Qatar has extended the deadline for drivers to obtain new license plates for their vehicles to Nov. 27, an official from the Traffic Department has announced.

The original deadline, Oct. 27, was pushed back due to long wait times and overcrowding at the six workshops producing the new plates, the department’s director, Brigadier Mohamed Saad Al Kharji, said.

The license plates have been changed from their original format, which contained the plate numbers in both English and Arabic, to the European model “because it shows the numbers clearly from a distance,” Al Kharji said, as quoted by the Peninsula.

Some have said the newer plates with the more prominently displayed numbers will also make it easier for traffic radars, more of which are in the works, to catch errant drivers. 

The plates also includes a hologram of the Traffic Department that makes the plates more difficult to tamper with.

The official did not specify what the penalty for missing the deadline would be.

Many drivers have already replaced their plates when renewing their vehicle registrations.

Have you gotten your new plates yet?

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo by Jadi