French drivers have found a novel way to head off trouble: they pretend to be Corsican.
Thousands of motorists have chosen numberplates that carry the moor’s head insignia and the numbers 2A and 2B, representing north and south Corsica, rather than the numbers of their home départements. This makes them less likely to fall victim to incidents of road rage because, they believe, men from the island have a reputation for violence.
The phenomenon has emerged since a reform to the registration system in 2009 allowing car owners to choose the département and region that is displayed on their number plates. Most still choose their home départements but nearly 3 per cent of all new vehicles carry the moor’s head plates although only 0.6 per cent of the French population lives in Corsica.
“There are probably more Corsican plates than there are Corsicans,” said Manuel Oneta, a garage owner in Vitry, a southern Paris suburb. “With a 2A or a 2B, drivers are convinced that no one will damage their vehicle. They say you don’t mess with Corsicans.”
The département that most residents shun on their numberplates is 93: Seine-Saint-Denis, the northern Paris suburb that has spawned many jihadists in its riot-prone housing estates.
Advertisement
A driver from the capital said that when on holiday he covered his 75 plate (Paris) with a 13, signifying Bouches-du-Rhône, a Marseilles area. “My wife laughed at me. Then she saw that we got a much better welcome than when we displayed ‘Parisian’,” he said.