What was the first country to use number plates on its road vehicles?
"Vehicle registration plates of France Vehicle registration plates are mandatory number plates used to display the ""registration mark"" of a vehicle registered in France. They have existed in the country since 1901. It is compulsory for most motor vehicles used on public roads to display them. In French, vehicle registration plates are called ' or '. The latter makes a reference to the national mining administration, which was responsible for issuing the plates in the early 20th century. Since 1901, various systems have been successively introduced, the most recent dating from 2009. The registration plates issued since 2009 use a"
"Germany in 1896. The Netherlands was the first country to introduce a national registration plate, called a ""driving permit"", in 1898. Initially these plates were just sequentially numbered, starting at 1, but this was changed in 1906. In the U.S., where each state issues plates, New York State has required plates since 1903 (black numerals on a white background) after first requiring in 1901 that only the owner's initials be clearly visible on the back of the vehicle. At first, plates were not government issued in most jurisdictions and motorists were obliged to make their own. In 1903, Massachusetts was"
"Vehicle registration plates of British overseas territories Vehicle registration plates, commonly known as number plates, are the mandatory alphanumeric or numeric plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle. Some of the British overseas territories, including Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, use number plates similar to those of the UK, with the same colours and typeface. Some former British colonies which adopted British style number plates have continued with those customs, notable examples are Brunei, Cyprus, Guyana, Hong Kong, Kenya, Malaysia, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago and Tanzania. Gibraltar's number plates originally consisted of the letter 'G' and up"
"Vehicle registration plates of the United Kingdom Vehicle registration plates are the mandatory alphanumeric plates used to display the ""registration mark"" of a vehicle, and have existed in the United Kingdom since 1903. It is compulsory for motor vehicles used on public roads to display vehicle registration plates, with the exception of vehicles of the reigning monarch used on official business. The Motor Car Act 1903, which came into force on 1 January 1904, required all motor vehicles to be entered on an official vehicle register, and to carry alphanumeric plates. The Act was passed in order that vehicles could"
"of vehicle registration plates on 26 April 1898 – the third country in the world to do so, after France in 1893 and Germany in 1896. A plate bearing the number 1 was issued to a Mr J. van Dam, who purchased the first 100% Dutch-built motorcar, which was manufactured at his own ""Groninger Motor-Rijtuigen Fabriek"". Plate numbers stayed with the owner, unlike the present system. From 1906, a new system used the format , where was a province code and a serial number. This system lasted until 1951, when the current system was introduced. The current Dutch licence plate"
"special shaped mounting place, three-lined plates for cycles (except scooters with small two-line plates). A plate with a yellow background is used for public-use vehicles such as taxis or route buses. Single-line plates are the standard European size . Ukrainian vanity plates are unique in that purchasers may choose any image to be printed on the surface of plate, to the right of the characters. Vehicle registration plates, usually known as number plates, have existed in the United Kingdom since 1904. Most motor vehicles which are used on public roads are required by law to display them. The Motor Car"
"a different geographical coding system than for passenger plates. These codes were based on more specific geographical areas or geographical features, rather than political jurisdictions. Bus, dealer, taxi, and trailer plates were coded only by type, not location of issuance. Vehicle registration plates of Guam The U.S. unincorporated territory of Guam first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1916. In 1956, the United States, Canada and Mexico came to an agreement with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the Automobile Manufacturers Association and the National Safety Council that standardized the size for"
"Vehicle registration plates of New York The U.S. state of New York was the first to require its residents to register their motor vehicles, in 1901. Registrants provided their own license plates for display, featuring their initials until 1903 and numbers thereafter, until the state began to issue plates in 1910. Plates are currently issued by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Front and rear plates are required on all vehicles except for motorcycles. In 1956, the United States, Canada and Mexico came to an agreement with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the Automobile Manufacturers Association"
