License Plate News

[kphoger]

The article below was published two months before the one you linked to.   

Smacked by Local Tax Collectors, State Retreats on License Plate Revamp, for Now
October 23, 2012

State highway safety officials are putting on hold for at least a short time a plan to redesign state license plates, and to privatize their distribution,  following objections from tax collectors.

The proposal to redesign the state's license plate to make it more legible by toll booth cameras and police was originally scheduled for a vote by Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet on Tuesday, but the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles pulled the proposal from the agenda.

Another part of the overall plan — to bid out the distribution of the new plates to a private vendor rather than using the current process for distributing tags through county tax collectors, also is on hold. The tax collectors objected to the proposed change, saying they're worried that customer service would suffer — and they would be blamed by voters.

https://flaglerlive.com/45822/florida-license-plates/

[jakeroot]

So in Florida, the license plate comes from the tax collector's office? Interesting. Here in Washington, the Department of Licensing handles the registration and distribution of vehicle licenses, in addition to drivers licenses and several other things like boat registration. I believe everything can be processed via mail or in-person, although many things must be mailed later (vanity plates, permanent driver's licenses, etc) or picked up later (new vehicle plates are usually sent to the dealer).

I don't think that the current New York plate is the best possible, merely that it is better than all the potential replacements. I do think that the basic color scheme of the current plate is good, but a few tweaks to the colors could potentially mitigate the degree of clashing you perceive. The newer plates, on the other hand, are all too busy for my taste.

I totally agree. Is yellow the best color? I dunno. I quite enjoyed it when I was in the UK, and NY's plates remind me of them a bit. Maybe that's why I like them. But modern plate designs are just too damn busy. I don't want to drive around with a billboard stuck to my car. Plates should have the number, a sticker if necessary, and the state name (perhaps as an abbreviation to not waste space), and that's it. New York's plates do a great job of hitting these points. I could do with omitting the state motto, but it's still way better than the proposed replacements.

Australia has awesome licence plates. Incredibly simple and easy to read:

[kalvado]

I totally agree. Is yellow the best color? I dunno. I quite enjoyed it when I was in the UK, and NY's plates remind me of them a bit. Maybe that's why I like them. But modern plate designs are just too damn busy. I don't want to drive around with a billboard stuck to my car. Plates should have the number, a sticker if necessary, and the state name (perhaps as an abbreviation to not waste space), and that's it. New York's plates do a great job of hitting these points. I could do with omitting the state motto, but it's still way better than the proposed replacements.

Australia has awesome licence plates. Incredibly simple and easy to read:

Thinking about it... plate format has to do with this.

Modern fonts have ratio of symbol width to height in 0.4 - 0.55 range, I will use 0.5 for simplicity.

most european plate size is  20.5"(520mm) Length x 4.5"(114mm) Width, (4.5:1) or slight variations of that. Using 3/4 of plate height for symbol, you can put 12 symbols comfortably. More condensed fonts give you more symbols.  Plenty of room!


Australia uses 14.5x5.3” (372 mm by 135 mm) (2.75:1),   slightly over 7 normal width symbols. Given Australia population is less than that of Texas, and little international car travel, 7 symbols should be quite enough.

US - and most of North America - uses 6x12 inches, 2:1  ratio, which is just over 5 symbols. Many states use 7 symbols by now,  which is doable using EU letter height and some font compression. That leaves lots of real estate on top and bottom of the plate for state name and some bulls.it.. sorry, I mean artwork.
And those dimensions are hard to change, as cars are made with license plate mounting locations to match local regulations.
2-lane plates may become the norm in US at some point, and I wonder if electronic plate readers are prepared for that.

[Flint1979]

Ugh. None of these designs are even close to being an improvement on the current yellow and blue. About the best that can be said for any of them is that the state name isn't a website.

That's what I hate about my plate. It says Pure Michigan at the top in some crap font. Then says michigan.org at the bottom. Plus it's a boring blue and white plate.

SAMSUNG-SM-T377A

[DaBigE]

Thinking about it... plate format has to do with this.

Modern fonts have ratio of symbol width to height in 0.4 - 0.55 range, I will use 0.5 for simplicity.

most european plate size is  20.5"(520mm) Length x 4.5"(114mm) Width, (4.5:1) or slight variations of that. Using 3/4 of plate height for symbol, you can put 12 symbols comfortably. More condensed fonts give you more symbols.  Plenty of room!


