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National Boards => General Highway Talk => Topic started by: webny99 on April 10, 2019, 10:18:07 PM

Title: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: webny99 on April 10, 2019, 10:18:07 PM
Some discussion in another thread got me thinking. Does your state do this, and why or why not?

New York doesn't, but I wish they would. It would make road trips so much more interesting knowing which county each car originates from. I can think of plenty of trends I would watch for, if only.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: MNHighwayMan on April 10, 2019, 10:27:27 PM
Nah. No one needs to know which part of the state I'm coming from/reside in.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Hot Rod Hootenanny on April 10, 2019, 10:30:47 PM
Ohio has been back n'forth on this topic.
From the late 70s till 2000s, Ohio licence plates had the counties on them
Some point in the last decade, Ohio decided that instead of county names, we all would put county numbers (1-88, based on alphabetical order) on the plates.
FWIW, I have noticed that some Ohio plates are showing the county names again this year.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: 21stCenturyRoad on April 10, 2019, 10:44:54 PM
Florida does it. But I have NEVER seen a Miami-Dade plate. It seems like cars registered here are given the words "sunshine state"  instead.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: cjk374 on April 10, 2019, 11:30:02 PM
Louisiana never has. But, Mississippi does.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Highway63 on April 10, 2019, 11:32:51 PM
Iowa does, I hope it never goes away, and I think it should be mandatory.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Road Hog on April 10, 2019, 11:41:38 PM
Kansas at one time had a two-letter county code on a sticker on the plate (JO = Johnson, etc). They may do so still – I haven't seen a Kansas plate up close in a while.

When I lived in Arkansas, the state issued letter combinations to "revenue offices"  (DMVs) in blocks of 1,000, sometimes with three or four succeeding letters (Ex. WBA, WBB, WBC). So if you knew the letters associated with that office, you could know where the car was from.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: ilpt4u on April 11, 2019, 12:09:51 AM
IL is a no on this one. Same plates from Cairo to South Beloit
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: US 89 on April 11, 2019, 12:25:08 AM
Utah used to have a decal that went next to the registration month/year on the rear license plate, and it contained a two-letter code for the county of registration. That was eliminated around 2003 or so in 2002, and since then the county has not appeared on license plates in any form.

EDIT: here's a list of the county codes (http://allaboutlicenseplates.com/codes.asp?State=Utah).
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Brian556 on April 11, 2019, 12:39:20 AM
Quote from: 21stCenturyRoad on April 10, 2019, 10:44:54 PM
Florida does it. But I have NEVER seen a Miami-Dade plate. It seems like cars registered here are given the words “sunshine state” instead.

They somehow opted out. Back when they were just Dade, they did it. I have one of their plates from around 1990
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: DandyDan on April 11, 2019, 05:18:25 AM
Quote from: Highway63 on April 10, 2019, 11:32:51 PM
Iowa does, I hope it never goes away, and I think it should be mandatory.
Iowa even does on specialty plates. The only ones without are the ones for colleges and universities.

Nebraska plates begin with a number which denotes the county, but Douglas County (Omaha), Lancaster County (Lincoln) and Sarpy County (south Omaha suburbs) do not do that. Dakota County (South Sioux City) was going to at one point, but there was a backlash against it there, so it was never implemented.

I believe South Dakota has a similar system to Nebraska, as does Montana.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: formulanone on April 11, 2019, 05:25:47 AM
Quote from: 21stCenturyRoad on April 10, 2019, 10:44:54 PM
Florida does it. But I have NEVER seen a Miami-Dade plate. It seems like cars registered here are given the words “sunshine state” instead.

Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach offered "Sunshine State" or the option of "In God We Trust" sometime around the mid-1990s or so. Broward and Palm Beach offered the county as an option, if you picked up your plate in person. (I think I've seen a "Miami-Dade" plate once or twice, but maybe my eyes just played tricks on me.) Florida used a county-code system until 1978.

Alabama had used the county code number system since the 1950s. If it's issued in Jefferson, Mobile, or Montgomery counties, then they start with 1, 2, or 3, respectively. This left more room for for the largest* counties to have more plates to issue. The rest of the counties get a 2-digit number in alphabetical order; 04 goes to Autauga County on down to 67 for Winston County. There's a few special issues with higher numbers.

* Things change...Presently, Madison County is the second or third-largest county in terms of population, but their code is "47".
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: MNHighwayMan on April 11, 2019, 07:22:38 AM
Quote from: Highway63 on April 10, 2019, 11:32:51 PM
Iowa does, I hope it never goes away, and I think it should be mandatory.

But why? What benefit does it provide?
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Flint1979 on April 11, 2019, 09:04:25 AM
Michigan doesn't. Michigan has about 3 or 4 different looking plates though. It usually says something Great Lakes related though on the bottom and Michigan in all caps or Pure Michigan written more in cursive on the top with the tag in the upper right corner.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: tdindy88 on April 11, 2019, 09:14:54 AM
Growing up, Indiana had a county number as the first one or two digits of the license plate number. The numbers were in alphabetical order, 1 for Adams County, 92 for Whitley County. Marion and Lake Counties had their respective numbers (49 and 45) plus a few overflow numbers. Marion County had 93, 95, 97, 98 and 99 and Lake County had 94 and 96. No other county had an overflow number but soon they had to get creative with the license plate numbers of the next few largest counties (Allen, St. Joseph, Hamilton, Vanderburgh and Elkhart.)

At several points in the past there was a county name sticker used in the upper left corner, along with the county-coded license plate number. Somewhere in the 90s that stopped and the license plate number alone designated the county.

As of 2008 they changed the format of the license plate numbers and placed the county name on the top of the plate. It featured both the county number and the county name. This was the only time that the name was featured prominently at the top or bottom of the plate as it's done in some other states.

In 2013 with the next series of plates they put the county number on the lower right corner of the plate where it is now, numbers 1 through 92. All specialty plates and the In God We Trust plates feature the same format.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: webny99 on April 11, 2019, 11:18:45 AM
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on April 11, 2019, 07:22:38 AM
Quote from: Highway63 on April 10, 2019, 11:32:51 PM
Iowa does, I hope it never goes away, and I think it should be mandatory.
But why? What benefit does it provide?

Other drivers will know if you are a local, or from another area of the state. I would have more tolerance for people weaving or making last minute decisions on the road if I can tell they're a non-local.

I also mentioned how it would be more interesting on road trips. Not that you will ever meet the people you see in cars along the road, but it's just kind of cool to know where they are coming from. It also makes it easier to spot people from your hometown when you are away. Take Kinzua Bridge State Park, which is a couple of hours south of me in PA. I wouldn't bat an eyelash at seeing many, many other NY plates, but if I saw a Monroe County plate, I would be more willing to say hello to them, find out what suburb they are from, what brings them to PA, etc. etc.

Essentially, it's just a piece of information and point of connection with others that you wouldn't otherwise have.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: corco on April 11, 2019, 12:03:43 PM
Quote from: DandyDan on April 11, 2019, 05:18:25 AM
Quote from: Highway63 on April 10, 2019, 11:32:51 PM
Iowa does, I hope it never goes away, and I think it should be mandatory.
Iowa even does on specialty plates. The only ones without are the ones for colleges and universities.

Nebraska plates begin with a number which denotes the county, but Douglas County (Omaha), Lancaster County (Lincoln) and Sarpy County (south Omaha suburbs) do not do that. Dakota County (South Sioux City) was going to at one point, but there was a backlash against it there, so it was never implemented.

I believe South Dakota has a similar system to Nebraska, as does Montana.

As does Wyoming and Idaho.

South Dakota's is unique though because the plates are still formatted 1A1 A11 or 11A A11 or similar but the first numbers before the first letter represent the county so it's more hidden.

