Revenue clampdown on dodgy number plates.

Silvera

Victor wrote:

1987-1990 vehicles will need to comply with the relevant rules in force then as will pre-1987 vehicles.

Pre-Jan 1991 vehicles can display euro plates if owners wish to do so.

Otherwise it's ......

Pre-1987 Plates: white front, red rear OR black front and rear.
1987-1990 Plates: white front and rear.
(N.B. - No fancy fonts allowed)

vector

Silvera wrote:

Pre-Jan 1991 vehicles can display euro plates if owners wish to do so.

Otherwise it's ......

Pre-1987 Plates: white front, red rear OR black front and rear.
1987-1990 Plates: white front and rear.
(N.B. - No fancy fonts allowed)

<boris>gosh</boris> red rear plates bring back memories

murphaph

vector wrote:

<boris>gosh</boris> red rear plates bring back memories

Here's a heap of stuff about number plates. You ca find out where all those old pre '87 reg plates come from!

Olav's licence plates

vector

that is a renault

causal

Silvera wrote:

5 digits ???

With the current system you may have to remember 9 digits ! (e.g. 00-D-123123), whereas the old system had a max of 6 digits (e.g. Dublin reg SI 2463).

Yes 5 digits, because I equated the old SZS etc with the current 00-D - i.e. they're both 3 characters. That leaves 5 other digits, where previously there were only 4 digits; hence the difference of 1 digit.

I also suspect that there are studies out there that say the average person can recall a reg better if it has a roughly even mix of letters and numbers.
(i.e. our current system plates have more numbers than letters).

I don't think the ratio of numbers to letters is as important a factor in recognising and remembering a number plate as 'associtation' is.
00-D means something specific and is easier to recognise and remember than something relatively random and meaningless like MQL.

Also important in remembering and recognising current registrations is that the number of variations is relatively small i.e years (mainly) 87 to 05, and then 30 odd county variations (which are easily remembered).

causal

Silvera

causal wrote:

Yes 5 digits, because I equated the old SZS etc with the current 00-D - i.e. they're both 3 characters. That leaves 5 other digits, where previously there were only 4 digits; hence the difference of 1 digit.
causal

???

When remembering a registration, you have to recall all of it's digits, hence -

old registrations = 6 digits (max),
new registrations = up to 9 digits (max).

Dublin registrations went over 100,000 for the first time in 2000.
Therefore, you may have to recall e.g. 00-D-126253

Old plates had a max of six digits, e.g. SZS 569, ZS 9562, etc etc

Therefore, old plates are easier to recall having only a max of six digits.

Silvera.

DublinWriter

To be honest, I'd consider the large amount of non-Irish cars over here long term to be a bigger issue.

A friend of mine from France has been living and working here and driving his French-registered car without Irish tax and insurance for 4 years!!!

There's also a large amount of Lativians doing the same.

Personally, I think all foreign registered cars should be issued with an Irish 'visa' at the point of entry, displayed on the dash, allowing them to drive here for 3 months. After that, they should re-register their car if they intend to stay longer.

Silvera

Good idea Dublinwriter !

There is currently a system of temporary registration (ZZ plates) for any unregistered vehicles entering the country.

But I agree that a new "visa" system is required to combat all the foreign reg cars in the country !

causal

Silvera wrote:

Therefore, old plates are easier to recall having only a max of six digits.

But this is my point - the number of characters isn't the main factor in remembering a registration number.
Remembering something meaningful is much easier than remembering something apparently random and meaningless.

Take a sample registration from each system:
1) QWV 738
2) 00-D-73815

QWV is random and meaningless
738 is random and meaningless

00-D is meaningful
73815 is random but somewhat meaningful (lower number is earlier in year)

Now what I'm saying is that it can be easier to remember the modern style reg because it has less meaningless characters, 5; than the old style reg which has 6 meaningless characters.

However, it can be more difficult to observe the newer style because there are more digits altogether. i.e. it takes longer to read.


As an example of what I mean - see how long it takes you to properly read and accurately remember the following: JFMAMJJASOND

<stop reading until you've done it>

.
..
...
....
...
..
.

<finished?>

Now if I give those letters meaning - by telling you they represent the first letter of the 12 months of the year - then it takes no time at all to remember them.


causal

Capt'n Midnight

For most counties the new system is easier to remember - it's a year, a county and mostly a 4 digit number. Only for Dublin , Cork and Limerick does it get beyond what pigeons can remember (five plus or minus two)

One solution would be to split Dublin up to postal codes - but evey D4 would be keyed in a week - maybe use F for Fingal etc.

The old system used different letters per county , Dublin used to get a lot of letters ..

ds20prefecture

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

One solution would be to split Dublin up to postal codes - but evey D4 would be keyed in a week - maybe use F for Fingal etc.

