astounding £12.8 billion deficit, it is proposed that advertising space should available on number plates and sold to private companies.

However, since there is scarcely any spare space on a plate to accommodate advertising, some bright spark has come up with the following circuitous solution:

The conventional plate would be replaced with a screen, similar to that of a TV or computer monitor. Ordinarily this would display the registration electronically. But, if the vehicle is stationery for more than four seconds, the display would switch to a series of scrolling advertisements. The idea being that, for example, if waiting at traffic lights, the message on the rear plate would be directed at the car behind.

Further, it has been mooted that use of the the screen could be extended to allow public service information such as traffic reports or missing persons alerts.

Senator Curren Price says, "We're just trying to find creative ways of generating additional revenues. It's an exciting marriage of technology with need, and an opportunity to keep California in the forefront."

M Conrad Jordan of Smart Plate, the company charged with developing the idea considers that, "The idea is not to turn a motorist's vehicle into a mobile billboard, but rather to create a platform for motorists to show their support for existing good working organisations."

There is almost the beginning of an idea here somewhere, but it doesn't take an expert to spot the countless drawbacks with the proposals as they stand.

The UK's own licensing authority was embroiled in a similar debacle last year when it contrived a hare-brained scheme to link electronic billboards to the registrations of passing vehicles. Read the story here.