South African national number plates will help clamp down on crime and corruption, according to Zurika Louw, chief executive of the South African Number Plate Association.
As reported by BusinessTech, Louw added that a new national number plate system will also help with the tracking down of criminals.
Louw made the statements as part of her feedback to Parliament on proposed changes in the National Road Traffic Amendment Bill.
The bill will see greater regulation around the manufacturing and use of number plates in the country.
There are currently just under 400 variations of number plates available in South Africa, which makes policing them difficult, said Louw.
This includes different number plates for each province, different number plate sizes, personalised number plates, and government plates.
A national number plate could solve this problem, she said.
Fake plates
In addition to this, Louw said a focus needed to be placed on the enforcement of the existing rules on number plates in the country.
Louw said that when a cloned or fake number plate is used on a vehicle to commit a crime, often no action is taken against the people who made the illegal number plate.
She went on to state that in Gauteng in particular, number plates often have the wrong lettering or are the wrong size, and are made of plastic – which are against regulations.
While a national number plate system is investigated, Louw said her association was looking at creating a booklet for metro police officers to help them identify fake number plates at roadblocks.
Keyword: Why South Africa should get new number plates