For the first time in Iran, the number ‘zero’ will figure in the license plates of cars in Tehran.
When the first car entered the country in 1926, no one could have envisaged that 90 years later they would see such a massive growth in registration plates with a combination of 7-digit numbers and letters. The 4-digit numbers of that time were found inadequate to number all vehicles in the capital, given the increasing vehicular ownership, Alef News Agency reported.
The first registration plates had a 4-digit numerical code and the name of the city. But gradually, with the growing number of cars, 5-digit codes replaced them. A few decades later, 2-digit area codes replaced the name of cities on number plates.
About a decade ago, new national plates were designed. This time officials increased the numerical capacity to 61 million, by changing the order of numbers and adding different colors and letters to the registration system.
The new license plates were designed in four different colors (white, yellow, green and red) and 11 different types for 11 different classification of vehicles: private cars, private cars of people with disabilities, motorcycles, taxis, public vehicles, agricultural cars, government cars, protocol cars, police (NAJA) vehicles, classic vehicles and other vehicles (political, service, and temporary passage).
Area Code
In these plates there is an area code (2 digit number) in a square box at right which represents the regional code. As an example, 11-22-33-44-55-66-77-88-99-21-38-68-78 are codes for Tehran and Alborz provinces.
But as the codes for numbering of new vehicles in the capital are running out, General Taqi Mehri, Iran’s traffic police chief, announced that the number “zero” will be added to Tehran area codes.
“We won’t have any problem for registration of new cars in the capital as we have decided to add the new codes 10-20-30-40-50-60-70-80-90 to the current list of Tehran area codes,” he said.
Although the new measure can help address the problem of registration of new cars, “it could also cause problems for police and citizens.”
Critics of the plan believe using ‘zero’ in license plates can increase the risk of fraud “as zero can be changed to other numbers easily.”
“In designing the number for car license plates we will make all efforts to minimize the risk of fraud,” said General Teymour Hosseini, Tehran’s traffic police chief, in response to critics.