NE/SD/WY/MT go purely numeric based on population when the system was established (so a "1" plate is Sioux Falls/Casper/Butte/used to be Omaha, "2" is Rapid City/Cheyenne/Great Falls/used to be Lincoln and so forth) while Idaho uses an alphabetized alphanumeric system.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: jeffandnicole on April 11, 2019, 12:10:58 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 11, 2019, 11:18:45 AM
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on April 11, 2019, 07:22:38 AM
Quote from: Highway63 on April 10, 2019, 11:32:51 PM
Iowa does, I hope it never goes away, and I think it should be mandatory.
But why? What benefit does it provide?

Other drivers will know if you are a local, or from another area of the state. I would have more tolerance for people weaving or making last minute decisions on the road if I can tell they're a non-local.

Maybe it's a good thing they don't do that then.

Also, you're treating counties as other countries.  I work in a county 4 counties away from my home county.  What difference does my home county make?

I also mentioned how it would be more interesting on road trips. Not that you will ever meet the people you see in cars along the road, but it's just kind of cool to know where they are coming from. It also makes it easier to spot people from your hometown when you are away. Take Kinzua Bridge State Park, which is a couple of hours south of me in PA. I wouldn't bat an eyelash at seeing many, many other NY plates, but if I saw a Monroe County plate, I would be more willing to say hello to them, find out what suburb they are from, what brings them to PA, etc. etc.

[/quote]

Creepy stalker mentality there.  Realize that most people probably aren't going to know their license plate signifies what county they live in.  It's one thing to listen to someone's accent and to talk/joke about that.  Looking at someone's car and seeing they're from another state may be someone normal, but creeping in to someone's county and discussing their life is not.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: LM117 on April 11, 2019, 12:35:54 PM
Virginia doesn't and neither does North Carolina (where I'm from).
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Scott5114 on April 11, 2019, 12:49:18 PM
Oklahoma used to use a system where the three letters on the plate indicated the county the plate was registered in. When Oklahoma went to flat plates, they also changed to a simpler serial system where the AAA plates were issued first, then AAB, etc. Law enforcement apparently didn't like not being able to know what county a plate was from, so a two-letter code is printed next to the numeric month of expiry (my plate has a "CL 06" sticker, indicating Cleveland County, expiration in June). The name of the county is printed in tiny text under the codes.

If you don't want your real county on the plate, it is pathetically easy to game, as plate stickers are given out by third-party tag agencies, so all you have to do is get your plate issued from a tag agency outside your home county (if I wanted to, I could go to a tag agency in Goldsby or Newcastle and get an "ML 06" sticker, for instance). Also, if you move, nothing forces you to get a new sticker; you have to be proactive in asking for one.

Some dipshits put their year sticker over top of the county/month sticker so they have two year stickers showing and no county/month. I guess that works too.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: 1995hoo on April 11, 2019, 01:02:13 PM
Quote from: LM117 on April 11, 2019, 12:35:54 PM
Virginia doesn't and neither does North Carolina (where I'm from).

What Virginia does have instead is the county or city decal. Many, but not all, jurisdictions have done away with those stupid things. Alexandria still has them. If there has to be something indicating county or city, to me the idea of a decal makes more sense than a license plate because it's easy to change the decal if you move.

My father has saved all his old license plates. Among them is a metal Charlottesville "city strip"  that got attached above or below the plate in the era prior to city decals and prior to plate decals (back when you got new plates every year). It has to be from sometime in the 1969—1972 timeframe because that's when my parents lived there. My father was there one year prior to marrying my mom, but he didn't have a car that year.

I've never seen a similar piece anywhere else, though I wouldn't be surprised if an antique shop had one. I did find this image of a similar type of thing online (see below). To me this makes more sense than the actual plate having the county or city name because, again, the smaller strip is easily replaced.

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fy2k%2FVirginia%2Fva66roan.jpg&hash=67014223ca3dc0de5ea998af9bc6b50b10a16b49)




Quote from: Scott5114 on April 11, 2019, 12:49:18 PM
....

Some dipshits put their year sticker over top of the county/month sticker so they have two year stickers showing and no county/month. I guess that works too.

I see all sorts of weird crap with Virginia plate stickers. The plate comes without the stickers attached and the plate has labels ("MONTH"  and "YEAR,"  always on the left and right, respectively) showing where they go. Some people alternate the year on each side, covering over the month (this should be ticketable, IMO). I've seen a very few people put both "month"  stickers on the front plate and both "year"  stickers on the rear plate (this should also be ticketable). Then there are people who think "MONTH"  and "YEAR"  are captions that need to be visible, so they put the stickers directly above or below the labels, perhaps assuming cops are too stupid to know "APR 19"  means your registration expires in April 2019? (No reason to ticket for that because the expiration information is clearly visible.) Some other people will put the stickers in the wrong corners (again, no reason to ticket for that).

I genuinely do not understand how anyone can have any problem applying the stickers correctly. It's so simple.

For some reason I've also seen a lot of expired plates this year. Some idiot in our neighborhood has his SUV parked on a VDOT street with expired plates AND an expired inspection. As of Tuesday afternoon there were three tickets on his windshield. If he doesn't deal with it soon, the county will tag the car as abandoned and then tow it if it isn't removed within a certain number of days.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Eth on April 11, 2019, 01:08:28 PM
Georgia uses county stickers, and has done so as long as I've been alive, though you have the option of "In God We Trust" instead of the county name.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: vdeane on April 11, 2019, 01:27:54 PM
Also against.  Do you REALLY want someone knowing you're from out of town when you're on the road?  Any thief wandering the parking lot wherever you stop is going to target the cars from out of town because they're more likely to have luggage or other valuables in the car.  It's also well-known that police officers, especially in small rural towns looking to raise revenue from through traffic, tend to target people from out of the area as well, since one isn't likely to contest a ticket away from home.  Also, wouldn't having the county on the plate mean that one would have to get new plates whenever they move?  That seems like needless hassle.

Incidentally, if one wants to display one's own county on their licence plate, NY has a specialty series of plates for it.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: webny99 on April 11, 2019, 01:39:18 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on April 11, 2019, 12:10:58 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 11, 2019, 11:18:45 AM
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on April 11, 2019, 07:22:38 AM
Quote from: Highway63 on April 10, 2019, 11:32:51 PM
Iowa does, I hope it never goes away, and I think it should be mandatory.
But why? What benefit does it provide?
Other drivers will know if you are a local, or from another area of the state. I would have more tolerance for people weaving or making last minute decisions on the road if I can tell they're a non-local.
Maybe it's a good thing they don't do that then.

Because...?

Quote from: jeffandnicole on April 11, 2019, 12:10:58 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 11, 2019, 11:18:45 AM
I also mentioned how it would be more interesting on road trips. Not that you will ever meet the people you see in cars along the road, but it's just kind of cool to know where they are coming from. It also makes it easier to spot people from your hometown when you are away. Take Kinzua Bridge State Park, which is a couple of hours south of me in PA. I wouldn't bat an eyelash at seeing many, many other NY plates, but if I saw a Monroe County plate, I would be more willing to say hello to them, find out what suburb they are from, what brings them to PA, etc. etc.
Creepy stalker mentality there.  Realize that most people probably aren't going to know their license plate signifies what county they live in.  It's one thing to listen to someone's accent and to talk/joke about that.  Looking at someone's car and seeing they're from another state may be someone normal, but creeping in to someone's county and discussing their life is not.

Fixed the quote for you.

And whoa, I think you took me way too literally. That was very hypothetical. I'm not actually going to PA to creep on other people from my home county. It would just be happen chance if I was already talking to them or something. Like I said, just something interesting, not something that really matters.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: webny99 on April 11, 2019, 01:46:58 PM
Quote from: vdeane on April 11, 2019, 01:27:54 PM
Do you REALLY want someone knowing you're from out of town when you're on the road?  Any thief wandering the parking lot wherever you stop is going to target the cars from out of town because they're more likely to have luggage or other valuables in the car.

That's only really applicable at the opposite end of your own state. Anything within a couple hours of home is day trip distance, and once you cross the state line everybody knows you're out of state anyways.

