Why Are Fancy Number Plates Not Allowed?
Imagine a situation where a car speeds across a police check post, at night, without stopping for the mandatory checking. To note the details of this car, an official would try to see the color of the car and its registration number. Since it is night time, the color could not be identified clearly. What if this vehicle has a fancy number plate with a big bold BOYZ displayed across the plate? It would be very hard to track such a vehicle as the last digits of the number itself are not clear.
Two-wheeler and four-wheeler vehicles are used in criminal events such as kidnapping, murder, molestation, and chain or mobile phone snatching. It is observed by the officials that a common factor in such crimes was that a vehicle with a fancy number plate was used to throw the police off their trail.
What Are the RTO Fines for Fancy Number Plate?
Even if personalizing the number plate is preferred by most of us, it is not allowed under the Regional Traffic Office – RTO rules. An RTO is responsible for the registration of vehicles and keeping a track of ownership of a specific vehicle. A driving license is also issued by this authority.
RTO fines for displaying fancy number plates on a vehicle is Rs. 1000/-. The fine collected by officials mounts to crores of rupees across the country.
Guidelines for Vehicle Number Plate
Vehicles having less than 70cc engine should display a vehicle number plate with a font height of 15mm and width of 2.5mm. The space between each letter and number should be at least 2.5mm. For 500cc vehicles or three-wheelers, the font height should be 35mm and width should be 7mm. These vehicles should have at least 5mm of space between each letter and number.
For vehicles which do not fall into this category, the font height of number plates (both front and rear) should be 65mm with the width of 10mm, and space of 10mm between each letter and number. Also, the vehicle’s number plate should not display any symbols, names or stickers.
Also, read: Types of number plates in India and their meaning
Which Color Combination Is Allowed by RTO?
The following color combination is allowed by the rules of Regional transport office in India:
