It's a strange and distant memory for many, but registration stickers were a way of life for motorists in Australia for years. It was right up until 2014 in some states that the familiar stickers that adorned the corner of windscreens across the country were removed for good.
For those that remember having to scrounge around for spare change at the beginning of each month or each year to be able to purchase the latest sticker, or face fines for failing to display it on your windscreen, it's now a thing of the past.
The date of the abolishment of vehicle registration stickers is slightly different from state to state in Australia.
Western Australia got in early and removed the need to display a registration sticker much earlier on the 1st of January 2010, with the same going for South Australians who received the same privilege in 2011.
Registration stickers for Tasmanian motorists were phased out from Sept 1 2012.
In the NT – they scrapped the need for stickers in July 2013, and even threatened fines for not removing old ones.
Victoria and New South Wales residents breathed a collective sigh of relief on the 1st of January 2014 when their registration stickers were officially no longer required on light vehicles.
Finally, Queenslanders had to wait until the October 1st 2014 to have the same freedom of no longer having to worry about getting caught out by an officer of the law, as registration stickers in this state were officially abolished.
For those who were used to dealing with the sticky and hard to remove versions, it's certainly a sigh of relief. In some states, you no longer even need to get a physical paper copy of your registration anymore, as a digital version can now be obtained which should provide added convenience for drivers.
The switch to a digital approach in many areas of registration certainly reflects the increased usage of technology in the modern age, something which will hopefully made our lives simpler, rather than the reverse – Forgetting your registration can still be a problem for some motorists.
So while registration stickers are still present in many parts of the world, those of us fortunate enough to reside in Australia no longer need to worry about displaying them on our vehicles