Holograms Secure Number Plates in Tasmania

The government of the Australian island state of Tasmania is planning to make car number plates more secure with the decision to incorporate new holographic markings into their design.

Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Michael Ferguson, said that ‘directional security marks’ will be embedded into automotive registration plates when they are made, so that they can’t be removed physically or chemically.

‘This means it will be nearly impossible for fraudulent plates to be made, making identification of illegal plates much easier,’ said Mr Ferguson.

There are a number of reasons some people may want to make unauthorised reproduction or fake plates but in general it’s for illicit reasons to avoid identification.

The markings on the licence plates are designed to appear similar to the holographic authentication marks on driving licences. On the car number plates, the symbols are embedded in the retro-reflective sheeting used in making authentic number plates.

Vehicle licence plate© Minister for Infrastructure and Transport

‘They are visible to a viewer standing about two metres behind a vehicle looking down to the rear plate but disappear when the viewer moves to one side or the other from the viewing position,’ explained Mr Ferguson.

‘Importantly, the marks are verifiable in diffuse daylight and by retro-reflected light at night,’ he continued.

Initially the marks will be applied to regular vehicle and trailer plates as well as government vehicle plates and the ministry is currently exploring the logistics of applying them to custom and personalised plates.

There is increasing applied optics research activity to protect licence plates from fraud. In the recent ODDS Conference (17 – 19 April) Swiss security inks company, SICPA, presented a new approach to identifying vehicle plates, using liquid crystal technology directly applied to the plate substrate via a transfer foil. Worldwide, incidents involving illegal licence plates are increasing. Criminals are hiding their identities by using counterfeited, forged, or stolen licence plates on their motor vehicles. While there are existing solutions to secure licence plates, SICPA’s paper at ODDS outlined how liquid crystal technology is being used to identify fake licence plates from a distance.

Importantly, in the case of Tasmania, the new security feature will not increase the cost of new plates for the owner.

Vehicle licence plate (© Minister for Infrastructure
and Transport).