Individual townships would be a little too much information, but I don't see an issue with posting the county.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Flint1979 on April 11, 2019, 01:51:07 PM
You can't tell what part of Michigan I'm from and I like that because I can go anywhere in the state and look like a local. I had some dealership decal and license plate frame that I took off. The only thing you can tell on my car is that I'm from Michigan other than that you can't tell what part of Michigan I'm from.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: LM117 on April 11, 2019, 01:57:59 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 11, 2019, 01:02:13 PM
Quote from: LM117 on April 11, 2019, 12:35:54 PM
Virginia doesn't and neither does North Carolina (where I'm from).

What Virginia does have instead is the county or city decal. Many, but not all, jurisdictions have done away with those stupid things. Alexandria still has them. If there has to be something indicating county or city, to me the idea of a decal makes more sense than a license plate because it's easy to change the decal if you move.

Yeah, neither Danville or Pittsylvania County have the stickers. When I lived just outside of Farmville on VA-45 before moving here, Cumberland County didn't have them and I don't think Farmville or Prince Edward County did.

My dad and his people are from the Eastern Shore and I remember him telling me that Northampton County had stickers. I think those stickers are ancient history now too, IIRC. Me and my dad last went there in 2010.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: webny99 on April 11, 2019, 02:05:09 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on April 11, 2019, 01:51:07 PM
You can't tell what part of Michigan I'm from and I like that because I can go anywhere in the state and look like a local.

Even if your county was on the plate, you would still be regarded as a local, at least IMO.
The only parts of NY that I would visit and expect to be regarded as a non-local if my county was on my plate are south of Westchester County.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Eth on April 11, 2019, 03:00:46 PM
Quote from: vdeane on April 11, 2019, 01:27:54 PMAlso, wouldn't having the county on the plate mean that one would have to get new plates whenever they move?  That seems like needless hassle.

Not if you do it with a sticker. I've had my current plate since I moved back to Georgia in 2011; the county sticker on it was applied when I moved in 2013, covering the previous one.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: kphoger on April 11, 2019, 03:45:26 PM
Quote from: Road Hog on April 10, 2019, 11:41:38 PM
Kansas at one time had a two-letter county code on a sticker on the plate (JO = Johnson, etc). They may do so still – I haven't seen a Kansas plate up close in a while.

Yes, Kansas still has a two-letter county code in the upper-left corner of the plate.  Years ago, one's registration receipt would come in a trifold-sized manila envelope, and on the outside of the envelope was printed a map of all the county codes and a list of what the full name of each county was.

This is only true for standard issue and personalized license plates.  Special issue (veteran, breast cancer awareness, et al.) plates do not have the county code sticker.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: 1995hoo on April 11, 2019, 04:02:40 PM
Quote from: LM117 on April 11, 2019, 01:57:59 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 11, 2019, 01:02:13 PM
Quote from: LM117 on April 11, 2019, 12:35:54 PM
Virginia doesn't and neither does North Carolina (where I'm from).

What Virginia does have instead is the county or city decal. Many, but not all, jurisdictions have done away with those stupid things. Alexandria still has them. If there has to be something indicating county or city, to me the idea of a decal makes more sense than a license plate because it's easy to change the decal if you move.

Yeah, neither Danville or Pittsylvania County have the stickers. When I lived just outside of Farmville on VA-45 before moving here, Cumberland County didn't have them and I don't think Farmville or Prince Edward County did.

My dad and his people are from the Eastern Shore and I remember him telling me that Northampton County had stickers. I think those stickers are ancient history now too, IIRC. Me and my dad last went there in 2010.

I remember there was a time when the City of Virginia Beach was the only jurisdiction in Virginia that did not issue a local registration decal and it led to problems when city residents visited Charlottesville, as the police there were very aggressive about ticketing people who didn't have county/city decals. When Virginia Beach residents complained that they were receiving tickets, the Charlottesville police chief more or less said, "That's your problem. Go to court and clear it up. We require a decal and it's not our job to keep track of what other Virginia jurisdictions do." Thankfully, as other counties and cities dropped the stupid decals this problem went away, although I kept my old Fairfax County decals on my cars for a couple of years after they were discontinued because I was concerned that Alexandria police might ticket me if I didn't have one. (I eventually removed them in part because of the risk of getting a ticket in DC for having an expired or invalid sticker!)
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: hbelkins on April 11, 2019, 07:53:23 PM
Kentucky does on standard passenger vehicle plates, dating back to the years when the county name was embossed along with the license plate number and plates were plain blue-on-white or white-on-blue.

Years ago, Kentucky floated the idea of not putting the county name on plates, and actually went so far as to produce plates without the county names. The citizenry protested loudly, and they started using stickers with the county names. In Kentucky, county of residency is somewhat of a matter of pride and people will often refer to their county of residence, instead of city or town of residence.

The county name is a bit misleading, though, as most vehicles are initially licensed in the county where they're purchased instead of the county of the owner's residence. People can get stickers from their local county clerk's office with their home county to cover up the county listed on the plate when you buy the car.

The numbers used to be issued sequentially in XXX-nnn format, where letters in a series could let you know which county the plate originally came from -- say -BAL, BAM and BAN were all from a certain county.

Quote from: MNHighwayMan on April 11, 2019, 07:22:38 AM
But why? What benefit does it provide?

Back in the 1970s, lots of folks used county names in license plates for marketing research, either formally or informally. A survey of the license plates in a Lexington shopping center parking lot can tell researchers where most of the customers are coming from. The reason I mentioned the 1970s was because back then, Fayette County had "blue laws" prohibiting most retailers from opening on Sundays. Surrounding counties like Clark and Madison, however, did not, so it was common to see lots of Fayette County cars at businesses in Richmond and Winchester.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Sam on April 11, 2019, 09:41:46 PM
I don't think New York letter combinations indicate the county where the plate was issued the way they used to, but it's pretty easy to tell where a car is from by the dealer name on the plate frame or trunk lid.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: vdeane on April 12, 2019, 12:43:15 PM
I don't think so either, but given that they're all shipped out to DMV offices in batched and handed out when registered, with the right data one could probably figure out which parts of the letter/number sequence went where.  Dealer plate frames aren't really reliable either - they just tell you where the car was bought.  Someone could have moved in the interim, or bought their car in another area.  One of my coworkers even bought her car from some dealer in the Boston exurbs!
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: PHLBOS on April 12, 2019, 01:27:28 PM
None of the six New England States (CT, NH, MA, ME, RI & VT) list any county names on their plates.  In MA, outside of courts and the Registry of Deeds, county governments are hardly emphasized/utilized; so why bother placing county names on the plates? 

In PA, which also doesn't list county names on their plates, the listing of certain counties (mainly Philadelphia) on license plates could have the potential of motorists being geographically-profiled in traffic stops. 

Similar was experienced over a decade ago during the short-lived Post-It-style registration stickers that PennDOT was experimenting with (these stickers would be placed on a vehicle's rear window & on the inside).  Such was done to combat plate-sticker cutting that was taking place mainly in Philadelphia.  Only PA vehicles registered in Philadelphia were issued these stickers and the complaints of geographic profiling in traffic stops went on the uptick.

In case it wasn't already mentioned, neither DE or NJ list county names on their license plates as well.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: kphoger on April 12, 2019, 02:18:00 PM
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on April 11, 2019, 07:22:38 AM
What benefit does it provide?

Admittedly, this has nothing to do with the state government, but...  If you're in a crowded place (a concert, a grocery store) and they make an announcement on the PA about someone having left their headlights on, it's a useful cue to hear the county name first:  if it's your county, then listen up but, otherwise, tune it out.

For example, if the PA says "Would the owner of a white Dodge, license plate Rawlins County NKP 620..."
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: jeffandnicole on April 12, 2019, 02:24:24 PM
Quote from: kphoger on April 12, 2019, 02:18:00 PM
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on April 11, 2019, 07:22:38 AM
What benefit does it provide?

Admittedly, this has nothing to do with the state government, but...  If you're in a crowded place (a concert, a grocery store) and they make an announcement on the PA about someone having left their headlights on, it's a useful cue to hear the county name first:  if it's your county, then listen up but, otherwise, tune it out.

For example, if the PA says "Would the owner of a white Dodge, license plate Rawlins County NKP 620..."

