Seems to me EU has more or less standardized their plates and even non-EU countries copy their style to an extent (Montenegro). Why then do some opt for yellow plates (thinking of the Netherlands, Luxemburg, UK).
28 comments
Because they’re easier to read than their white counterparts, especially at night.
In the UK it’s a safety feature – the front plates are white and the back plates are yellow so that you can immediately tell if a car is coming towards you or moving away.
Also yellow is the most visible colour on the spectrum – it’s why critical warning signage is always yellow.
For the Netherlands: they did research into it and it had visibility advantages over other alternatives. Back when the yellow ones were introduced in the mid 1970s (coming from the dark blue you can still see on Dutch classic cars) it was a lot more varied across Europe anyhow. Later on when the EU plates got standardised white had indeed become the norm, but given that the yellow plates have no technical disadvantages they could stay.
[deleted]
In Sweden a yellow license plate means it’s a Taxi, a black plate with yellow text is a military vehicle.
So we have an easier time identifying who not get stuck behind on the autobahn
In Austria our traditional white-on-black plates were phased out in the early 90s and replaced with black-on-white ones, which was portrayed as inevitable at the time due to European standardization. So I’m also curious why some countries kept (or were allowed to keep) their black-on-yellow license plates.
In Poland you can have yellow plates if you own a “historical” vehicle – specifically, it needs to be older than 25 years and not be manufactured for at least 15. It guarantees you cheaper insurance, but apparently also increases the car value. And few other privileges.
While regular Danish cars have white license plates, yellow plates are used on vans, trailers and trucks (and then there are the vans allowed for private use that have the white/yellow “parrot plate”).
I think yellow is mainly used to distinguish them for regular privately owned cars which fall under a different (more expensive) tax scheme.
Norway similarly have green plates for vans.
Italian old plates were square on the back and the tiniest rectangle for the front, white on black.
Not thinking about visibility much.
The EU doesn’t have standardized license plates whatsoever.
The only standardized thing is the blue EU band on the left.
Material, color, combinations, sizes and all other things are national standards.
In Finland yellow plates are
1. Test plates. Used for testing purposes
2. Tractor, snowmobiles and work equipment
3. Finnish Defence Forces vehicles.
The Netherlands switched to yellow plates in the mid to late 70’s ( it was voluntary from 1975 and later became standard) , the idea at the time was these were more visible than white plates and there’s like contradicting research on what’s actually best since apparently.
By now people also identify with the plates it’s like a national symbol defacto because you can sort of see where in Europe people are from and we are one of the yellow plates, Belgians are red on white , Brits don’t have raised lettering and a different font , Luxemburg has shorter numbers , Germans have city codes etc.
Yellow plates are for commercial vehicles here. That’s about it.
There is a joke saying that if you fail your driving exam three times, you get yellow plates.
Jokes aside…reading the comments is of course very educating.
I austria we use different colours only for the purpose. Green, blue and red. The very old ones are still black with white letters.
In Poland, yellow plates means the car is registered as a relic/antique.
The design of EU number plates is a standardized format, but indeed there are still difference between member states. Belgium has white plates with red letters, But the red has become darker and the format of the plate is now also standardizes. They used to be much narrower.
tradition, and no real reason to change them. people will tell you that some color combination is better or worse for visibility, and they might be correct, but nowadays the differences are pretty much irrelevant.
Because the Dutch and Luxembourgers refuse to gonto a less clear, safe practical license plate.
Better question. Why do so many countries use the inferior white plates?
Danish plates:
– White with black numbers/letters: Private cars and MC
– Yellow with black numbers/letters: Commercial vehicles
– Blue with white numbers/letters: Embassy cars
– Green with black numbers/letters: Vehicles without any taxes, not allowed on public roads (mainly used in airport)
– Quarter yellow, three quarters white with black numbers/letters: Commercial vehicles with extra tax, allowed to be used privately.
