Latest update December 25th, 2024 1:10 AM
Jun 10, 2018 APNU Column, Features / Columnists
The Government has signaled its intention to take measures to regulate and centrally control the issuance of licence plates for motor vehicles. In time we will be apprised of control measures and by who and where, the plates will be manufactured and the security features that will be put in place, but this is a step in the right direction.
The old system where one purchased his or her own licence plate from an independent plate-maker has out lived its usefulness. The large influx of vehicles being added to the rolls at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), on a daily basis, cries out for a more secure and effective system of licensing and revenue collection.
In the United States of America and most of Europe, selling of Vehicle Registration Plates (also known as number plates or licence plates) by the government is not only a huge revenue earner, but it is also used as a means of identification and compliance.
In the more developed world, governments realised that some form of regulation was becoming necessary, as more and more vehicles entered the system. Automobiles, horses, and pedestrians were causing roads to deteriorate rapidly, and regulations—and funds—were needed to correct the problem.
Public safety was also a grave issue, and law enforcement officials needed a device to help them keep records regarding vehicle owners and their actions. Licence plates came into existence in 1903 when it became apparent that motor vehicles were sure to replace horse-drawn carriages and that a system of registering and taxing them and their drivers was needed.
In several jurisdictions, plates have a special decal or grouping of numbers or letters that indicate the geographical origin of the vehicle. Title and Registration Bureaus, agencies akin to the GRA, regulate the issuance of vehicle licence plates.
Once you have titled and registered your vehicle and paid all taxes and fees, the Revenue Authority gives you your plates. Regular licence plates are sold for a standard fee. In several countries, drivers can choose from a number of licence plates, ranging from the standard plate to designs that reflect their military service or show their support for a College, sports team or community organization.
These personalized plates are available for an additional fee.
Licence plates stay with the owner and may be transferred to another vehicle only when the vehicle is properly registered. In many jurisdictions, special decals are issued annually, these are usually placed on the rear plate of the vehicle and serve to indicate that the owner of the vehicle has paid all the taxes and fees for that year.
The central manufacturing and issuance of licence plates by our government will also be an opportunity to create jobs. One would hope that there would be standardization in the manufacturing process and the roadside vendors would be offered employment or sub-contracted to produce plates under supervised conditions.
The biggest beneficiaries of a well-coordinated and government-controlled licence plate system will be law enforcement and the Treasury. One would hope that the new design would have special codes to identify whether a vehicle is from the Barima- Waini (Region No.1) or whether it is from Demerara-Mahaica (Region No.4).
The codes, whether they be numerical or otherwise, must tell law enforcement the name and address of the owner of the vehicle and whether or not the motor vehicle is in compliance with the law (taxes, registration etc.). If done correctly, it will also facilitate the easy detection of stolen vehicles and allow for nation-wide broadcast, targeting stolen vehicles or vehicles engaged in criminal activity.
The proposed advent of the CRG (Cooperative Republic of Guyana) plates for government vehicles will assist the government to not only have a proper inventory of its assets, but also serve as a means of tracking this category of vehicle and monitoring their use. Special plates for persons with physical disabilities may be one of the things that the government may want to consider, along with special parking for disabled drivers at public places and other private enterprises.
Licence plates are a law enforcement tool and a big revenue source and they are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. The government must make this project a priority. This tried-and-true method of tracking vehicle ownership and operation is useful for a variety of taxes, registration, and other data collection.
The future may see devices like bar codes or scanner codes incorporated into licence plates or directly into vehicles. When the code is read by a scanner (a handheld model for police officers and fixed models for other applications), the complete history of the vehicle and information about its operation and ownership would be available by computer almost instantly. But for now, we have the plate, and so we look forward to the speedy implementation by the Guyana Revenue Authority.
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