As fun as sounds, how would it be to be asked by the police: did you get the emoji on the license plate of the car that hit you?
The world may not be prepared for this and it might not have even asked for it, but it seems that in Queensland, Australia, drivers will soon be able to customize their license plates with emojis, according to 7News Brisbane.
Next month, Personalised Plates Queensland will allow drivers to add one of five basic emojis to their plates. The emojis include crying laughing emoji, a winking face, the sunglasses emoji, a heart eyes face and a smiling face.
Drivers can now personalize their license plates with emojis
The state’s official license plate vendor, Personalised Plates Queensland (PPQ), is launching the option on March 1st, with preorders being already available.
PPQ already offers a range of personalization options, including colors, themes, and the logos of local sports teams. A spokeswoman for the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland, Rebecca Michael, told 7News Brisbane that offering emoji seemed like a natural extension.
“For quite some time we’ve seen that you can support your favorite team or your favourite town with a symbol on your number plate,” said Dr Michael. “And using an emoji is no different.”
You can’t just put any emoji on the license plate though. Drivers won’t be able to have plates that use only emoji. They’ll be constrained to just one emoji chosen from five options: a face-with-tears-of-joy (better known as the crying laughing emoji), sunglasses emoji, winking emoji, smiling emoji, and heart-eyes emoji. Just those, nothing too fancy apparently. The prices come at around $340.
But the question that needs to be answered is:
“How do you write down the emoji in your number plate after an accident”
Some have warned that the plates could be a distraction. “Clearly the government is trying to sex up number plates, with a view to making more money, and I can understand that,” Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts told publishers.
“But the purpose of number plates is for the police to be able to identify vehicles. How do you write down the emoji in your number plate after an accident?”
Given the difficulty that even the courts have the interpreting emoji, this isn’t an unwarranted fear.
The PPQ says that the emoji will not be part of the registration number and will act just as a decorative piece. In that case, they may even help identify drivers in emergencies. After all, it’s easier to remember a car with an obnoxious crying-laughing face on it than it is an alphanumeric.
