Number games are not something for which only politicos have a proclivity.

Vehicle owners in the City too indulge in them when it comes to their number plates. Most of them do it for the thrill of it, that is, for the visual aesthetics of their number plates. Never mind that it comes at the cost of deviation from the standard specifications mandated by the Motor Vehicles Act

Cases registered against defective number plates in the City have been increasing at a steady pace (see box).

So strong is the lure of sporting numbers in myriad fonts and hues on plates of all shapes and sizes that the police are at a loss when it comes to controlling the trend. Trebling the punitive fine from Rs 100 to Rs 300 has done little to deter vehicle owners from indulging in number games.

In an effort to curb the rising trend of fancy number plates, the Bangalore City police hope to join hands with the Regional Transport Department to explore the possibility of framing stringent rules to clamp down heavily on these offenders.

Heavy fine

"Only a heavy fine can help control the situation. It's stylish today to sport a fancy number plate which is coloured and has weird fonts. This happens largely due to ignorance. People don't know the existing rules and regulations of registration and number plates," Additional Commissioner of Police and Commissioner of Traffic and Road Safety K C Ramamurthy told Metrolife.

He said the manufacturers too take advantage and lay accent on the style to market their products and the customers who are unaware of the rules, fall for it.

Ramamurthy felt that during registration, the RTO must issue a pamphlet on the rules and regulations regarding registration and number plates. This is not done, he added.

This reporter posed as a prospective buyer of a number plate and went around shops in the number plate business. Outlets at all three major shopping hubs for number plates in the City — Majestic, Shivajinagar and Chamarajpet — were founding flouting the norms with impunity. Besides the regular number plates, an assortment of sizes of number plates were available everywhere: eight mm wide, three mm wide and five mm wide to name a few.

Comes at a price

While a regular number plate comes at a price of Rs 250, the fancier ones cost anywhere between Rs 300 to Rs 900.

Number games besides being a fancy, are also a stratagem to circumvent the authorities on Motor Vehicles Act violations of a serious kind as well.

Those with out-of-state registration, are advised by these shops to go in for number plates with numerals and letters in Kannada to render their detection difficult. And this comes at a mere Rs 300.

"Our customers are young boys and girls who come in demanding that we make a stylish plate to suit their taste. They don't mind paying a few hundreds more," said a number plate manufacturer in Majestic.

He says the trend has been catching up and he makes nothing less than Rs 10,000 a month. At least 20 people (both two-wheelers and four-wheelers) come to him a day.

"Steel grey, glowing number plates and those with stylish fonts are popular. Some people want their names written on the plate, for that, we charge an extra Rs 100," said another manufacturer in Shivajinagar.

The manufacturers have improvised on the fonts as well. One could choose from Bahamas Hem, Artista, Balloon Extra, Mistral, Beame, Choc Ex, Creepy, Reporter Two, Exchemer Script, Bar Code and Post Crypt while the only acceptable font is Arial black. Fibre glass, which is used for number plates, is a violation. Only metallic plates are permissible.  

Sources in the Regional

Transport Department said they are aware of the problem and are trying their best to curb it through stringent enforcement. "We need stricter enforcement. It will be a while before we weed them out. The fear of fine and possibly a more severe form of punishment has to be decided," says the source.