Australia uses 14.5x5.3"  (372 mm by 135 mm) (2.75:1),   slightly over 7 normal width symbols. Given Australia population is less than that of Texas, and little international car travel, 7 symbols should be quite enough.

US - and most of North America - uses 6x12 inches, 2:1  ratio, which is just over 5 symbols. Many states use 7 symbols by now,  which is doable using EU letter height and some font compression. That leaves lots of real estate on top and bottom of the plate for state name and some bulls.it.. sorry, I mean artwork.
And those dimensions are hard to change, as cars are made with license plate mounting locations to match local regulations.
2-lane plates may become the norm in US at some point, and I wonder if electronic plate readers are prepared for that.

How do the text heights compare between the European plates and the US? Can't quite tell from the images you used, but it seems like the European style has slightly shorter plate numbers. Two lines would likely result in shorter text than we're accustomed to. LEOs would likely complain as smaller text means the plates can't be read from as far away with the naked eye.

[Scott5114]

I can't imagine any reason for a need for a two-line plate format. The ABC-NNNN format used in most of the populous states yields 175,760,000 plate combinations (26×26×26×10×10×10×10), which would be enough for every man, woman, and child in the state of California to register four cars. This could be doubled by also using NNNN-ABC, and doesn't take into account using combinations like AB-NNNNN for specialty plates.

[kalvado]

How do the text heights compare between the European plates and the US? Can't quite tell from the images you used, but it seems like the European style has slightly shorter plate numbers. Two lines would likely result in shorter text than we're accustomed to.

my NY plates have 70 mm = 2.75" symbol height
70, 76, 58 and 79 mm seems to be used in different locations across Atlantic. Fitting two 2.75" lines within 6" US plate is hard, 2.5"= 63mm should be doable

LEOs would likely complain as smaller text means the plates can't be read from as far away with the naked eye.

They will complain if font size increased, or if nothing is done to improve things. Babies also tend to cry a lot.

I can't imagine any reason for a need for a two-line plate format. The ABC-NNNN format used in most of the populous states yields 175,760,000 plate combinations (26×26×26×10×10×10×10), which would be enough for every man, woman, and child in the state of California to register four cars. This could be doubled by also using NNNN-ABC, and doesn't take into account using combinations like AB-NNNNN for specialty plates.

Truth is, 7 symbols is NOT the entire license plate format. As long as there is a free flow of traffic between lower 48, with Canada and Mexico mixed in, sprinkled with Caribbeans and HI-AK cars -  state (country, province, government branch etc) which issued plate is an essential part of the information. And that is often relayed by some funny tiny font squeezed on top or bottom of plate, obscured by a frame, reinforced by background color or image which reduces readability. And there is no room to squeeze those 2 extra symbols in the main line.
Last, but not the least, 4 plates per person is not too much. As this discussion started with NY mandatory plate replacement - if that goes through, I will be getting my 4th plate in 2 years (my first plate was gone in 2002 thanks to mandatory replacement, then that plate was returned as we went from 2 cars to 1 car for a while, then back to 2 with a brand new plate - which is now subject to replacement). I didn't move between the states, but that can easily cause going through more plates. I fully suspect I will be in double digits over my lifetime.

[SP Cook]

Last, but not the least, 4 plates per person is not too much. As this discussion started with NY mandatory plate replacement - if that goes through, I will be getting my 4th plate in 2 years (my first plate was gone in 2002 thanks to mandatory replacement, then that plate was returned as we went from 2 cars to 1 car for a while, then back to 2 with a brand new plate - which is now subject to replacement). I didn't move between the states, but that can easily cause going through more plates. I fully suspect I will be in double digits over my lifetime.

Well, that is because they are just replacing the plates, not resetting to zero.  Imagine a three letter, four number system, and a "plate stays with the owner, not the car" system, which is the more common scheme.  That yields 175,760,000 possible combinations.  (Obviously a few combinations will be skipped due to profanity, politics, etc).  So it starts at AAA 0000 and runs to ZZZ 9999.  But every time someone moves out of state, sells a car privatly (at least that is how it works in my state), dies, has the plate or car stolen, or replaces a plate due to wear, the number is "burned" in that system.  And the same is multiplied in NY, as the new plates are within the same numbering scheme, and thus "burning" all of the previous plates.