"two, someone transcribing the plate may not know which symbol has which meaning, and the owner of plate EM6F9VO may get in trouble for something the owner of plate EM6F9V0 did. Other letter/number pairs, like I and 1, may be similarly problematic to a lesser degree. If the digit 0 is disallowed, then the combinations for each of these will be: If the letter O is disallowed, then the combinations for each of these will be: France was the first country to introduce the registration plate with the passage of the Paris Police Ordinance on August 14, 1893, followed by"
"Act 1903, which came into force on 1 January 1904, required all motor vehicles to be entered on an official vehicle register, and to carry number plates. The Act was passed in order that vehicles could be easily traced in the event of an accident or contravention of the law. Vehicle registration number plates in the UK are rectangular or square in shape, with the exact permitted dimensions of the plate and its lettering set down in law. Within the UK itself there are currently two numbering and registration systems: one for the island of Great Britain, which is administered"
"to bear a plate with a number to cross the Parc de la Tête d'Or. In 1893, it became mandatory for all cars and carriages in France to have a plate with the name and address of the owner. Registration documents, called """" (""grey card""), were created in 1899. Following the rapid development of the motor vehicle at the end of the 19th century, French authorities adopted a nationwide registration system in 1901. The 11 September 1901 Circular created a regional system and registration plates contained three numbers followed by a letter identifying a region. In 1899, the Mining Administration"
"because of the desirability of a specific letter/number combination. The first series of number plates was issued in 1903 and ran until 1932, consisting of a one- or two-letter code followed by a sequence number from 1 to 9999. The code indicated the local authority in whose area the vehicle was registered. In England and Wales, these were initially allocated in order of population size (by the 1901 census) – thus codice_4 indicated London, codice_5 indicated Lancashire, codice_6 indicated the West Riding of Yorkshire and so on up to codice_7 indicating Somerset, then codice_8 indicated Hampshire, codice_9 indicated Worcestershire and"
"the first state to issue plates. In Spain, the first law to define rules on non-animal vehicle traction was ""Real orden de 1897 de circulación de vehículos cuyo motor no sea la fuerza animal"" and the registration of vehicles was defined as a per province task in the ""Reglamento de 1900 para el servicio de coches automóviles por las carreteras"". First Spanish registration plate, PM-1, was a Clément-Talbot in 31 October 1900 in Palma de Majorca. From 1901 to 1905 256 vehicles were registered. UK plates were first required from 1 January 1904 by the 1903 Motor Car Act. The"
"Vehicle registration plates of North Korea North Korea has issued registration plates for all government and privately owned vehicles since 1947. The system is loosely based on that found in Japan insofar as numerical prefixes are applied to denote a particular type or class of vehicle. Privately owned vehicles display orange plates with black characters. The first two denote the place of registration in the Hangul script. The remainder are the vehicle's actual registration number. Early examples contained up to 4 digits. Those issued since 1992 can have up to 5 digits split into two groups by a hyphen. Example"
"not required to have a national plate and town and city administration tax them and issued their own yellow plates. This is a table of country codes on Spanish diplomatic and consular car number plates, i.e. the first group of two or three numbers and mainly sorted by Spanish alphabetical order. Vehicle registration plates of Spain Vehicle registration plates are the mandatory number plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle, and have existed in Spain since 1900. Most motor vehicles which are used on public roads are required by law to display them. The government agency responsible"
"with white characters bearing the word 'Kŭmgangsan' in Hangul, followed by four digits. Vehicles used by U.N. delegates display black plates which feature the word 'UNICEF' ('유니쎄프') rendered in Hangul, followed by a hyphen and a serial number, in white. Vehicle registration plates of North Korea North Korea has issued registration plates for all government and privately owned vehicles since 1947. The system is loosely based on that found in Japan insofar as numerical prefixes are applied to denote a particular type or class of vehicle. Privately owned vehicles display orange plates with black characters. The first two denote the"
