all about car plates

[Carsten Schermuly]

All over the world are found car plates collectors and in our times of fasten intercontinental flights, we will meet from time to time car plates of other countries, we could be interested in what they do say. So I thought, this were a theme you might like.

See WikiPedia as introduction?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plate

Please note near end
"See also"
examples by a country selection
and
"External links"
e. g. "Photographs taken by Olav Arne Brekke of license plates from around the world"
http://www.olavsplates.com/



German car plates
will get four patches, two will be identic, one in front and one in back. They do show a towns or a counties sign (Germany is splitted to sixteen countries and to hundred counties) and the leading characters on plate will name the related town or county. The other both patches will signalize the time point when a car needs next technical inspection, technical control. On back plate the upper patch means the main control (brakes, steering elements, doors, rust and other corrosion etc = security, in two year intervals, except new cars, they got first three years free) on front plate the upper patch means gas emissions control also in time intervals of two years, this time points could differ from time points of main controls.

D = Deutschland, Germany,
NOM = Northeim, the county we do live in, named after the town Northeim im southern Niedersachsen, Lower Saxony,
NT 662 = counters

The white jumping horse on red ground is the enblem of Lower Saxony and the enblem of its capitol town Hannover, both are identic, but will have different historic backgrounds. The enblem of Lower Saxony has to do with the town Braunschweig and its Dukes, as the mightiest and richest town of the present area of Lower Saxony in early medieval times. The enblem of Hannover has to do with the history of the horse race Hannoveraner.

The car of Ruth's best friend, Mrs. Elisabeth Batholomäus, front.
The upper patch - gas emissions control.

http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04haug__/dscf0011a.jpg
large copy
http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04haug__/dscf0011c.jpg


The car of Ruth's best friend, Mrs. Elisabeth Batholomäus, back.
The upper patch - tec main control.

http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04haug__/dscf0020a.jpg
large copy
http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04haug__/dscf0020c.jpg


Example from WikiPedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Plate-KA-PA777.JPG

KA = Karlsruhe, capitol town of the former country Baden (before 1871, before the Deutsches Reich was founded by Chancellor Fürst Otto von Bismarck). Badens enblem shows three Lions under a crown. Today Baden is part of the country Baden - Württemberg, its capitol is Stuttgart.

See a german speaking list of german car plates on WikiPedia
short version
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Kfz-Kennzeichen_in_Deutschland
detailed version
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_aller_Kfz-Kennzeichen_der_Bundesrepublik_Deutschland

See the english talking page "description of german car plates" on WikiPedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_car_number_plates

[Carsten Schermuly]

A curiosity - ride a car without a drivers license and without regular car plates on public roads and streets in Germany.

The lokomitve and the waggons of this train do underlay like every car or truck technical security control and gas emissions control. It does not need car plates, it will be enaugh, the driver can show the cars and waggon papers in case of a police stop, a traffic control. The mystery is its top speed, it can not run faster than 6 km/h by a proofed technical restriction of its gear box - the speed of pedestrians, ~4 mi/h. Once a driver does not like to stop, policemen could get the car easily by foot, so the car does not need identification by plates.


http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04fjun06/dscf0019a.jpg
large copy
http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04fjun06/dscf0019c.jpg


http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04fjun06/dscf0020a.jpg
large copy
http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04fjun06/dscf0020c.jpg


http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04fjun06/dscf0025a.jpg
large copy
http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04fjun06/dscf0025c.jpg


http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04fjun06/dscf0026a.jpg
large copy
http://haufenzeug.de/cs/fuji1300/04fjun06/dscf0026c.jpg


The round plate "6 Km" on back is an official document.

Years ago some gentlemen must give back their drivers licenses because alcohol (also in hard cases for life time!) or for other reasons (not able to ride a car because physic or psychic health problems), prepared a car to top speed 6 km/h - and have been a serious hinderance and danger for others in traffic. After some spectacular accidents we got a new law, asking for the reason, why an owner of a speed restricted car wants to get the "round plate - papers". In this case, the train will fall under a special car category - and I guess, the owner got it without any difficulties.

Buses or trucks, normally resticted to 80 km/h, can get exceptions "round car plate" in addition to regular car plates "100 Km." There are more exceptions, e. g. 25 or 40 km/h for vehicles for handycapped people.

