There is an obsession with official data too: read or listen to a report on the arrest of a criminal and you will probably learn the licencenumber of the police car that picked him up, the names and badge numbers of the arresting officers, and the exact time that he was taken into custody.
To reduce pollution, between July 20th and September 20th the city is aiming to halve the number of private vehicles on the roads by allowing those with odd-number licence plates to drive one day, and those with even-number plates the next.