BUT, a true reset restarts at zero.  Or in this case AAA 0000.  Say orange and blue is replaced by blue and orange.  So the old DFE 9765 in o&b is now void and a new DFE 9765 is issued to a new person (ar the same person) in b&o, with all "burned" numbers now again available for reisue.  Thus 175M is more than enough to go around.

[kalvado]

Last, but not the least, 4 plates per person is not too much. As this discussion started with NY mandatory plate replacement - if that goes through, I will be getting my 4th plate in 2 years (my first plate was gone in 2002 thanks to mandatory replacement, then that plate was returned as we went from 2 cars to 1 car for a while, then back to 2 with a brand new plate - which is now subject to replacement). I didn't move between the states, but that can easily cause going through more plates. I fully suspect I will be in double digits over my lifetime.

Well, that is because they are just replacing the plates, not resetting to zero.  Imagine a three letter, four number system, and a "plate stays with the owner, not the car" system, which is the more common scheme.  That yields 175,760,000 possible combinations.  (Obviously a few combinations will be skipped due to profanity, politics, etc).  So it starts at AAA 0000 and runs to ZZZ 9999.  But every time someone moves out of state, sells a car privatly (at least that is how it works in my state), dies, has the plate or car stolen, or replaces a plate due to wear, the number is "burned" in that system.  And the same is multiplied in NY, as the new plates are within the same numbering scheme, and thus "burning" all of the previous plates.

BUT, a true reset restarts at zero.  Or in this case AAA 0000.  Say orange and blue is replaced by blue and orange.  So the old DFE 9765 in o&b is now void and a new DFE 9765 is issued to a new person (ar the same person) in b&o, with all "burned" numbers now again available for reisue.  Thus 175M is more than enough to go around.

Well, let me put it so: right now, NY is issuing plates in J range of ABC-NNNN scheme. A, B and beginning of C were consumed for initial replacement;  so in 16 years state went through 7 first letters,  - or 1 first letter in 2 years, give or take. I, O and Q are not used as first letter, Y and Z are used for temporary - so overall 40 years to go through entire scheme. Which is not that bad, but definitely less than "one scheme will work forever".
Who would have guessed? People who invented 4-byte IP addresses, 9-digit SSNs and 2-digit year in dates also did a great job...

[PHLBOS]

This is NY, where issues are discussed and then governor takes a decision regardless, using assembly as a rubber stamp.

You're essentially predicting that the current governor will select the scheme that shows the new Tappan Zee crossing named after his father (Design Scheme #3); despite what the polling results over the five proposed plate designs ultimately turns out to be.  It's worth noting that the bridge plate design is the only one that doesn't feature a white background.  It's muted pale blue background color is just different enough not to be confused w/CT's current scheme from a distance... although the background color is almost identical to that of RI's plates.  However, since RI is not adjacently-connected to NY (outside of some passenger ferries(?)); NY's probably not going to care about any resemblance to that state's plate.

You liked old colors better?

Yes & no. 

Yes in regards that the gold background stands apart enough from the plate schemes from the surrounding states. 

Had PA maintained its older blue-on-gold as its current scheme; I would've not been in favor of NY using any blue-on-gold scheme, be it the current design or the ones from '73(?) through '86.

No in regards that the background color has to be gold... just different enough to be distinguished from the adjacent states.  Had NY proposed red on a white background, I would've commented on such being too similar to MA's scheme.

[kalvado]

You're essentially predicting that the current governor will select the scheme that shows the new Tappan Zee crossing named after his father (Design Scheme #3); despite what the polling results over the five proposed plate designs ultimately turns out to be.

Pretty much yes. Will be very happy to be wrong, but not counting on that.

Yes in regards that the gold background stands apart enough from the plate schemes from the surrounding states. 

Had PA maintained its older blue-on-gold as its current scheme; I would've not been in favor of NY using any blue-on-gold scheme, be it the current design or the ones from '73(?) through '86.

No in regards that the background color has to be gold... just different enough to be distinguished from the adjacent states.  Had NY proposed red on a white background, I would've commented on such being too similar to MA's scheme.

Border or not, I think I see more RI plates than PA plates over here - possibly because we have no direct highways to PA, but I-90 towards Boston connects to RI pretty nicely. Overall, I would rather see state name (abbreviation)  conspicuously printed in regular font, as opposed to guessing the color scheme, font and plate format. And I don't see a good reason for cops to be able to distinguish plate states from the distance. Especially given how many plate frames obscure plate edge with state name - despite being illegal.

