First our phone numbers got longer — now our licence plates will carry an extra digit.
Drivers will notice something different on Alberta’s streets this week as registry agents begin to distribute vehicle tags with seven characters.
The province has run out of combinations of three digits and three letters, requiring the need for a fourth number on all future plate configurations.
“It’s indicative of the fact that Alberta is growing,” said Service Alberta Minister Heather Klimchuk.
Licence plates are never reassigned or recycled to other drivers for security reasons, she said.
“If you do decide you want a new plate, you turn in your old one and the numbers are never given to anyone else. They are yours for life.”
Alberta’s three-letter, three-digit tags — which include a white plate, red numbers, floral graphic and the words Wild Rose Country — feature one of the oldest plate designs in North America. It was released in 1983 and replaced the old yellow plate with black characters.
Get breaking National news
But while the Stelmach government is moving forward with a new identification system, it has temporarily shelved a plan to revamp the design.
Klimchuk said Alberta can’t afford a facelift for licence plates when there are other spending priorities.
Beginning in 2007, more than 33,000 people took part in a consultation process on a new emblem, slogan, design and safety features.
- Alberta family navigates vacation death nightmare: ‘Basically stuck there’
- Nearly 30 years later, is Quebec headed for another independence referendum?
- 4 new measles cases in Quebec outbreak, experts warn of possible exposure
- Wrestling legend Sweet Daddy Siki remembered across Canada for his greatness
“It’s astounding how much people care about Alberta’s licence plates. We are very passionate about things, like colours and pictures,” said Klimchuk.
Albertans appear to support the idea of an overhaul, including the possibility of replacing the iconic wild rose emblem with an image of mountains or a prairie landscape.
Some are also in favour of a change from the familiar colour scheme to one including blue, green, yellow or white.
But there is no shortage of fiery opinions — especially when it comes to the controversial idea of front licence plates.
Drivers in the province — 80 per cent according to a government survey — are overwhelmingly opposed to them and the province has no plans to reintroduce them.
Front vehicle tags were scrapped by the government in 1991 for financial reasons because it costs about $8 million to produce them. Police departments initially protested the move, but have since adapted their law-enforcement efforts to focus on the rear of the vehicle, said Klimchuk.
Yet outrage over the very possibility that Alberta could return to a two-plate system has sparked the creation of a Facebook protest group with 832 members.
There has even been controversy over unfortunate choices in letter combinations.
In 2004, in the midst of the mad cow fallout, some 1,000 Alberta licence plates beginning with the letters BSE were manufactured and shipped out by the provincial government. Some vehicle owners refused to put them on their cars and the province ended up recalling many of them.
Alberta first required its residents to register their vehicles and display licence plates in 1912.
tgignac@theherald. canwest.com
Comments