Tax categories: blue is embassies that don’t pay tax, yellow is company cars that are not in private use, they pay less tax, a yellow and white 1/3 – 2/3 is a mixed use company owned car they pay a bit more. Some organizations have their own plates, like some fire departments but not all, and the Royal garage, which don’t pay tax and can put want they want on the plate. And then the rest of us that pay taxes get them in white with a pretty red trim, either with or without the EU flag. Those that wants to pay extra taxes can choose their own letter or numbers. That is very few that chose to pay extra tax…
It is all really simple and logical… 🤷
In the U.K. we have white plates on the front of the car and yellow on the back, both with black text. My dad told me that it was easier to identify which end of the car you’re looking at: I was a gullible kid, and it’s stuck with me.
Because we love our yellow plates. Driving into Luxembourg as a Dutchy and seeing the yellow plates makes me feel at home there.
In Denmark yellow plates means commercial vehicle, white is private. Plates with a third of it coloured yellow, two thirds white means a “commercial style vehicle” (think vans and trucks) registered to a private individual.
Norway has a similar system with white for private vehicles, and green for commercial vehicles.
In The U.K. we mostly have white license plates at the front of the vehicle and yellow at the back of the vehicle. Apparently white at the front provides the best visibility and legibility for oncomming traffic to see and yellow at the back makes it more easy to read at night or low light
28 comments
Because they’re easier to read than their white counterparts, especially at night.
In the UK it’s a safety feature – the front plates are white and the back plates are yellow so that you can immediately tell if a car is coming towards you or moving away.
Also yellow is the most visible colour on the spectrum – it’s why critical warning signage is always yellow.
Personally I think we should bring back the old [black and silver plates](https://images.app.goo.gl/wTV3afdmshgDQgSs6), but hey ho…
For the Netherlands: they did research into it and it had visibility advantages over other alternatives. Back when the yellow ones were introduced in the mid 1970s (coming from the dark blue you can still see on Dutch classic cars) it was a lot more varied across Europe anyhow. Later on when the EU plates got standardised white had indeed become the norm, but given that the yellow plates have no technical disadvantages they could stay.
[deleted]
In Sweden a yellow license plate means it’s a Taxi, a black plate with yellow text is a military vehicle.
So we have an easier time identifying who not get stuck behind on the autobahn
In Austria our traditional white-on-black plates were phased out in the early 90s and replaced with black-on-white ones, which was portrayed as inevitable at the time due to European standardization. So I’m also curious why some countries kept (or were allowed to keep) their black-on-yellow license plates.
In Poland you can have yellow plates if you own a “historical” vehicle – specifically, it needs to be older than 25 years and not be manufactured for at least 15. It guarantees you cheaper insurance, but apparently also increases the car value. And few other privileges.
While regular Danish cars have white license plates, yellow plates are used on vans, trailers and trucks (and then there are the vans allowed for private use that have the white/yellow “parrot plate”).
I think yellow is mainly used to distinguish them for regular privately owned cars which fall under a different (more expensive) tax scheme.
Norway similarly have green plates for vans.
Italian old plates were square on the back and the tiniest rectangle for the front, white on black.
Not thinking about visibility much.
https://www.licenseplatespics.com/images/i/ita/italy-33-.jpg
The EU doesn’t have standardized license plates whatsoever.
The only standardized thing is the blue EU band on the left.
Material, color, combinations, sizes and all other things are national standards.
In Finland yellow plates are
1. Test plates. Used for testing purposes
2. Tractor, snowmobiles and work equipment
3. Finnish Defence Forces vehicles.
The Netherlands switched to yellow plates in the mid to late 70’s ( it was voluntary from 1975 and later became standard) , the idea at the time was these were more visible than white plates and there’s like contradicting research on what’s actually best since apparently.
By now people also identify with the plates it’s like a national symbol defacto because you can sort of see where in Europe people are from and we are one of the yellow plates, Belgians are red on white , Brits don’t have raised lettering and a different font , Luxemburg has shorter numbers , Germans have city codes etc.
Yellow plates are for commercial vehicles here. That’s about it.
There is a joke saying that if you fail your driving exam three times, you get yellow plates.
Jokes aside…reading the comments is of course very educating.
I austria we use different colours only for the purpose. Green, blue and red. The very old ones are still black with white letters.
In Poland, yellow plates means the car is registered as a relic/antique.
