Important warning to drivers from Minister Çiftçi: My advice is for those using this type of license plate to change them immediately

Minister of Interior Mustafa Çiftçi evaluated the agenda and answered questions on a special TRT Haber broadcast.

Highlights from Minister Çiftçi's statements regarding license plates are as follows:

We see a standard license plate on the screens now. For example, this is a standard plate printed by the Chamber of Drivers. The elements that should be on a standard plate are also visible on the screen. For example, there must be a seal, a wavy strip, a reflective surface—we call it a reflector—that must be present. After the changes in 2024, there are features that must be on a plate, such as a TR hologram, a QR code, and a flag hologram. This is a plate that complies with standards and rules. As you know, the authority to print license plates has also been given to the Chamber of Drivers.

Now, some plates deviate from this standard. For example, you see in an image that the Chamber of Drivers itself has posted a notice. It says, "Custom-molded plate printing is available." You go to the Chamber of Drivers to have a plate printed, and you are offered two choices. One is a standard plate, and the other is a plate that deviates from this, written with slightly thicker letters or numbers. This is also printed by the Chamber of Drivers. This is the second type of plate. There is also a third type of plate printed by a Chamber of Drivers. We cannot show that on the screen.

As the Ministry of Interior, the General Directorate of Security, and the General Command of Gendarmerie, we accept standard or non-standard plates printed by the Chamber of Drivers. Why? Because the citizen went to the Chamber of Drivers, was offered two options to get a plate, and chose one of them. All security elements and the seal are present on this plate. The citizen chose according to their preference—one is cheaper, the other is slightly more expensive. We do not find it fair to punish people, drivers, or vehicle owners for this, because the Chamber of Drivers provided them with this opportunity, this choice.

The real problem is the plate where, for example, the numbers are different, it is not described this way in the regulation, and as you can see on this plate, there is no seal. You can have this printed at any signmaker, advertising firm, or by ordering online. It has no seal, no QR code, no security marks, and no spacing between the characters. What is the drawback of this? The drawback is this: these plates can be used in terrorist acts, in drug trafficking, and in irregular migration incidents or smuggling. Because EDS (Electronic Inspection Systems) or PTS (License Plate Recognition Systems) cannot read or identify these plates. Therefore, since it has been determined that these are used in crimes, the legislator has attached a certain sanction or penalty to them. The fine for this is 140 thousand liras.

"THIS IS NOT A REAL LICENSE PLATE"

The law came into effect on February 27. We had given a deadline until April 1 so that our citizens would not be victimized, as they flocked to the Chambers of Drivers, notaries, and traffic branches all at once. As I said, there is no problem with the other plates. Those obtained from the Chambers of Drivers are fine, but the APP plates I showed earlier, which do not carry any security elements and have no seal, had to be changed as of today. Therefore, my advice to our drivers and vehicle owners is to change their plates immediately if they are using such APP plates. The steps to change them are as follows: since these are fake plates, they need to go to law enforcement and enter a lost plate report. Because this is not a real license plate.

A lost plate report is entered. From there, you go to a notary and apply for a new plate. Then, you go to the chambers affiliated with the Turkey Drivers and Automobile Federation, the Chamber of Drivers, to have a standard plate printed and attached to your vehicle. If done this way, both our citizens will be satisfied, and we will not have caused them any hardship. Therefore, I kindly request my citizens who use APP plates to change their plates. Because this is not a good-faith use.

It is a matter of public order and security. Sometimes we have heard in society that a traffic fine was written to a citizen's plate in a city they had never even visited. Why? Someone copies your plate—we call it a twin plate. They attach it to their vehicle, go elsewhere, and violate traffic rules, and a traffic fine comes in your name even though you have no fault or sin. Now I ask: who would be happy if something like this happened to them? That is, someone else uses your plate, and you are faced with a traffic fine because of it.

During my time as the Governor of Erzurum, I encountered such an incident, and it was reflected in the local press. A citizen from Erzurum was fined in Artvin, even though he had never been there. It even damaged his relationship with his wife. Like, "What were you doing in Artvin?" and so on. As I said, this is a regulation brought about entirely for public order and security, and also to ensure that our citizens are not subjected to such unjust and unlawful treatment.

One of the issues causing unrest in society was about sound systems. Citizens generally adopted the other traffic regulations, finding them appropriate. That is, it found a response in the public conscience, but I want to make a statement about multimedia systems, or as they are called, multi-environment systems. This is one of the issues causing confusion. The law states that a regulation will be made regarding this. The basis here, the principle taken as a basis, is this: regarding display systems, it should not affect the driver's field of vision. This is the subject we call screen systems, music systems, sound and image systems. Secondly, it should not distract the driver.

Both of these must be realized. Of course, it is stated in the law that it will be regulated by a regulation. Our work on the regulation is currently ongoing. We will issue the regulation regarding these screen systems, sound and image systems by the end of April. Therefore, until we issue the regulation, we will continue to provide guidance to our citizens on this matter. That is, we will not impose any fines in any way.

We will determine which image and sound systems are against the law in the regulation in a clear, understandable, net, and objective way, and then we will probably issue our regulation around May and start implementing it. As I said, our guidance work regarding image systems will continue until the regulation is issued. It is useful to know that this issue is important because there was confusion. Which screens block the view, that is, the angle of view, and which ones do not?

I mean, I also see sometimes in vehicles, for example, tablets installed later. They are quite large. The driver is watching a match, a series on it. They are downloading videos from social media, for example, and watching them. I mean, they are driving a vehicle on one hand and watching those on the other. Is it possible for such a driver not to be distracted? Aren't the vast majority of accidents caused by a momentary lack of attention anyway? Therefore, the legislator felt the need to regulate these to prevent this as well. So, these will also be regulated by the regulation. Again, our goal is the same: to reduce loss of life. Even if it is just one, if we can reduce even one loss of life, we will consider ourselves successful in this regard. The reason for all our regulations is entirely aimed at this.

News Source: 12punto