License Plate Barcode?

[Mopsus]

I live in Indiana. Our license plates have a UPC type barcode which is longer than the UPC codes one typically sees at the grocery store.

The plate barcodes are located at the bottom of our license plates. That code is then followed by a sequence of numbers that appear unrelated to the "big" numbers on the main body of the plate than can be easily seen by others.

Anyone else have a barcode on their state's plate?

Does anyone know the purpose of the barcode? Initially, I though fraud avoidance, but then isn't that the reason for unique "big" numbers and letters on your plate? I've never seen a cop with a barcode reader handy when he pulls someone over.

Finally, what can one store on a bar code? Is it a number based system exclusively or can you store information as well?

 

[OptionsTrader]

Are you sure that it is not removable? Perhaps it was just for internal inventory control.

Indiana BMV does not show a barcode on the plate.
http://www.in.gov/bmv/3722.htm

 

[Mopsus]

Are you sure that it is not removable? Perhaps it was just for internal inventory control.

Indiana BMV does not show a barcode on the plate.
http://www.in.gov/bmv/3722.htm

Nope. It is part of the design of the aluminum plate.

 

[Mopsus]

It's just below the "www.IN.gov."

 

[Mopsus]

Sorry for the repeated posts. The edit feature doesn't seem to work.

I have the old green 2008 plates which are replaced by the 2009 "generic" blue or the "In God We Trust" plates.

Anyone have one of those two 2009 plates and verify a barcode?

 

[angelatc]

IIRC, the old green license plate had a bar code in the grass / green part.

That plate came out in the first part of the decade, and they said the bar code was to make processing easier (ie: registering a new vehicle, and distributing the plates within their system.)

 

[ConstitutionGal]

Tennessee just started putting barcodes on our plates in 2007. I saw a film clip a year or so ago where the police were driving down streets and through parking lots with this radar looking device that would 'read' information off these new license plates in an instant while the cops were still driving and flash a message on the screen if the automobile was registered to someone that had a warrant out for them. It was on some mainstream show like 20/20 or something similar although I can't remember which one for sure now (it's been a year or a little more since I saw it). We're getting into another area of surveilance where 'if you haven't done anything then you have nothing to worry about'........just getting folks accustomed to being traced where ever they go...

 

[Mopsus]

The blue 2009 plates have them as well.