Oooh yes please. I live in Dublin South. Or is it Dun Laoghaire Rathdown

Victor

I imagine it would result in :

D - "DN" and "DS" are unlikely (DN = Down )
DR - can't be DL because of Donegal
FL - to avoid "confusion" with Fermanagh.
SD - not "DS"

So far only Fingal have shown any enthusiam for this.

vector

make a DD reg
and use it when the D fills up, or from june onwards
-no need for post code comparisons
-first letter still D
-indicated that a vahicle was registered late in the year (so a 05 DD is almost as new as a 06 D a good point when reselling)

this is an excellent idea and I guarantee WILL see it up and running by 2008*
this is not a guarantee

further dublin would be the only county to have two letters the same "DD" reinforcing its capital/different/special status

greglo23

one thing i can`t figure out is why limerick and waterford get 2 plate designations,ie L and LK ,W and WD. tipp north and south i get to a certain extent but the others baffle me.

Victor

It's down to who collects the road tax.

causal

vector wrote:

make a DD reg
<snip>
further dublin would be the only county to have two letters the same "DD" reinforcing its capital/different/special status

I like your thinking vector.
Only problem is the other meaning of DD i.e. bra size, which the country folk would immediately seize on:
"'DD' - yah, coz you're a crowd of big tits up in Dublin loike"

causal

vector

the DD bra link, which I was unaware of would play well,
because it is related to women it cannot be labelled as "bad" and wiould instead be treated as jocular, such jocularity would play well in the tabloids and get some face time for the minister for transport who will (of course) one day aim to be minister for health > taoiseach (such is the goal of every minister)

Lord Nikon

How about DN-Dublin North, DS-Dublin South. It works for Tipperary.

Speaking of reg plates, isn't it about time we saw a clampdown on motorbikes only having a reg plate on the back. Seems as if they are getting away lighty with speeding offences.

spockety

neuromancer wrote:

How about DN-Dublin North, DS-Dublin South. It works for Tipperary.

Speaking of reg plates, isn't it about time we saw a clampdown on motorbikes only having a reg plate on the back. Seems as if they are getting away lighty with speeding offences.

What kind of rubbish is this?
The only time they could avoid being caught speeding, where a car would have been caught, is when a Gatso Van is used. how many of them are there, compared to rear facing gatso camera's, Garda Checkpoints with laser/radar guns, and Garda Vehicles pursuing a speeder?

Ratchet

neuromancer wrote:

..... Seems as if they are getting away lighty with speeding offences.

:eek:

another myth.

Lord Nikon

When was the last time you saw a motorbike pulled over for speeding?

Lord Nikon

When was the last time you saw a motorbike using an indicator while weaving through traffic.

Our man in Havana

Actually the Gardai in Waterford are very good in this regard.

spockety

neuromancer wrote:

When was the last time you saw a motorbike pulled over for speeding?

When was the last time you made a gross generalisation about an entire section of the motoring public?

spockety

neuromancer wrote:

When was the last time you saw a motorbike using an indicator while weaving through traffic.

When was the last time you made a gross generalisation about an entire section of the motoring public?

prospect

spockety wrote:

When was the last time you made a gross generalisation about an entire section of the motoring public?

Hi everyone,

I think this is a major cause of "conflict" on these forums.
You can't really generalise about an entire group of people based on some very localised experience.
Lets face it, you only experience the habits of a very small percentage of the motoring public on your daily travels.
It always amuses me when a (this is just a made up example) a bus pulls out infront of a driver , and they launch into an attack on all bus drivers, and at the next junction a bus lets them out , it usually results in

Cheers

Ratchet

neuromancer wrote:

When was the last time you saw a motorbike pulled over for speeding?

there is slim chance of that happening, considering current number of the bikes on the roads
also
they have to be speeding in the first place but looks you are also assuming that all bikers do that by default

alias no.9

greglo23 wrote:

one thing i can`t figure out is why limerick and waterford get 2 plate designations,ie L and LK ,W and WD. tipp north and south i get to a certain extent but the others baffle me.

For both limerick and waterford, the 2 different designations differentiate between county and city, surely no more troubling than differentiating between tippereary north and south ridings?

murphaph

alias no.9 wrote:

For both limerick and waterford, the 2 different designations differentiate between county and city, surely no more troubling than differentiating between tippereary north and south ridings?

I don't think what they are baffles him, I think why they are baffles him! I've no idea either.

prospect

murphaph wrote:

I don't think what they are baffles him, I think why they are baffles him! I've no idea either.

What baffles me is why they split the smaller counties, and not Dublin!!!
When the car sales shot up in 2000, the very high number 'D' car regs were hard to read, but had they split dublin, this would have made a big difference.