Good Roads for License Plate Spotting

[CtrlAltDel]

Saw a lot of Texas plates on the Thruway this weekend between Albany and Syracuse.

When my family goes on road trips, we do a competitive license plate spotting game.  I give different point values to different states (or provinces or whatever) based on how far away they are and what the populations are.

I'd be curious to see your points rubric, if you have some spare time.

[Max Rockatansky]

WA 3 near Bremerton is a good place to catch out of state plates due to the numerous military bases in the area. 

[epzik8]

Just about any Interstate, particularly I-95.

[kphoger]

Saw a lot of Texas plates on the Thruway this weekend between Albany and Syracuse.

When my family goes on road trips, we do a competitive license plate spotting game.  I give different point values to different states (or provinces or whatever) based on how far away they are and what the populations are.

I'd be curious to see your points rubric, if you have some spare time.

I change them based on where we're going.

[kphoger]

I'd be curious to see your points rubric, if you have some spare time.

As an example, here's how I did it for a trip to Minnesota:

KS, NE, IA, MN – off the list, because we drove through these states.

Each state/province/whatever had two point values possible:  one value if claimed south of Council Bluffs, a different value if claimed north of Council Bluffs.



1.  Population – I calculated the distance to the county seat of the most populous county in that state.  Any state with a population under 10 million had a base score of 4 points.  Anything between 10 million and 20 million had a base score of 3 points.  Florida and Texas got a base score of 2 points, California got a base score of 1 point.

2.  Distance – This was calculated twice, once from our home city and once from our destination.  For the data point, I used the county seat of the most populous county in that state.  For states or territories that require shipping a vehicle by sea, I used the port most commonly used.  Values ranged from 16 points (Alaska from Kansas) down to 1 point (Oklahoma from Kansas, the Dakotas from Minnesota).  Alaska was actually a special case:  I manually adjusted the number downward because it's unreasonably common to spot one in these parts, considering.  Even adjusting this value down, Alaska still ended up being over-pointed.  I'm always amazed at how common Alaska plates are around here, considering the population and distance.

3.  Shipping – This was an added point value for states and territories that require shipping vehicle by sea, based on shipping cost:
* Nunavut, American Samoa:  30 added points
* Northern Mariana Islands:  28 added points
* US Virgin Islands:  27 added points
* Guam:  24 added points
* Puerto Rico:  20 added points
* Hawaii:  10 added points
* Newfoundland & Labrador:  1 added point

4.  Customs – This was an added point value for the hassles of customs in bringing a vehicle into the mainland USA:
* Mexico:  10 added points
* US overseas territories:  6 added points
* Canada:  4 added points
* Alaska, Hawaii:  2 added points

I then took the sum of those four numbers and subtracted 4.



Example point values
Oklahoma - 1 south, 4 north
Texas - 1 south, 4 north
Missouri - 2 south, 3 north
South Dakota - 2 south, 1 north
Missouri - 2 south, 3 north
Tennessee - 3 south, 4 north
North Dakota - 4 south, 1 north
California - 4 south, 6 north
Massachusetts - 8 south, 7 north
Maine - 9 south, 8 north
Manitoba - 9 south, 6 north
Ontario - 9 south, 8 north
British Columbia - 14 south, 13 north
Chihuahua - 14 south, 17 north
Nova Scotia - 15, 15
Nuevo León - 15 south, 18 north
Northwest Territories - 16 south, 14 north
Jalisco - 17 south, 20 north
Alaska - 18 south, 13 north
Hawaii - 19, 19
Oaxaca - 19 south, 22 north
Newfoundland & Labrador - 20, 20
Yucatán - 21 south, 24 north
Puerto Rico - 33 south, 34 north
Guam - 37, 37
Nunavut - 42 south, 40 north
Any country other than the US, Canada, or México - 45, 45

I also had extra boxes to mark off for spotting a license plate from an Indian nation and for spotting a US government plate.

[webny99]

Oh, but there's a catch when it comes to overseas plates. Getting Hawaii plates (for example) on a car in the lower 48 doesn't actually require the vehicle to be shipped. The plates can just be mailed.

I'm not sure of the ins and outs of how it's done legally. What I do know, from a firsthand source, is that an entire fleet of cars with Hawaii plates was spotted at Glacier National Park, and none of the cars actually came from Hawaii. It was long enough ago that I don't remember all the details. I may have to inquire further unless anyone else on here can explain/confirm offhand.

[kphoger]

Oh, but there's a catch when it comes to overseas plates. Getting Hawaii plates (for example) on a car in the lower 48 doesn't actually require the vehicle to be shipped. The plates can just be mailed.

I'm not sure of the ins and outs of how it's done legally. What I do know, from a firsthand source, is that an entire fleet of cars with Hawaii plates was spotted at Glacier National Park, and none of the cars actually came from Hawaii. It was long enough ago that I don't remember all the details. I may have to inquire further unless anyone else on here can explain/confirm offhand.

That could probably be done if the vehicles were part of an LLC registered in Hawaii.  Other than that... a lot of states offer plate renewals by mail, not just Hawaii.

[doglover44]

I -70/75 in Dayton get to see little bit of everything seen almost every state except Wyoming

[DevalDragon]

Oh, but there's a catch when it comes to overseas plates. Getting Hawaii plates (for example) on a car in the lower 48 doesn't actually require the vehicle to be shipped. The plates can just be mailed.

This would be quite a challenge, considering Hawaii requires a safety inspection to renew license plates. The only exemption for this I am aware of is for active duty military.

[webny99]

Oh, but there's a catch when it comes to overseas plates. Getting Hawaii plates (for example) on a car in the lower 48 doesn't actually require the vehicle to be shipped. The plates can just be mailed.

This would be quite a challenge, considering Hawaii requires a safety inspection to renew license plates. The only exemption for this I am aware of is for active duty military.

OK, so I guess the question is, does the safety inspection have to be performed in Hawaii?

[J3ebrules]

The NJ Turnpike is a gimme here. Simon and Garfunkel only said they were counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike who'd all gone to look for America, but counting the different license plates was just a given. 


Oh, also all around DC as far north as Baltimore. LOTS of people visiting from out of state.

[CoreySamson]

On road trips I've been on, one of the most consistent roads to spot license plates on has been I-30 between Texarkana and Little Rock, particularly around Hope.

Houston is an absolute horrible place to spot license plates, on the other hand. Rarely do I ever see an out-of-state plate here.