But again, that would mean either the person that located the vehicle or the store employee would need to know those codes.

You are way overestimating the general population knowledge of these codes.  They will have no idea that certain numbers or letters represents a specific county.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: kphoger on April 12, 2019, 02:38:36 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on April 12, 2019, 02:24:24 PM

Quote from: kphoger on April 12, 2019, 02:18:00 PM

Quote from: MNHighwayMan on April 11, 2019, 07:22:38 AM
What benefit does it provide?

Admittedly, this has nothing to do with the state government, but...  If you're in a crowded place (a concert, a grocery store) and they make an announcement on the PA about someone having left their headlights on, it's a useful cue to hear the county name first:  if it's your county, then listen up but, otherwise, tune it out.

For example, if the PA says "Would the owner of a white Dodge, license plate Rawlins County NKP 620..."

But again, that would mean either the person that located the vehicle or the store employee would need to know those codes.

You are way overestimating the general population knowledge of these codes.  They will have no idea that certain numbers or letters represents a specific county.

For Kansas specifically, yes.  But not for license plates that have the county name in full.

FWIW, when this has happened to me with Kansas plates and the person didn't know the county codes, he simply announced the license plate as "TH BNF 133" (or whatever it was).  I knew that TH wasn't the code for the county I lived in, so I knew it wasn't my car.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: hotdogPi on April 12, 2019, 02:41:21 PM
In how many states does no county = rental?
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: pdx-wanderer on April 12, 2019, 03:31:05 PM
Quote from: 1 on April 12, 2019, 02:41:21 PM
In how many states does no county = rental?

Rentals from Idaho definitely have a county code. I thought that most states did away with labeling rentals on license plates to deter criminals from targeting them. I know that Florida especially had problems with cars saying "Lease" instead of a county name being targeted. I've seen a few red Colorado plates around here, apparently those are exclusively for rentals.

Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: kphoger on April 12, 2019, 04:10:57 PM
Quote from: pdx-wanderer on April 12, 2019, 03:31:05 PM

Quote from: 1 on April 12, 2019, 02:41:21 PM
In how many states does no county = rental?

Rentals from Idaho definitely have a county code. I thought that most states did away with labeling rentals on license plates to deter criminals from targeting them. I know that Florida especially had problems with cars saying "Lease" instead of a county name being targeted. I've seen a few red Colorado plates around here, apparently those are exclusively for rentals.

I live only a few blocks away from an Enterprise location, and the only Colorado tags I've seen in their parking lot were red.

Targeting rental cars had never even occurred to me until my honeymoon back in 2006.  We were in the Puerto Vallarta area, having rented a car in the nearby town of Bucerías, Nayarit.  One day, we drove to the tourist area of Vallarta and parallel-parked along the malecón.  As we were getting out of the car, a guy on the sidewalk asked if we were renting the car or if we had bought it.  Something told me it wasn't a good idea to answer that question, so we just didn't say a word to him and walked away.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: 1995hoo on April 12, 2019, 04:46:24 PM
Quote from: vdeane on April 12, 2019, 12:43:15 PM
I don't think so either, but given that they're all shipped out to DMV offices in batched and handed out when registered, with the right data one could probably figure out which parts of the letter/number sequence went where.  Dealer plate frames aren't really reliable either - they just tell you where the car was bought.  Someone could have moved in the interim, or bought their car in another area.  One of my coworkers even bought her car from some dealer in the Boston exurbs!

Indeed. My RX-7 has a dealer logo from New London, Connecticut (I've never lived in Connecticut). The other day I was behind a car with Virginia plates and a dealer logo from Rick Case Honda, which I know is located in Davie, Florida (northwest of Miami).
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: kphoger on April 12, 2019, 04:50:02 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 12, 2019, 04:46:24 PM
Quote from: vdeane on April 12, 2019, 12:43:15 PM
I don't think so either, but given that they're all shipped out to DMV offices in batched and handed out when registered, with the right data one could probably figure out which parts of the letter/number sequence went where.  Dealer plate frames aren't really reliable either - they just tell you where the car was bought.  Someone could have moved in the interim, or bought their car in another area.  One of my coworkers even bought her car from some dealer in the Boston exurbs!

Indeed. My RX-7 has a dealer logo from New London, Connecticut (I've never lived in Connecticut). The other day I was behind a car with Virginia plates and a dealer logo from Rick Case Honda, which I know is located in Davie, Florida (northwest of Miami).

My last two cars were bought in Lebanon (TN) and a suburb of Kansas City, both while I was living in Wichita.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: 1995hoo on April 12, 2019, 04:59:15 PM
Quote from: kphoger on April 12, 2019, 04:50:02 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 12, 2019, 04:46:24 PM
Quote from: vdeane on April 12, 2019, 12:43:15 PM
I don't think so either, but given that they're all shipped out to DMV offices in batched and handed out when registered, with the right data one could probably figure out which parts of the letter/number sequence went where.  Dealer plate frames aren't really reliable either - they just tell you where the car was bought.  Someone could have moved in the interim, or bought their car in another area.  One of my coworkers even bought her car from some dealer in the Boston exurbs!

Indeed. My RX-7 has a dealer logo from New London, Connecticut (I've never lived in Connecticut). The other day I was behind a car with Virginia plates and a dealer logo from Rick Case Honda, which I know is located in Davie, Florida (northwest of Miami).

My last two cars were bought in Lebanon (TN) and a suburb of Kansas City, both while I was living in Wichita.

Another possibility is that a used car might have been purchased through a private transaction, rather than from a dealer or a place like Carmax or wherever.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: corco on April 12, 2019, 05:19:26 PM
Quote from: pdx-wanderer on April 12, 2019, 03:31:05 PM
Quote from: 1 on April 12, 2019, 02:41:21 PM
In how many states does no county = rental?

Rentals from Idaho definitely have a county code. I thought that most states did away with labeling rentals on license plates to deter criminals from targeting them. I know that Florida especially had problems with cars saying "Lease" instead of a county name being targeted. I've seen a few red Colorado plates around here, apparently those are exclusively for rentals.



Yep- most rentals in Idaho have Bonneville County/Idaho Falls plates.

Montana and Wyoming also have county codes on their rental car plates. Most Montana rental cars are Billings/Yellowstone county.

It varies in Wyoming because there aren't many Wyoming plated rental cars, due to the lack of any major airports and high vehicle registration fees. I've rented six or seven cars in Wyoming and they always had Colorado or Utah plates.

I've rented a lot of cars with red Colorado plates but notably I did rent a car from Hertz in Boise once that had normal green Colorado plates. No idea how that happened.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: DandyDan on April 12, 2019, 09:15:35 PM
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on April 11, 2019, 07:22:38 AM
Quote from: Highway63 on April 10, 2019, 11:32:51 PM
Iowa does, I hope it never goes away, and I think it should be mandatory.

But why? What benefit does it provide?
I don't know what benefits there are, but when I lived in Omaha, I met someone from Hooker County (county 93 in NE) and it's safe to say they take pride in the fact it's the highest number county there. Frankly, I think it leaves you as a mark. I was driving back from Norfolk to Omaha years ago at night and in 3 different towns along US 275, the police were following me all the way through town. It probably benefits law enforcement more than anyone.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: mgk920 on April 12, 2019, 09:46:10 PM
Quote from: DandyDan on April 12, 2019, 09:15:35 PM
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on April 11, 2019, 07:22:38 AM
Quote from: Highway63 on April 10, 2019, 11:32:51 PM
Iowa does, I hope it never goes away, and I think it should be mandatory.

But why? What benefit does it provide?
I don't know what benefits there are, but when I lived in Omaha, I met someone from Hooker County (county 93 in NE) and it's safe to say they take pride in the fact it's the highest number county there. Frankly, I think it leaves you as a mark. I was driving back from Norfolk to Omaha years ago at night and in 3 different towns along US 275, the police were following me all the way through town. It probably benefits law enforcement more than anyone.

