The Department of Land Transport will soon stop issuing temporary red licence plates used on new cars before they are registered.
The move is part of a DLT proposal to combine the Land Transport and Motor Vehicle acts that is now being considered by the Council of State, the government's legal arm.
The proposed amendments and merger of the laws are aimed at introducing a more comprehensive and effectively enforced law, as well as preventing red plates from being used in offences including hit-and-runs, vehicle-tax evasion and serious crimes.
The red plates are issued by the DLT to car dealers for when they deliver new vehicles to customers. A red plate can be used while the owner of the new car is applying for DLT registration and waiting for the standard black and white plates. Their use is limited to one month or 3,000 kilometres.
By law, cars with red plates can only be used on public roads between 6am and 6pm, and are not allowed to travel to another province without permission from local DLT officials.
In practice, however, people who drive unregistered red-plate cars often violate the rules, due to lax enforcement by traffic police.
Under the new law, car dealers will be forced to register their cars with the DLT before delivering them to buyers with the permanent licence plates. As well, the new cars must also come with auto insurance and documents certifying the new condition of the vehicle.
Social media users on Wednesday welcomed the DLT's move, although some complained the agency should have done it long ago.
Facebook user Karun Tan said his friend drove a red-plate car for more than three years. "It was still red when he sold it," Karun Tan wrote.
Many car dealers who order red plates from the DLT complained they had run short, especially during the previous government's first-car tax incentive campaign, which boosted demand for new vehicles. The shortage is the main reason for the many fake red plates in circulation.
DLT authorities explained they had to limit the number of red plates issued to new car dealers to ensure they retrieved them from their customers, which would force the owners to register their cars within the required 30-day period. They acknowledged that some motorists have been driving with red plates for months or even years.