The design of EU number plates is a standardized format, but indeed there are still difference between member states. Belgium has white plates with red letters, But the red has become darker and the format of the plate is now also standardizes. They used to be much narrower.
Edit: you can find an example here:
[https://prod-img.hbvl.be/public/nieuws/tx0upe-d6c875eb8a9e26eeec73e36d215df58f4eb4e37dcaf4298d5425c05d69975a73.jpg/alternates/THREE_TWO_1620/d6c875eb8a9e26eeec73e36d215df58f4eb4e37dcaf4298d5425c05d69975a73.jpg](https://prod-img.hbvl.be/public/nieuws/tx0upe-d6c875eb8a9e26eeec73e36d215df58f4eb4e37dcaf4298d5425c05d69975a73.jpg/alternates/THREE_TWO_1620/d6c875eb8a9e26eeec73e36d215df58f4eb4e37dcaf4298d5425c05d69975a73.jpg)
So it’s still red, which I think is unique, but it has the EU design now.
In Germany it’s a common joke to say that you get a yellow license plate when you fail your practical driving exam three times.
because how otherwise would everybody know to gtfo of our way?
In my country (Hungary) as far as I know yellow plate is exclusively used by taxis (both front and back plate is yellow).
You can also see some green plates here [(example)](https://images.app.goo.gl/SfUK4iZoLPauZbEdA) these are used by zero CO2 emission vehicles.
tradition, and no real reason to change them. people will tell you that some color combination is better or worse for visibility, and they might be correct, but nowadays the differences are pretty much irrelevant.
Because the Dutch and Luxembourgers refuse to gonto a less clear, safe practical license plate.
Better question. Why do so many countries use the inferior white plates?
Danish plates:
– White with black numbers/letters: Private cars and MC
– Yellow with black numbers/letters: Commercial vehicles
– Blue with white numbers/letters: Embassy cars
– Green with black numbers/letters: Vehicles without any taxes, not allowed on public roads (mainly used in airport)
– Quarter yellow, three quarters white with black numbers/letters: Commercial vehicles with extra tax, allowed to be used privately.
Tax categories: blue is embassies that don’t pay tax, yellow is company cars that are not in private use, they pay less tax, a yellow and white 1/3 – 2/3 is a mixed use company owned car they pay a bit more. Some organizations have their own plates, like some fire departments but not all, and the Royal garage, which don’t pay tax and can put want they want on the plate. And then the rest of us that pay taxes get them in white with a pretty red trim, either with or without the EU flag. Those that wants to pay extra taxes can choose their own letter or numbers. That is very few that chose to pay extra tax…
It is all really simple and logical… 🤷
In the U.K. we have white plates on the front of the car and yellow on the back, both with black text. My dad told me that it was easier to identify which end of the car you’re looking at: I was a gullible kid, and it’s stuck with me.
https://www.demonplates.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=9035471712&gbraid=0AAAAACgPB4AC32jlV6z0O_HYZ10JwJO0M&gclid=CjwKCAjw87XBBhBIEiwAxP3_A-VtU8TlpaFlp5mndORrGDLxT77smh3xqzSeg3HLmoz74TFYxwR5qxoCbu4QAvD_BwE
Really old, vintage cars might have black plates with silver/white text.
https://www.classicplatesonline.co.uk/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21323573512&gbraid=0AAAAADvEyA1DlYbbp8I8ri7Vh7cE7d5UA&gclid=CjwKCAjw87XBBhBIEiwAxP3_A0z4aRIcRp3ZUtlorKr-EAgI9NSplDkHZNhM2ggNTPjLITRIdayPiRoCaY4QAvD_BwE
Because we love our yellow plates. Driving into Luxembourg as a Dutchy and seeing the yellow plates makes me feel at home there.
In Denmark yellow plates means commercial vehicle, white is private. Plates with a third of it coloured yellow, two thirds white means a “commercial style vehicle” (think vans and trucks) registered to a private individual.
Norway has a similar system with white for private vehicles, and green for commercial vehicles.
In The U.K. we mostly have white license plates at the front of the vehicle and yellow at the back of the vehicle. Apparently white at the front provides the best visibility and legibility for oncomming traffic to see and yellow at the back makes it more easy to read at night or low light