Heck, when I'm out roadtripping, I'm often a bit leery driving around in a car with Wisconsin plates, no less plates from an in-state county that is on the opposite end of whatever state that I might be in.  At least for in-state driving, I'm glad that Wisconsin includes no mention of a county on its plates, with them all being numbered from the same pool.

Mike
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: The High Plains Traveler on April 12, 2019, 11:30:16 PM
Quote from: pdx-wanderer on April 12, 2019, 03:31:05 PM
Quote from: 1 on April 12, 2019, 02:41:21 PM
In how many states does no county = rental?

Rentals from Idaho definitely have a county code. I thought that most states did away with labeling rentals on license plates to deter criminals from targeting them. I know that Florida especially had problems with cars saying "Lease" instead of a county name being targeted. I've seen a few red Colorado plates around here, apparently those are exclusively for rentals.


Red Colorado plates are fleet plates (with the vertical code FLT). (Virtually) all rental cars have fleet plates, but not all fleet plates are on rental cars. I used to work for the local electric utility, and all their vehicles, both cars and heavy trucks, had FLT plates.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: NWI_Irish96 on April 13, 2019, 08:11:05 AM
Quote from: tdindy88 on April 11, 2019, 09:14:54 AM
Growing up, Indiana had a county number as the first one or two digits of the license plate number. The numbers were in alphabetical order, 1 for Adams County, 92 for Whitley County. Marion and Lake Counties had their respective numbers (49 and 45) plus a few overflow numbers. Marion County had 93, 95, 97, 98 and 99 and Lake County had 94 and 96. No other county had an overflow number but soon they had to get creative with the license plate numbers of the next few largest counties (Allen, St. Joseph, Hamilton, Vanderburgh and Elkhart.)

At several points in the past there was a county name sticker used in the upper left corner, along with the county-coded license plate number. Somewhere in the 90s that stopped and the license plate number alone designated the county.

As of 2008 they changed the format of the license plate numbers and placed the county name on the top of the plate. It featured both the county number and the county name. This was the only time that the name was featured prominently at the top or bottom of the plate as it's done in some other states.

In 2013 with the next series of plates they put the county number on the lower right corner of the plate where it is now, numbers 1 through 92. All specialty plates and the In God We Trust plates feature the same format.

I've changed counties twice since getting my 2013 plate, and each time I got my registration address changed, I got a new county number sticker to affix on the plate.  The original 10 got covered by a 22 and then by a 45.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: oscar on April 13, 2019, 08:36:42 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 11, 2019, 01:02:13 PM
What Virginia does have instead is the county or city decal. Many, but not all, jurisdictions have done away with those stupid things. Alexandria still has them. If there has to be something indicating county or city, to me the idea of a decal makes more sense than a license plate because it's easy to change the decal if you move.

AIUI, Alexandria city has followed Fairfax County in doing away with the PITA windshield decal. I wish Arlington County would do same.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: 1995hoo on April 13, 2019, 11:16:03 AM
Quote from: oscar on April 13, 2019, 08:36:42 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 11, 2019, 01:02:13 PM
What Virginia does have instead is the county or city decal. Many, but not all, jurisdictions have done away with those stupid things. Alexandria still has them. If there has to be something indicating county or city, to me the idea of a decal makes more sense than a license plate because it's easy to change the decal if you move.

AIUI, Alexandria city has followed Fairfax County in doing away with the PITA windshield decal. I wish Arlington County would do same.

I'll take your word for it because I don't know. I've seen Alexandria city decals on several vehicles just in the past week, but I didn't look closely enough to see the year. (I knew they were Alexandria because I recognized the city seal.)
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: oscar on April 13, 2019, 11:33:43 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 13, 2019, 11:16:03 AM
Quote from: oscar on April 13, 2019, 08:36:42 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 11, 2019, 01:02:13 PM
What Virginia does have instead is the county or city decal. Many, but not all, jurisdictions have done away with those stupid things. Alexandria still has them. If there has to be something indicating county or city, to me the idea of a decal makes more sense than a license plate because it's easy to change the decal if you move.

AIUI, Alexandria city has followed Fairfax County in doing away with the PITA windshield decal. I wish Arlington County would do same.

I'll take your word for it because I don't know. I've seen Alexandria city decals on several vehicles just in the past week, but I didn't look closely enough to see the year. (I knew they were Alexandria because I recognized the city seal.)

This was a new policy adopted just a few weeks ago (https://www.alexandriava.gov/CarTax). No new decals, and existing decals can be removed, but most people probably won't remove their stickers until they expire.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: stwoodbury on April 14, 2019, 02:32:11 AM
Quote from: corco on April 12, 2019, 05:19:26 PM
Quote from: pdx-wanderer on April 12, 2019, 03:31:05 PM
Quote from: 1 on April 12, 2019, 02:41:21 PM
In how many states does no county = rental?

Rentals from Idaho definitely have a county code. I thought that most states did away with labeling rentals on license plates to deter criminals from targeting them. I know that Florida especially had problems with cars saying "Lease" instead of a county name being targeted. I've seen a few red Colorado plates around here, apparently those are exclusively for rentals.



Yep- most rentals in Idaho have Bonneville County/Idaho Falls plates.

Montana and Wyoming also have county codes on their rental car plates. Most Montana rental cars are Billings/Yellowstone county.

It varies in Wyoming because there aren't many Wyoming plated rental cars, due to the lack of any major airports and high vehicle registration fees. I've rented six or seven cars in Wyoming and they always had Colorado or Utah plates.

I've rented a lot of cars with red Colorado plates but notably I did rent a car from Hertz in Boise once that had normal green Colorado plates. No idea how that happened.
Rentals with Idaho plates at the Spokane Airport either had Kootenai or Benewah County plates, both which are adjacent to Spokane County.




iPhone
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: stwoodbury on April 14, 2019, 02:41:19 AM
Countries in Europe issue national plates but many of them show local areas on them:

French plates show the two digit number for a department, which also corresponds with the postal code

Italy shows a two character provincial code (FI for Firenze/Florence) or ROMA for Rome

Germany shows a 1-3 alpha character code for the Landkreis or county I.e B for Berlin, S for Stuttgart, BB for Böblingen, GAP for Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Switzerland follows a similar system.



iPhone
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: mgk920 on April 14, 2019, 10:56:30 AM
Quote from: oscar on April 13, 2019, 11:33:43 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 13, 2019, 11:16:03 AM
Quote from: oscar on April 13, 2019, 08:36:42 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 11, 2019, 01:02:13 PM
What Virginia does have instead is the county or city decal. Many, but not all, jurisdictions have done away with those stupid things. Alexandria still has them. If there has to be something indicating county or city, to me the idea of a decal makes more sense than a license plate because it’s easy to change the decal if you move.

AIUI, Alexandria city has followed Fairfax County in doing away with the PITA windshield decal. I wish Arlington County would do same.

I'll take your word for it because I don't know. I've seen Alexandria city decals on several vehicles just in the past week, but I didn't look closely enough to see the year. (I knew they were Alexandria because I recognized the city seal.)

This was a new policy adopted just a few weeks ago (https://www.alexandriava.gov/CarTax). No new decals, and existing decals can be removed, but most people probably won't remove their stickers until they expire.

Interesting (ditto municipal vehicle tax stickers in Illinois) in that several munis here in Wisconsin, including my home City of Appleton, also collect an annual vehicle (here called 'wheel') tax - but in Wisconsin, the tax is collected by WisDOT at plate renewal time and it is then remitted by them to the muni in question.  It makes things much easier for the public, IMHO.

Mike
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: rarnold on April 14, 2019, 07:00:40 PM
Quote from: Road Hog on April 10, 2019, 11:41:38 PM
Kansas at one time had a two-letter county code on a sticker on the plate (JO = Johnson, etc). They may do so still – I haven't seen a Kansas plate up close in a while.


Kansas still does.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: SidS1045 on April 16, 2019, 01:14:58 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 10, 2019, 10:18:07 PMNew York doesn't, but I wish they would.

