‘R plates’ hit the road in Australia
New blue plates are designed to alert motorists of drivers recovering from road traumaLocal car maintenance provider mycar Tyre and Auto has launched a new ‘R’ plate for drivers recovering from road trauma as a way of letting other motorists know they could use some extra care or consideration in traffic.
Unveiled this week, the R plates denote the driver’s ‘return’ to the road and are a similar size to existing L and P plates.
However, the blue plates are not indicative of a person’s licence status and they are not affiliated with any government or transport authority.
Indeed, some road safety organisations have stressed that every driver on the road, without exception, should be treated respectfully and courteously by other motorists.
But that isn’t stopping mycar pushing for the plates to be nationally recognised and supported by government regulators.
“We care for those with physical injuries from a road incident, but we rarely consider the mental toll road trauma can take,” mycar said in a statement.
“The R plate signifies to other road users that the driver may need some extra care, giving them time and space to recover.”
The plates can be either ordered or printed via a dedicated landing page on the mycar website, which can be accessed via a QR code integrated into the ‘R’ graphic on the plate.
In a promotional video accompanying the plate announcement, University of Melbourne associate professor Dr Jason Thompson said around 50,000 people a year are hospitalised or require treatment due to road incidents.
“For a lot of people, it’s the psychological trauma that’s the ongoing problem for them,” he said.
“Returning to the road can be a scary and nerve-wracking experience, so even just having those feelings recognised could help people to recover faster.”
mycar has launched a petition for motorists to sign as a display of their support for the initiative.
However, the R plates have not been universally welcomed, attracting criticism from experts and punters alike that they could act as a beacon for some motorists to harass the driver of a car displaying blue plates.
Opinion has been divided on social media, including the mycar Facebook page where comments such as “might as well put a target on their back” have been made.
Among a wide variety of comments on Twitter, some have also mused that the ‘R’ could more obviously point to a derogatory term rather than ‘returning driver’.
Related: L-plate and P-plate rules across Australia
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