[Anne and Dwayne Hood]

Carsten, that is very interesting. If you go on a trip, do you still have to drive as slow as pedestrians walk?

[Carsten Schermuly]

If you go on a trip, do you still have to drive as slow as pedestrians walk?As I know you, you are joking, right? You make me smile.

No, in case you do enter Germany and you like to ride a car, your US - american drivers license will do it for some months. As I know, for a half year (Tourist - Visum max three months). In case, you do stay for a longer time, you have to transwrite to a german drivers license, this needs to stand some tests, a theoretic and a practic test, and an eye sight test (with or without glasses does not matter, in case of glasses, you will get a mark in license, then you must wear glasses while riding a car with the exact dioptrin level you need). Such tests are held in foreigners mothertongues, it does not need to learn German, traffic plates do show pictograms, no text (In the US e. g. "If workers are present ..."), easy to understand for everybody, also for legasthenic or analphabetic drivers. There are some small exceptions like "bei Nässe". A round white mainplate with warning red border shows "60" or "80" for speed limit and a smaller subplate with a thin black border will tell the reason, "bei Nässe". (naß = wet / bei Nässe = while raining) because aqua planing.
--- edited --- Turn it, then it means, "while dry weather no speed limit", OK?

Pedestrians speed is a possibility to make things simplier, easier - e. g. to ride a selfdriving lawn mover does not need a drivers license, but then the lawn mover must run slowly, an untrained driver could cause an accident once it could run faster. This will meet also some farmers or construction engines. Still the engines need a certificate to be sure, will have the needed brake power, lamps, stop lights, blinking lamps to show a wanted direction, a seat with belt, sure enaugh to alive an accident (in case another one crashes his car against such engine or so) etc.

Law tells also, speed limit will be "in general" pedestrians speed, in zones, marked by plates, e. g. on cemeteries or in parks around hospitals, definition is not "6 km/h" (no tacho is able to show exact speed slower than 2o km/h), definition is "as slow, that the needle of tacho does not move", no matter, this could be also 10 km/h - it means just "extreme slow".

[Hans Deventer]

Such tests are held in foreigners mothertongues, it does not need to learn German,

Wow. Could I do such a test in Dutch, Carsten? That is great service!

[Carsten Schermuly]

Plates with a lower priority do have another size and will not show Red as a warning colour. See in first photo with the train at right the boy with ice cone, behind him is a main plate, showing a green H on yellow ground and a smaller subplate with text. ("H" = Haltestelle / halt = stop / die Stelle = the place) It is a busstop, in this case for a school bus line (says the sub plate). Inside the marked bus stop area (marked by downsunken or reset border stones or by white lines or by the word "bus" painted on ground) will it be not allowed to stop a car or to park it (stop and leaving). Once the subplate tells "Mo. - Fr. 7.00 - 14.00" (14.00 = two o'clock in afternoon) the restriction is only in power for the named time - the time of school bus traffic. Outside this time it were allowed to use the bus stop area like other public street areas.

[Carsten Schermuly]

Dear Hans,

as a member of the Common Europe your drivers license is as good as a german drivers license. You never need to transwrite it and no matter how long you do like to ride a car inside Germany.

The tests in other languages are held in any living language. It has a social background - same rights for everybody. Refugees from Lebanon - should they walk by foot - just because drivers license tests are held in german? So they will get it in their mother tongue. Or think to the many turkish workers, living with their families in Germany. They must be able to understand enaugh words for their jobs or so - but they have the same rights to live here like anybody under the very same circumstances. So they can do such official things in their mothertongue.

--- edited --- It were another thing, to like to get german citizenship, the international status to be german. Than it is needed to be able to talk, to read and to write german. This will be proofed - in a test row similar to scholars years end tests "history facts, geographic facts, economy facts, civil law (just a small selection of the most important laws), the text of national anthem, to agree to democratic basics etc". It looks nearby to be the same methods and celebrations the US will use for immigrants.

[Carsten Schermuly]

sidewalk

Right now I must think to Babylon. It is the will of the Lord to give the world his order. Every folk got its own language and living area. By our multicultural democratic sight we do lift up the Lords orders. Internationalism is not as good as we do think as it will be. At least our social thinking does teach, it were no more needed to ask the Lord, "give us our daily bread".