JPJ to act on fancy number plate

Malaysian registration plates are displayed at the front and rear of all private and commercial motorised vehicles in Malaysia, as required by law that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database.


For regular vehicles, it should be white letters and numbers, embossed or glued on a black plate. Arial Bold is currently the preferred typeface, but other readable typefaces may be used depending on the vehicle dealer's or owner's preference. Early Malaysian license plates were largely made of pressed metal, but were largely superseded by plastic plates and characters since the 1970s.

After months of issuing warnings, the Road Transport Department (JPJ) will begin its nation-wide crackdown against motorists flouting rules and specifications from 1 NOVEMBER 2014 onwards.

The Road Transport Department, JPJ has begun enforcement on motorists using prohibited number plates, strobe lights and High Intensity Discharge, HID lamps on their vehicles.



However, authorities have delayed the enforcement on the new regulation on tinting for car windscreens and windows to May 2015 but isn't it the same operation clampdown conducted by JPJ since 2008.


WE SHALL soon find out whether the JPJ is serious about enforcing the law.

 Yeah I could tell they mean business from the way they treat those who flaunt the law .

NOTE WHEN YOU ARE CAUGHT involved in an offence, it will cost you time, money and you have to go through the troublesome process.

1. When you received a summons, you can’t pay the fine yet!
2. You also get a PG1 notice (Notis Larangan Penggunaan). To get this notice retracted, the car owner needs to brought back the vehicle to RTD for inspection within 10 days. You get about two months grace period to turn up for the inspection.
3. Only after the inspection is completed satisfactorily,  you may be able allow to pay the fine.
4. If you don’t turn up for the inspection, you will get an uncleared summons which means  go to court and face the possibility of the maximum fine up to RM2,000.
5 What if you don’t show up in court? Anyone can be slapped with a fine and held in contempt of court. An arrest warrant will be issued and you will be blacklisted by the RTD.

It's not worth the trouble knowing your plates are not according to specification but still not doing about it. How much to pay to  replace your vehicle's registration plates? Replacement plates cost just Rm 20 for both front and rear plates.

Even if your vehicle number plates that adhered to the prescribed size and specifications but if the plate was defective, then  it will still be considered an offence. Such as when the sun has faded the letters or numbers on the number plate.

The Examples of Vehicles Plate Measurement

Is crystal letterings allowed?

This is how a number plate meet with  the official specifications for licence plates looks like. Although  it's aesthetically ugly, but functionally. The gap created  look like one or more missing teeth.

SCHEDULE OF FINES FOR THOSE WHO BREACH THE RULES

A. Number plates

1. Cars and motorcycles (above 250cc): compoundable fine
RM100 (if settled within two weeks)
RM150 (if settled between two weeks and a month)
 RM250 (if settled after a month).

2. Motorcycles below 250cc: compoundable fine
RM70 (if settled within two weeks)
RM120 (between two weeks and a month
RM200 (if more than a month)

B. Strobe lights and HID headlamps: compoundable fine
RM100 (if settled within two weeks)
RM150 (between two weeks and a month)
RM250 (if more than a month)

According to JPJ director-general Datuk Seri Ismail Ahmad Ismail said under JPJ specifications, only three types of number plates are allowed.

For regular vehicles, it should be white letters and numbers, embossed or glued on a black plate while for vehicles of embassies, the United Nations or the International Natural Rubber Association, it should be white letters and numbers, embossed or glued on a red plate.

Taxis and hired cars should have black letters and numbers, embossed or glued on a white plate.


Let me guess why some of the them are still reluctant to change their vehicle registration plates that does not conform to the standard ?

1. I seldom go into town. A case of he wants to play “hide & seek” or cat and mouse.

2. Most people will say how can you say that their vehicle registration plate do not comply with the JPJ specification? It's a new vehicle from the car dealer and  the vehicle registration will usually be completed by the dealer. So is mine's.

3. It's just a FAD that will go away but what if  this time JPJ mean business! We are getting Serious! No more Mr. Nice Guy!

4. My car plate is original plate. One thing puzzled me is why the company who actually make the number plate failed to follow the rules set by JPJ ?

5. There are still many drivers have not changed their number plate, so what's the rush? Most  of these people are not ready to hit the panic button just yet.

Definitely not acceptable.  Some of these plates are extremely hard to read from even a short distance.Plates must be readable in daylight and night.  Owners may not use decorative or fancy fonts.

Most owners number plate failed to conform to certain minor legal specifications,  eg. having an incorrect spacing of its letters or numbers but everything has to go by the book. JPJ standards dictate that the gaps between letters are 10mm. Spacing between alphabet and number groups is 30mm. Height and width are 70mm and 40mm respectively with a thickness of 10mm.

Taking action against motorists with fancy plates and difficult to read plates will also help the police to effectively combat crime, as plates with small or fancy numbers make it hard for the police to read and might thus allow criminals flee.

A simple change in letter spacing can make 13 look like B or 8. The letter O can look like D, 12 can look like 15 and the letter S can get confused with the number 5.

This might not work as most of us knows criminals can easily buy new -conforming number plates to disguise a car they have stolen but it does serve purpose in  identify and track vehicles involved in hit and run accidents or imposing a penalty upon the owner of a vehicle for traffic violations. (One example is speeding )

Do pressed metal number plates comply with the regulations?

Will Malaysian car one day reverted back to that past practice fitted with pressed metal number plates? Perhaps the best way is for JPJ to provide the number plates. That way we can have some sort of standardization.

Perhaps the JPJ take a cue from Indiana Jones. No ticket! funny scene.

This scene was a classic. The passengers probably figured if he'd throw an SS officer out the window for not having a ticket, he would have no hesitation to do it to a civilian. Now every passengers will start taking him seriously when he asked for tickets inspection.

Most owners still taking a Wait and See Attitude toward the Legal requirements for displaying their number plate. People can only take it seriously if there is  regulatory inspection and enforcement on the regulations.

Presently, I still see more than 90 per cent of vehicle registration plates on the road do not meet the specifications stipulated by the Road Transport Department (JPJ). Either the crackdown was running out of steam or it just began to heat up?

I'm not taking any chances. My mom always said there is an old Chinese saying, “government officials have two mouths" --> 官字两个口..you can't win them.

The long arm of the law is bound to catch you if you violate the law.

What I would like to see the Road Transport Department (JPJ) do next is to stop these young students riding motorcycles to school  without the proper license class. Most would ride freely without wearing a helmet and this has been going on forever till someone put a stop to this  before a tragedy happens.