[renegade]

Ugh. None of these designs are even close to being an improvement on the current yellow and blue. About the best that can be said for any of them is that the state name isn't a website.

That's what I hate about my plate. It says Pure Michigan at the top in some crap font. Then says michigan.org at the bottom. Plus it's a boring blue and white plate.

SAMSUNG-SM-T377A

I hate the wave AND the website.  That's why I got the Mackinac Bridge plate, and I got them before the bland redesign.

[PHLBOS]

Especially given how many plate frames obscure plate edge with state name - despite being illegal.

If such is indeed illegal; then why are such being sold at stores and/or offered by dealerships who should technically know better?

[kalvado]

Especially given how many plate frames obscure plate edge with state name - despite being illegal.

If such is indeed illegal; then why are such being sold at stores and/or offered by dealerships who should technically know better?

Because there is no law prohibiting sale or possession of such frames. NYS law just says that

the view of such  number  plates  shall  not  be  obstructed  by  any  part of the vehicle or by anything carried thereon

And even that seems to be rarely enforced.

[SP Cook]

If such is indeed illegal; then why are such being sold at stores and/or offered by dealerships who should technically know better?

My daughter went to college in North Carolina and the local cops, as in most college towns using students as a source of revenue, strictly enforced such a rule, a plate frame cannot cover either the state name or any of the validation stickers.   The school warned about this at orientation.  Kids were also ticketed for no front plate, even though NC does not have front plates, and expired inspection stickers, even though NC no longer uses inspection stickers.

With the increase of toll by plate (which should be illegal) and other such stuff, this will probably become more enforced nationwide.

Of course, I remove all dealer ads from my car the second I buy it.

[webny99]

I can't imagine any reason for a need for a two-line plate format. The ABC-NNNN format used in most of the populous states yields 175,760,000 plate combinations (26×26×26×10×10×10×10), which would be enough for every man, woman, and child in the state of California to register four cars. This could be doubled by also using NNNN-ABC, and doesn't take into account using combinations like AB-NNNNN for specialty plates.

And in NY at least, trucks (which are many people's second car, and account for a decent percent of vehicles on the road) have to have commercial plates with an entirely different format (AB-NNNNN). So yes, it is ridiculous to think that two lines would be needed.

[kalvado]

I can't imagine any reason for a need for a two-line plate format. The ABC-NNNN format used in most of the populous states yields 175,760,000 plate combinations (26×26×26×10×10×10×10), which would be enough for every man, woman, and child in the state of California to register four cars. This could be doubled by also using NNNN-ABC, and doesn't take into account using combinations like AB-NNNNN for specialty plates.

And in NY at least, trucks (which are many people's second car, and account for a decent percent of vehicles on the road) have to have commercial plates with an entirely different format (AB-NNNNN). So yes, it is ridiculous to think that two lines would be needed.

2 lanes may be beneficial if proper display of state abbreviation on the plate is introduced. US plates can hardly accommodate than in main text line. 
Using condensed and extra-condensed fonts - which are a must, if 7 (or as in NY, font is ready for 8 symbols per plate)  affects readability.

[vdeane]

Well, let me put it so: right now, NY is issuing plates in J range of ABC-NNNN scheme. A, B and beginning of C were consumed for initial replacement;  so in 16 years state went through 7 first letters,  - or 1 first letter in 2 years, give or take. I, O and Q are not used as first letter, Y and Z are used for temporary - so overall 40 years to go through entire scheme. Which is not that bad, but definitely less than "one scheme will work forever".
Who would have guessed? People who invented 4-byte IP addresses, 9-digit SSNs and 2-digit year in dates also did a great job...

Of course, that's only a problem because NY doesn't reissue old plate numbers.

You're essentially predicting that the current governor will select the scheme that shows the new Tappan Zee crossing named after his father (Design Scheme #3); despite what the polling results over the five proposed plate designs ultimately turns out to be.

Given that there are three Statue of Liberty plates in the poll, a fourth with the Statue of Liberty and some upstate scenery, and one with the bridge, some people critical of the plate replacement are speculating that the poll is rigged to split the Statue of Liberty vote to ensure the bridge winning.

