Weird License Plates

[Parthiban]

I was waiting in a queue at a traffic lights today and this car pulled up next to me. Its rear license plate was yellow as normal, but as the next car pulled up behind it and its headlights shone onto it, it turned white and became quite reflective........

Anyone know what was up with those plates?

[peter026]

At a guess they are the anti speed camera ones

[eXOBeX]

...and if a traffic cop pulls up behind you, you're nicked!

[Unregistered_User]

Correcto-mundo.... what type of car was it btw?

J

[Parthiban]

Hmmm, didn't realise they actually did anything - perhaps if you made the lights that illuminate the plate yellow, you might get away with it :P

It was a silver VW Polo btw........

[yemgi]

I was waiting in a queue at a traffic lights today and this car pulled up next to me. Its rear license plate was yellow as normal, but as the next car pulled up behind it and its headlights shone onto it, it turned white and became quite reflective........

Anyone know what was up with those plates?

Yep, these are reflective plates. On legal plates, the background film (white or yellow) has reflective pigments and the black film used for the letters is flat black so that with a flash the background illuminates and you can see the numbers more accurately. On these plates, the black film has the same reflective pigments as the background

[Parthiban]

Yep, these are reflective plates. On legal plates, the background film (white or yellow) has reflective pigments and the black film used for the letters is flat black so that with a flash the background illuminates and you can see the numbers more accurately. On these plates, the black film has the same reflective pigments as the background

Hmm, that is interesting - didn't realise it was as simple as that :)

But why did these yellow plates turn white when the light was shone on them?