"Vehicle registration plates of the Republic of Ireland In the Republic of Ireland, vehicle registration plates (commonly known as ""number plates"") are the visual indications of motor vehicle registration – officially termed ""index marks"" – which it has been mandatory since 1903 to display on most motor vehicles used on public roads in Ireland. The alphanumeric marks (or ""registration numbers"") themselves were issued by the local authority in which a vehicle is first registered. The current specification for number plates is the format YYY–CC–SSSSSS. Those issued from 1987 to 2012 had the format YY–CC–SSSSSS. The components are: Since 1991, the"
"new ""LnnnL"" format launched later that year. Before 1925 vehicle registration took place on a regional rather than on a country-wide basis. Vehicles displayed their registration numbers on the right-hand side of the vehicle, often painted on. From 1925, the authorities issued steel plates to vehicle-owners annually. The first plates were United States-made green with white numbers prefixed with NZ (nnn-nnn). The 1926/27 year was black with white numbers with the following plates black with orange numbers (nnn*nnn). This system changed when steel supplies became limited during World War II: from 1941 plates remained valid for 5 years. The issue"
"assigned only in the case of damage, loss, or theft of a registration plate. From 2017 there is possibility of custom registrations plates. These have format XXX-XXXXX (one more character than ordinary plate) and must contain at least one number. Letters ""G, CH, O, Q"" and ""W"" are forbidden. This system was introduced in Czechoslovakia in 1932. The first letters are represented by region. X-NN-NNN, white on black X-NNNNN, black on white This system was introduced in Czechoslovakia in 1960. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the Slovak Republic introduced a new system of car registration plates in 1997 while the"
"in 1903 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Soon after, other states followed suit, with virtually every state having adopted a form of registration plates by 1918. The first registration plates in the United States were made out of leather, rubber, iron, and porcelain, painted on the front in usually two different colors—one for the background and one for the lettering. This scheme held true for most states until about 1920. The front of the plate would usually contain the registration number in large digits, and in smaller lettering on one side of the plate, the two- or four-digit year number,"
"auctions. Macau car number plates are based on the Portuguese plates and are one of three types used in China. The first plates were issued in the 1930s with current number issued at 35,000. The plates consists of white letters on a black background. The first character uses ""M"" as Portugal assigned license format according to the name of their overseas territory (or province). The plate format of Mozambique, another ex-colony of Portugal, also starts with ""M"". Buses use the same plates as cars, but buses have been assigned characters that are in yellow instead of white since 2000. Vehicle"
"Vehicle registration plates of India All motorised road vehicles in India are tagged with a registration or license number. The Vehicle registration plate (commonly known as number plate) number is issued by the district-level Regional Transport Office (RTO) of respective states — the main authority on road matters. The number plates are placed in the front and back of the vehicle. By law, all plates are required to be in modern Hindu-Arabic numerals with Latin letters. Other guidelines include having the plate lit up at night and the restriction of the fonts that could be used. In some states such"
"Belgium, for example, still permits vehicles to display the older small white number plates with red lettering, and the registration plates that are issued by the government body which assigns these are of the smaller format, too. In 1908 number plates were only three numbers and one letter long. Italy still permits smaller plates to be attached to the front of a vehicle, while the rear plate complies to the usual EU format. The common design consists of a blue strip on the left of the plate, which has the EU motif (12 yellow stars), along with the country code"
"plates contained from 4 to 8 alphanumeric characters split into three parts by spaces. The first space could be omitted on registration plates issued after 1996. Numbering went as follows: numbers evolved first, starting from 1, until they reached 999. Then letters evolved. The first car registered in Paris had a 1 A 75 car plate, and the second one 2 A 75. Once 999 A 75 had been reached, the following car was registered under 1 B 75. The format would have been exhausted in Paris once 999 ZZZ 75 had been reached. The following chronology summarises the numbering"
"Vehicle registration plates of Tanzania Number plates of Tanzania date back to at least 1933 in Tanganyika and to the 1950s in Zanzibar. They are the same size as their British counterparts and used the same font until the late 1980s. Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar use slightly different formats. In 1933, Tanganyika used white-on-black plates. Letters denoted the city (DS for Dar es Salaam) and was followed by four numbers. British standard plates were still being used in the 1980s. Tanzania used yellow plates (front and back) for private cars, while white plates were used on busses, taxis and hire"
