{"id":35328,"date":"2019-12-04T12:18:02","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T11:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fahrtraum.at\/the-first-motor-vehicle-registration-plates-a-history-of-austrian-licence-plates\/"},"modified":"2019-12-04T12:49:09","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T11:49:09","slug":"the-first-motor-vehicle-registration-plates-a-history-of-austrian-licence-plates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fahrtraum.at\/pl\/the-first-motor-vehicle-registration-plates-a-history-of-austrian-licence-plates\/","title":{"rendered":"The first motor vehicle registration plates \u2013 A history of Austrian licence plates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even when hackney carriages were still the only means of inner-city transport, an ordinance from 1756 stipulated number plates for these horse teams \u2013 for a better situational overview. The so-called „unnumbered” were an exception. In Vienna, it was considered particularly genteel to drive such an unnumbered carriage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

„identification mark”<\/strong> \/ licence plate for automobiles and motorcycles<\/strong><\/h3>\n

From an international perspective, the legal basis of registration plating automobiles and motorcycles in Austria was established relatively late. With a „Regulation of the Ministry of the Interior in agreement with the Ministry of Finance of 27 September, 1905 concerning the enactment of security police regulations for the operation of automobiles and motorcycles”, identification plates for motor vehicles were prescribed from 7 January 1906 for the entire Austrian sector of the dual monarchy. The Hungarian half of the empire followed only in 1910. By comparison: in Switzerland, Italy, France, England, Holland and most of the federal states of the then German Empire, registration numbers were already mandatory in the years after 1899. One reason for the late introduction of number plate obligation in Austria was the resistance of the „gentlemen drivers” who found it shameful to have their cars numbered like carriages and to be monitored by the authorities. On the other hand, the Austrian Automobile Club \u2013 predecessor of today’s \u00d6AMTC \u2013 regarded the marking as very important, especially in order to locate hit and run drivers … and prevailed.<\/p>\n

From 7 January, 1906, the „identification mark” (the term „licence plate<\/strong>” was not used until 1910) had to be affixed to the front and rear of a car or motorcycle in black lettering on a white background \u2013 either painted on or on a plate. Each Crown country as well as the police districts of Vienna and Prague were assigned a code letter \u2013 without direct connection to the country name\/initial:<\/p>\n

\"Sascha_Wagen_Georg<\/a>

In the picture: ADS-R Sascha race car with Alfred Neubauer and Georg Auer in Wiener Neustadt (1922).<\/p><\/div>\n