New York used to.  Until the early 1970's, the plate formats were either NL-NNNN or LL-NNNN.  The initial NL or LL were county designations.  I can't recall ever seeing a list of which designations were for which county.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: sparker on April 17, 2019, 06:15:31 PM
With 20M+ drivers, CA DMV has enough on their plate (no pun intended) without adding micromanagement of county-by-county location.  Also, the addition of "throwback" black plates with yellow letters/numbers, which have become increasingly popular, would make delineation by intrastate jurisdiction even more unworkable (as well as detracting from the aesthetics, which was the reason for issuing those plates in the first place!).  Add in the fact that the CA population tends to be more mobile in their residential situations than most states would quickly render county-by-county indicators irrelevant -- or just another bureaucratic hindrance to the relocation process.   
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: pianocello on April 17, 2019, 08:28:01 PM
I know someone mentioned Florida earlier, but when I got my license plate, I was given the option to have "Sunshine State" or "In God We Trust" placed along the bottom instead of the county name. I'm not sure whether that option is available in all counties.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: kphoger on April 18, 2019, 01:30:08 PM
Quote from: sparker on April 17, 2019, 06:15:31 PM
With 20M+ drivers, CA DMV has enough on their plate (no pun intended) without adding micromanagement of county-by-county location.  Also, the addition of "throwback" black plates with yellow letters/numbers, which have become increasingly popular, would make delineation by intrastate jurisdiction even more unworkable (as well as detracting from the aesthetics, which was the reason for issuing those plates in the first place!).  Add in the fact that the CA population tends to be more mobile in their residential situations than most states would quickly render county-by-county indicators irrelevant -- or just another bureaucratic hindrance to the relocation process.   

Florida is the third most populous state in the union and, as pianocello mentioned, that state's residents have the option of having either the county name or a slogan at the bottom of the plate.  Furthermore, each of those plate types runs through different serial number assignment blocks.

Quote from: pianocello on April 17, 2019, 08:28:01 PM
I know someone mentioned Florida earlier, but when I got my license plate, I was given the option to have "Sunshine State" or "In God We Trust" placed along the bottom instead of the county name. I'm not sure whether that option is available in all counties.

I believe so.  In the early days, only Bay and Dade counties offered the option, but I think all counties do now.  The impetus for such was to cut down on the targeting of rental cars even after the elimination of special "Lease" plates, as the county name was a sort of proxy due to the increased prevalence of rental cars in specific counties.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: frankenroad on April 18, 2019, 01:30:30 PM
Quote from: SidS1045 on April 16, 2019, 01:14:58 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 10, 2019, 10:18:07 PMNew York doesn't, but I wish they would.

New York used to.  Until the early 1970's, the plate formats were either NL-NNNN or LL-NNNN.  The initial NL or LL were county designations.  I can't recall ever seeing a list of which designations were for which county.

There was some corellation between the first letter on the license plate and the county name.   For example, most Westchester Co. plates started with W, Oswego and Ontario both had O plates.   The system was not perfect and there were a lot of exceptions (IIRC, Manhattan (New York County) had a lot of Q plates.)
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: sparker on April 18, 2019, 06:11:32 PM
^^^^^^^^^^
In CA, the only regional delineation is coded into the yearly registration renewal stickers for the plates -- but practically useless for field identification (stickers on rear plates only) unless highly magnified -- the designating letter is only about 1/4" high!
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: apeman33 on April 19, 2019, 10:13:28 AM
A long, long time ago (Yeah, I'm old) the letter codes for Kansas were embossed on the plate and the expiration was another letter code and both were a part of the license number.

My last name being "Nuzum," my tags will always expire in August along with those of people whose last names begin with M and O.

So in the 1970s my dad's plate would have looked like this:

F
    M    234
I

And he would have said his plate was "FIM 234."

There were never leading zeroes, so it was possible to have license plate 1. (FIM 1).

If a county got to a point where it wasn't possible to issue any more numbers, they'd start using the "Z" plates. I don't know if it ever happened anywhere other than Johnson County. So once Johnson County got to JOS 99999, the next person whose last name ended in "S" likely got "JOZ 1".

The current "AAA 000" system was put in place once it was realized that certain counties were getting so big that going past No. 99999 in more than one letter group (S, M, and probably C) was going to become a big problem. The county code was put in the upper left-hand corner. It's the size it is now because people actually wanted to code to be more visible.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: roadman on April 19, 2019, 10:46:07 AM
Dumb question here.  What is the necessity of posting county information on a license plate?  Seems to me it just complicates the logistics of making and issuing license plates for the state.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: kphoger on April 19, 2019, 01:45:57 PM
Quote from: roadman on April 19, 2019, 10:46:07 AM
Dumb question here.  What is the necessity of posting county information on a license plate?  Seems to me it just complicates the logistics of making and issuing license plates for the state.

In a country that use a nationwide numbering system–Mexico–what is the necessity of posting the state name on a license plate?
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: MNHighwayMan on April 20, 2019, 02:19:42 PM
Quote from: roadman on April 19, 2019, 10:46:07 AM
Dumb question here.  What is the necessity of posting county information on a license plate?  Seems to me it just complicates the logistics of making and issuing license plates for the state.

There isn't. It's great for law enforcement profiling and the fantasies of weirdos, though.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: tribar on April 20, 2019, 04:54:06 PM
Quote from: roadman on April 19, 2019, 10:46:07 AM
Dumb question here.  What is the necessity of posting county information on a license plate?  Seems to me it just complicates the logistics of making and issuing license plates for the state.

Not a dumb question at all. It's only purpose seem to be to tip criminals and law enforcement off that the driver is not a local yet people here still think it should be mandatory because "it makes muh roadgeekin more fun" . Thankfully Illinois does not participate in this practice. Once in a while this state gets something right lol.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: roadfro on April 21, 2019, 02:26:10 PM
Nevada does not have any county identifiers on its license plates.

From the mid-1950s through early 1980s, there was a system. The first characters of the license number were letters that formed the abbreviation for the county–so a CL-1234 plate would have been issued in Clark County. The population boom in certain counties later required using three letters. Circa 1982-1984, the numbering format switched to 123-ABC and any county mentions were phased out (unless you kept your older plates).
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: catch22 on April 23, 2019, 07:49:10 AM
Back when I was a wee lad (and Michigan passenger plates were in the AA-NNNN format), the envelope your new plates came in had a list of which alpha prefixes were assigned to what county printed on the back.  My father made a habit of keeping the list in the car along with the maps so we could "always know where a car came from."

I found this short YouTube video showing the prefix assignments for the 1959 series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYr0Ml5Iqp0
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: frankenroad on April 24, 2019, 11:00:40 AM
Quote from: catch22 on April 23, 2019, 07:49:10 AM
Back when I was a wee lad (and Michigan passenger plates were in the AA-NNNN format), the envelope your new plates came in had a list of which alpha prefixes were assigned to what county printed on the back.  My father made a habit of keeping the list in the car along with the maps so we could "always know where a car came from."

I found this short YouTube video showing the prefix assignments for the 1959 series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYr0Ml5Iqp0

That's interesting in that the sequence started in Detroit and ended in the UP, but when they went to a AAA-NNN format in the early 1970s, the lowest plates (BBn series - A's were not used in the 70s) started in the UP and the Detroit area had plates starting with P R and S.  They did away with the geographic system when the 1979 black plates were introduced.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: frankenroad on April 24, 2019, 11:23:04 AM
Quote from: Hot Rod Hootenanny on April 10, 2019, 10:30:47 PM
Ohio has been back n'forth on this topic.
From the late 70s till 2000s, Ohio licence plates had the counties on them
Some point in the last decade, Ohio decided that instead of county names, we all would put county numbers (1-88, based on alphabetical order) on the plates.
FWIW, I have noticed that some Ohio plates are showing the county names again this year.

From the 1930s until the late 70s, the county of issue was evident from the plate number.   The pattern of letters & numbers indicated the region of the state, and the specific letter(s) indicated the county.   