"first digits, see below: The self-proclaimed republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia issue their own registration plates: Russian-style plates in Abkhazia and Soviet-style plates in South Ossetia. Since 2004 these registration plates are forbidden to be used on the territory controlled by the government of Georgia; while the Georgian plates are not allowed to be used on the territory controlled by republics. Thus most cars that cross the boundaries of the unrecognised republics have to use Russian registration plates. As of 2011, military police patrol vehicle plates were black with white letters, with a narrow yellow strip on the left"
"Vehicle registration plates of the Channel Islands Vehicle registration plates, commonly referred to as number plates, are the mandatory numeric or alphanumeric plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle. The Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey are outside the United Kingdom and the European Union, and have registration marks that are different from those used in the UK. Jersey registration plates consist of the letter 'J' followed by one to six digits; plates may now incorporate the coat of arms of Jersey in a white strip on the left, along with the country identifier GBJ (Great Britain"
"Vehicle registration plates of Somalia Somalia requires its residents to register their motor vehicles and display vehicle registration plates. The very first Italian registration plates, from 1913 to the end of the 1920s, were rectangular, with a white background and with the name or initials of the colony in red followed by the registration number, on a single line, but the documentation on this is fragmentary. For the Italian colonial troops, however, special military service plates were used with the initials SOM (Somalia) or T (Tripolitania) in front. Subsequently, until 1935, the Italian colonies used white plates on black with"
"this font is prohibited by the Land Transport Authority (LTA). A typical vehicle registration number comes in the format ""SBA 1234 A"": Vehicle registration plates of Sri Lanka (known in Sri Lanka as ""number plates"") started soon after introduction of motorcars in 1903. Initially the numbers started with Q, and the oldest existing plate is ""Q 53"" of a 1903 Wolsley. Later the island was divided into sections from ""A "" to ""Z"" (Ex A 123 ), then after World War II it changed to the two Roman letter plates combining pairs of letters in the word CEYLON . These"
"a growing car market and the increasing demand of purchasing and selling cars from different regions, the oblong transit plate was introduced, based on paper. When registered, the car was given two plates which should be attached to the inner side of the windshield and the rear glass. The word ""транзит"" and ""передний номер"" (""perednij nomer"", literally ""Frontal number"") or ""задний номер"" (""zadnij nomer"", lit. ""Rear number"") was written on the top row, the second row contained the three-letter regional code (or the two-letter one for military vehicles), and the third row housed the four digits. The oblong metal transit"
"Vehicle registration plates of Sri Lanka Vehicle registration plates of Sri Lanka (known in Sri Lanka as ""number plates"") started soon after introduction of motorcars in 1903. Initially the numbers started with Q, and the oldest existing plate is ""Q 53"" of a 1903 Wolsley. Later the island was divided into sections from ""A "" to ""Z"" (Ex A 123 ), then after World War II it changed to the two Roman letter plates combining pairs of letters in the word CEYLON . These series were CL XXXX , EY XXXX, EL XXXx . Afterwards in 1956 a new system"
"commodities and only the few people could purchase. The main people who owned the first cars were the British and the then higher class of Maltese. By 1919 most Brits started to sell their used cars to Maltese with an affordable price but were mainly used as taxis and for work-related needs such as the transport of goods. From 1952 to 1979, all number-plates in Malta used the format 99999 (5 numbers). Until 1959, plates with red circle permitted to drive in Valletta. Unlike the post-1979 system, they have 7 characters. Special plates: From 1979 to 1995, all number-plates in"
"in military plates at all. Moreover, there are a number of documented cases of plate type violations, including arbitrary hyphenation, adding of stars or anchors, and even violations concerning format, such as plates containing 4 to 6 digits, with 4 digits often for motorcycles, but with exceptions. At the end of the 1930s, the first diplomatic plates were issued. Based on the ""reduced format"", a single digit replaced the first pair of numbers, with a large letter Д in the upper right corner. After World War II the registration went into chaos with cars that had lost documentation, ""mobilized"" machines,"