Number Plate - White Front, Yellow Rear, Why?

[Bazza79]

Answers please???? Somebody must know??

[Bebee]

Cuz it looks nice.

[TheEnd]

Well, black on yellow has the highest contrast of two colours, better than black on white for reading, so I guess someone decided to make the reads easier to read at some stage.

Plus, if you have something like an Audi TT with clear rear lights, it helps you tell the front from the back

[varsas]

Buy a proper car, then it'll be black and silver both ends. Problem solved.

(always assumed it was so you could easily tell which way the car was pointing)

[Codswallop]

In Malta, they had white plates all round for privately owned cars, and yellow plates all round for rentals. White with yellow therefore, must show that half the car is leased.

[U T]

So at a glance you can tell if it's coming towards you or going away. That was the initial theory behind it.

[LuS1fer]

I would guess it's because you can only show a white light to the front (the ambers are creeping in but it has always been white) and it has maximum reflectivity with the lights on.

you're not allowed to show a white light to the rear so a white plate was never viable and red was largely for lights and reflectors so I imagine yellow was the next best thing and the eye is probbaly less sensitive to the reflective properties of yellow.

[Bursar]

TheEnd said:

Plus, if you have something like an Audi TT with clear rear lights, it helps you tell the front from the back

I was going to say the same thing about Porsches!

[TheEnd]