Northeast Ohio had AA-NNNN, eastern and southeastern A-NNNN-A, southwest and west NNNN-AA, northwest NNNNN-A and central Ohio had A-NNNNN and all-numerics.  In my home county of Hamilton we had plates from 51-AA to 9999-FZ.  Leading zeroes were not used and numbers less than 50 (or 75 in some cases) were reserve numbers that you had to order directly from the state, and you could not tell the county from those plates.  In 1940, my grandfather ordered RF-29 and RF-32 for his two cars - my son and I have those numbers to this day.  (My son and grandfather both have/had the initials RF, but I don't - I still use the plate though - not too many people have had the same plate number in the family for 80 years).

A complete listing can be found on David Nicholson's license plate site at http://15q.net/ohco.html
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: roadman on April 24, 2019, 02:02:32 PM
Quote from: tribar on April 20, 2019, 04:54:06 PM
Quote from: roadman on April 19, 2019, 10:46:07 AM
Dumb question here.  What is the necessity of posting county information on a license plate?  Seems to me it just complicates the logistics of making and issuing license plates for the state.

Not a dumb question at all. It’s only purpose seem to be to tip criminals and law enforcement off that the driver is not a local yet people here still think it should be mandatory because “it makes muh roadgeekin more fun”. Thankfully Illinois does not participate in this practice. Once in a while this state gets something right lol.
Nor does Massachusetts.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: catch22 on April 24, 2019, 02:19:50 PM
Quote from: frankenroad on April 24, 2019, 11:00:40 AM
That's interesting in that the sequence started in Detroit and ended in the UP, but when they went to a AAA-NNN format in the early 1970s, the lowest plates (BBn series - A's were not used in the 70s) started in the UP and the Detroit area had plates starting with P R and S.  They did away with the geographic system when the 1979 black plates were introduced.

I was attending Michigan Tech when the 1970 plates came out (first year for the AAA-NNN format).  I renewed my plates there (Houghton County) and received a plate in the BCH series.  Everyone at home (western Wayne County) had L, M, or N.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Pink Jazz on April 24, 2019, 03:27:45 PM
New Mexico discontinued the use of county stickers on their license plates around 1995.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: apeman33 on April 26, 2019, 12:32:36 AM
At one point, the old system in Kansas meant that each one of the 105 counties could issue the same personalized plate. So if the PA announcer at a KU football game said, "The car with Kansas plate 'KU FAN' is parked in a no-parking zone and needs to move," it was possible that 105 people would have to go check.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: StogieGuy7 on April 26, 2019, 01:10:13 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 11, 2019, 01:02:13 PM
Quote from: LM117 on April 11, 2019, 12:35:54 PM
Virginia doesn't and neither does North Carolina (where I'm from).

What Virginia does have instead is the county or city decal. Many, but not all, jurisdictions have done away with those stupid things. Alexandria still has them. If there has to be something indicating county or city, to me the idea of a decal makes more sense than a license plate because it's easy to change the decal if you move.

My father has saved all his old license plates. Among them is a metal Charlottesville "city strip"  that got attached above or below the plate in the era prior to city decals and prior to plate decals (back when you got new plates every year). It has to be from sometime in the 1969—1972 timeframe because that's when my parents lived there. My father was there one year prior to marrying my mom, but he didn't have a car that year.

I've never seen a similar piece anywhere else, though I wouldn't be surprised if an antique shop had one. I did find this image of a similar type of thing online (see below). To me this makes more sense than the actual plate having the county or city name because, again, the smaller strip is easily replaced.

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fy2k%2FVirginia%2Fva66roan.jpg&hash=67014223ca3dc0de5ea998af9bc6b50b10a16b49)




Quote from: Scott5114 on April 11, 2019, 12:49:18 PM
....

Some dipshits put their year sticker over top of the county/month sticker so they have two year stickers showing and no county/month. I guess that works too.

I see all sorts of weird crap with Virginia plate stickers. The plate comes without the stickers attached and the plate has labels ("MONTH"  and "YEAR,"  always on the left and right, respectively) showing where they go. Some people alternate the year on each side, covering over the month (this should be ticketable, IMO). I've seen a very few people put both "month"  stickers on the front plate and both "year"  stickers on the rear plate (this should also be ticketable). Then there are people who think "MONTH"  and "YEAR"  are captions that need to be visible, so they put the stickers directly above or below the labels, perhaps assuming cops are too stupid to know "APR 19"  means your registration expires in April 2019? (No reason to ticket for that because the expiration information is clearly visible.) Some other people will put the stickers in the wrong corners (again, no reason to ticket for that).

I genuinely do not understand how anyone can have any problem applying the stickers correctly. It's so simple.

For some reason I've also seen a lot of expired plates this year. Some idiot in our neighborhood has his SUV parked on a VDOT street with expired plates AND an expired inspection. As of Tuesday afternoon there were three tickets on his windshield. If he doesn't deal with it soon, the county will tag the car as abandoned and then tow it if it isn't removed within a certain number of days.

I remember these VERY well from when I was a little kid.  Even had a few of them myself, including a blue on non-reflective white one that went with the first "permanent" VA plates in 1974. That was the first of a 40+ year tradition of blue on white VA plates.  Before that they were black and white annual plates (as shown above) and they'd flip background/digit colors every year. 
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: 6a on April 26, 2019, 09:33:31 PM
Quote from: Hot Rod Hootenanny on April 10, 2019, 10:30:47 PM
Ohio has been back n'forth on this topic.
From the late 70s till 2000s, Ohio licence plates had the counties on them
Some point in the last decade, Ohio decided that instead of county names, we all would put county numbers (1-88, based on alphabetical order) on the plates.
FWIW, I have noticed that some Ohio plates are showing the county names again this year.

I can't for the life of me understand why they did that. Hey, let's make a plate with a word cloud background, then cover part of it with a sticker! Not to mention the specialty plates have whatever organization printed along the bottom.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: thspfc on April 26, 2019, 09:37:02 PM
People often buy cars in different counties than the county they reside in, especially in rural areas. I don't see the point of doing this.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: hotdogPi on April 26, 2019, 09:41:30 PM
Quote from: thspfc on April 26, 2019, 09:37:02 PM
People often buy cars in different counties than the county they reside in, especially in rural areas. I don't see the point of doing this.

Maybe a dealership 30—40 miles away had a better price than the closest one carrying that type of car.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: US 89 on April 26, 2019, 09:43:38 PM
Quote from: 1 on April 26, 2019, 09:41:30 PM
Quote from: thspfc on April 26, 2019, 09:37:02 PM
People often buy cars in different counties than the county they reside in, especially in rural areas. I don't see the point of doing this.

Maybe a dealership 30—40 miles away had a better price than the closest one carrying that type of car.

Or maybe your rural county doesn't even have a dealership to begin with.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: oscar on April 26, 2019, 09:47:35 PM
Quote from: thspfc on April 26, 2019, 09:37:02 PM
People often buy cars in different counties than the county they reside in, especially in rural areas. I don't see the point of doing this.

Isn't the county sticker for the county of the new owner's residence, rather than of the dealer? Especially if one purpose of the county sticker is to certify payment of taxes to the county.

This would go double when someone goes out-of-state to buy a car, as happens in my area which borders another state and D.C.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: thspfc on April 26, 2019, 09:48:56 PM
Quote from: US 89 on April 26, 2019, 09:43:38 PM
Quote from: 1 on April 26, 2019, 09:41:30 PM
Quote from: thspfc on April 26, 2019, 09:37:02 PM
People often buy cars in different counties than the county they reside in, especially in rural areas. I don't see the point of doing this.

Maybe a dealership 30—40 miles away had a better price than the closest one carrying that type of car.

Or maybe your rural county doesn't even have a dealership to begin with.
You misunderstood  :confused: I don't see the point of posting county names on license plates. Sorry, I should have specified.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Scott5114 on April 27, 2019, 02:48:01 AM
Quote from: oscar on April 26, 2019, 09:47:35 PM
Quote from: thspfc on April 26, 2019, 09:37:02 PM
People often buy cars in different counties than the county they reside in, especially in rural areas. I don't see the point of doing this.