Border or not, I think I see more RI plates than PA plates over here - possibly because we have no direct highways to PA, but I-90 towards Boston connects to RI pretty nicely. Overall, I would rather see state name (abbreviation)  conspicuously printed in regular font, as opposed to guessing the color scheme, font and plate format. And I don't see a good reason for cops to be able to distinguish plate states from the distance. Especially given how many plate frames obscure plate edge with state name - despite being illegal.

PA is also easily connected via I-81 and I-88, though it's true there aren't very many plates from PA here relative to other parts of the state.  I see a ton of them whenever I go west of Syracuse.  I guess they prefer the Finger Lakes to the Adirondacks.

[webny99]

PA is also easily connected via I-81 and I-88, though it's true there aren't very many plates from PA here relative to other parts of the state.  I see a ton of them whenever I go west of Syracuse.  I guess they prefer the Finger Lakes to the Adirondacks.

I think it's just easier, at least for the majority of the PA, to get to the Finger Lakes. It makes intuitive sense looking at a map: I-81 in NY is roughly an extension of the dividing line between Jersey and PA. So you get more PA plates west of I-81, and more Jersey and CT (and downstate) plates in the Catskills and Adirondacks. I certainly notice an increase in Jersey plates whenever I travel east of Syracuse.

[steviep24]

New York getting another new plate design from five potential options, which state residents can vote for: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-launches-statewide-survey-allowing-new-yorkers-choose-states-new-license-plate / https://now.ny.gov/page/s/vote-for-the-next-nys-license-plate-design







(Personally, I like #5 the best.)

Design #5 won.

[PHLBOS]

Design #5 won.

Of the four non-bridge plate, the winning plate design IMHO looks to be the best choice; although I would've preferred a background color other than white for that design.

According to this News Report, the winning design received more than 50% of the 325,000 votes.  The plate with the bridge design tied for last at 9.7% of the vote.

While the public has now spoken on the plate design choice; will the governor accept the selected choice?  To Gov. Cuomo's credit, he has somewhat relented on the mandatory plate replacement and related $25 mandatory replacement fee.

Under Cuomo's original plan:
-On April 1, three million drivers with plates that are ten years or older were to automatically get new plates when they renew their registration.
-A $25 replacement fee would be added to the registration fee
-A $20 additional charge if you want the same plate number
-At $25 a pop, three million plates would bring in $75 million to the state.

Eventually, the state's 1.2 million cars would have to get the new plates so they can be read by the new electronic toll readers on bridges and the equally controversial congestion pricing plan in Manhattan.

On Friday, the governor bowed to the public's fury saying maybe there is a way to keep your plates if they are in good condition.

"We don't want anyone to have to replace a plate if the plate is in fine condition... We have to find a way to inspect a license plate to determine whether or not it has to be replaced,"  Cuomo conceded.

[jzn110]

That's what I hate about my plate. It says Pure Michigan at the top in some crap font. Then says michigan.org at the bottom. Plus it's a boring blue and white plate.

SAMSUNG-SM-T377A

You can always opt for the Mackinac Bridge plate. Supposedly the green and blue "Spectacular Peninsulas" plate is still being sold, too.

While I'm not a huge fan of either of those designs, they're still vastly better than the plain white plate - which itself looked better when it had the blue bar on top instead of on the bottom, because now all of the "specialty registration" plates (trailers, municipal vehicles, commercial trucks, fundraiser plates, etc.) are plain boring white all around.

Also, the "Pure Michigan" logo is too small to be legible. I get that this is a restriction because of how the logo is designed, but you'd think they'd work on creating a modified version for the plate that makes the "PURE ICHIGAN" larger in proportion to the M so it's more readable, without super compromising the overall brand.

While I was originally glad that they phased out the blue plate because of how dated it was looking, the white plate isn't much better. Now that the blue plate has been gone for several years, I wouldn't mind seeing the standard plate redesigned back to a blue plate with white numbers, but with the "Pure Michigan" logo for a modern touch:

[renegade]

^^ So we can carry them around for the next thirty twenty  years! ^^

[LM117]

North Carolina just passed a law requiring license plates to be replaced every 7 years.

https://abc11.com/politics/new-law-requires-nc-drivers-to-replace-their-license-plates-every-7-years/5575767/

[kalvado]

North Carolina just passed a law requiring license plates to be replaced every 7 years.

https://abc11.com/politics/new-law-requires-nc-drivers-to-replace-their-license-plates-every-7-years/5575767/

Makes sense. But I would hate to be the guy who moves out of state after living there for 7.5 years...