Isn't the county sticker for the county of the new owner's residence, rather than of the dealer? Especially if one purpose of the county sticker is to certify payment of taxes to the county.

In Oklahoma, it's the county of the tag agency you registered the tag at. You could live in McClain County, go to Oklahoma County to buy a car, and then on the way home stop off at the tag agency in Cleveland County and you'll end up with a "CL" tag.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: X99 on April 29, 2019, 10:44:44 AM
South Dakota doesn't do county names, but the first one or two digits on the plate refer to which county it's from:
QuoteWhen established in 1956 (and revised in 1987) the first nine counties were ordered by population. Starting with 10 they are in alphabetical order through Ziebach, with Oglala Lakota County (65) and Todd (67) rounding out the list. Now in 2015 the top 10 plate numbers and populations don't correlate anymore. 1 and 2 are still 1 and 2, but Lincoln (44) is now 3rd in population. Beadle is 4 but it's now 11th in population.
Here's a list so we all know:
County Name (County Seat)
1: Minnehaha (Sioux Falls)
2: Pennington (Rapid City)
3: Brown (Aberdeen)
4: Beadle (Huron)
5: Codington (Watertown)
6: Brookings (Brookings)
7: Yankton (Yankton)
8: Davison (Mitchell)
9: Lawrence (Deadwood)
10: Aurora (Plankinton)
11: Bennett (Martin)
12: Bon Homme (Tyndall)
13: Brule (Chamberlain)
14: Buffalo (Gann Valley)
15: Butte (Belle Fourche)
16: Campbell (Mound City)
17: Charles Mix (Lake Andres)
18: Clark (Clark)
19: Clay (Vermillion)
20: Corson (McIntosh)
21: Custer (Custer)
22: Day (Webster)
23: Deuel (Clear Lake)   
24: Dewey (Timber Lake)
25: Douglas (Armour)
26: Edmunds (Ipswich)
27: Fall River (Hot Springs)
28: Faulk (Faulkton)
29: Grant (Milbank)
30: Gregory (Burke)
31: Haakon (Philip)
32: Hamlin (Hayti)
33: Hand (Miller)
34: Hanson (Alexandria)
35: Harding (Buffalo)
36: Hughes (Pierre)
37: Hutchinson (Olivet)
38: Hyde (Highmore)
39: Jackson (Kadoka)
40: Jerauld (Wessington Springs)
41: Jones (Murdo)
42: Kingsbury (De Smet)
43: Lake (Madison)
44: Lincoln (Canton)
45: Lyman (Kennebec)
46: McCook (Salem)   
47: McPherson (Leola)
48: Marshall (Britton)
49: Meade (Sturgis)
50: Mellette (White River)
51: Miner (Howard)
52: Moody (Flandreau)
53: Perkins (Bison)
54: Potter (Gettysburg)
55: Roberts (Sisseton)
56: Sanborn (Woonsocket)
57: Spink (Redfield)
58: Stanley (Fort Pierce)
59: Sully (Onida)
60: Tripp (Winner)
61: Turner (Parker)
62: Union (Elk Point)
63: Walworth (Selby)
64: Ziebach (Dupree)
65: Oglala Lakota County (Wounded Knee)
67: Todd (Antelope)
So we don't have county names, but we do have county numbers.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: frankenroad on April 29, 2019, 11:20:47 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 27, 2019, 02:48:01 AM
Quote from: oscar on April 26, 2019, 09:47:35 PM
Quote from: thspfc on April 26, 2019, 09:37:02 PM
People often buy cars in different counties than the county they reside in, especially in rural areas. I don't see the point of doing this.

Isn't the county sticker for the county of the new owner's residence, rather than of the dealer? Especially if one purpose of the county sticker is to certify payment of taxes to the county.

In Oklahoma, it's the county of the tag agency you registered the tag at. You could live in McClain County, go to Oklahoma County to buy a car, and then on the way home stop off at the tag agency in Cleveland County and you'll end up with a "CL" tag.

In Ohio, it is the county of residence.   When you move to another county, they send you a new county sticker.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: ClaytonCarte on April 29, 2019, 07:43:56 PM
Quote from: Eth on April 11, 2019, 01:08:28 PM
Georgia uses county stickers, and has done so as long as I've been alive, though you have the option of "In God We Trust" instead of the county name.
Georgia used county codes like found in Alabama between 1957 and 1970. The present-day decals started in 1971.

List: http://www.georgiaplates.com/county


iPhone
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: golden eagle on May 05, 2019, 02:46:31 PM
Mississippi still uses county names on plates. Because tag fees can be very costly depending on the value of the car and where it's registered, people are encouraged to squeal on other drivers who live in, say, Hinds County (Jackson), but have their cars registered in a lower-taxed county.

Re: Florida, I recall they used to have some kind of identifier on a tag that would indicate the car being a rental, but was changed because of tourists being targeted by criminals.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: kphoger on May 06, 2019, 03:28:28 PM
Quote from: thspfc on April 26, 2019, 09:48:56 PM

Quote from: US 89 on April 26, 2019, 09:43:38 PM

Quote from: 1 on April 26, 2019, 09:41:30 PM

Quote from: thspfc on April 26, 2019, 09:37:02 PM
People often buy cars in different counties than the county they reside in, especially in rural areas. I don't see the point of doing this.

Maybe a dealership 30—40 miles away had a better price than the closest one carrying that type of car.

Or maybe your rural county doesn't even have a dealership to begin with.

You misunderstood  :confused: I don't see the point of posting county names on license plates. Sorry, I should have specified.

At least in my state, the county name has nothing to do with where you bought the car.  While living in Wichita, my last two cars were bought in (1) Wilson County, TN, and (2) Johnson County, KS.  Both have had Sedgwick County (KS) plates.  Actually, in fact, they've both had the same Sedgwick County plate that used to be on the car we moved here from Illinois with.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: oscar on May 06, 2019, 03:59:19 PM
Quote from: golden eagle on May 05, 2019, 02:46:31 PM
Re: Florida, I recall they used to have some kind of identifier on a tag that would indicate the car being a rental, but was changed because of tourists being targeted by criminals.

The tags said "Lease" in place of the county name. Too easy for criminals.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: PHLBOS on May 07, 2019, 11:42:26 AM
Quote from: golden eagle on May 05, 2019, 02:46:31 PM
Re: Florida, I recall they used to have some kind of identifier on a tag that would indicate the car being a rental, but was changed because of tourists being targeted by criminals.
IIRC, many of those FL incidents involved rentals from Enterprise; which, back then still had a logo sticker placed on every one of their vehicles... typically on the trunk-lid/rear-hatch.  Needless to say, Enterprise ultimately stopped the practice of placing any type of branding (stickers of otherwise) on their vehicles.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: Kulerage on May 08, 2019, 10:00:07 PM
Can't recall an instance of this happening in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina nor North Carolina.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: kphoger on May 09, 2019, 01:12:33 PM
Quote from: Kulerage on May 08, 2019, 10:00:07 PM
Can't recall an instance of this happening in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina nor North Carolina.

Then you obviously haven't read the last few posts.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: oscar on September 02, 2019, 08:31:20 PM
Quote from: oscar on April 13, 2019, 08:36:42 AM
AIUI, Alexandria city has followed Fairfax County in doing away with the PITA windshield decal. I wish Arlington County would do same.

The latest personal property tax bills for my two vehicles included cheerful notes that Arlington, too, has abolished its windshield decal requirement.
Title: Re: Posting County Names on Licence Plates
Post by: froggie on September 04, 2019, 07:40:43 AM
Quote from: roadman on April 19, 2019, 10:46:07 AM
Dumb question here.  What is the necessity of posting county information on a license plate?  Seems to me it just complicates the logistics of making and issuing license plates for the state.

Belated answer, but in Mississippi's case, it's because plates are issued at the county level after payment of vehicle personal property taxes.  When I was stationed there, plates were received from the Office of the County Tax Collector...can't imagine it's changed since then.  And this is because Mississippi does not have a state-level DMV.

Golden Eagle alluded to another of the side effects of this upthread.