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All of the vehicle license plates available in America

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Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#21

Post by teddyh »

namdnay wrote: post #5
Scoundreller wrote: post #3

A relative had an immigrant colleague that was intrigued by different US license plates. One day their manager had one that had a new colour scheme that he never saw before. The intrigue overtook him and in a big group he had to ask how he got this new beautiful plate. And how could he get one themself? Turns out the state required you to “wear” this license plate after your third DUI or something. Oops. Edit: looks…

that's so ... american. the vehicle version of public mugshots or perpwalk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter>

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#22

Post by mptest »

ryandrake wrote: post #13
Scoundreller wrote: post #3

A relative had an immigrant colleague that was intrigued by different US license plates. One day their manager had one that had a new colour scheme that he never saw before. The intrigue overtook him and in a big group he had to ask how he got this new beautiful plate. And how could he get one themself? Turns out the state required you to “wear” this license plate after your third DUI or something. Oops. Edit: looks…

> Turns out the state required you to “wear” this license plate after your third DUI or something. This doesn't make much sense because the license plate is attached to the car, not the driver. Couldn't the manager just drive his wife's or friend's car or something? What purpose does the plate serve? "Warning everyone! A serial drink driver might be in this car, but might not be, and if he's in it he might be driving…

You're right! We should make them wear a star or something to indicate their specialness!

Joking aside I imagine taking licenses away are a big part of it, but that doesn't stop them from driving, at least the license plate warns the rest of us not to drive too close to the guy.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#23

Post by [deleted] »

fps wrote: post #17
Ekaros wrote: post #9

As coming from country with actually working IT, I always wondered about those year and month tags... I get my yearly tax directly as bill to my bank...

It's to notify police to stop the car if they see it on the road. The US has a lot of infrequently used or unused cars that gradually transition to a sedentary life in a garage or yard. It's not illegal to let your registration or inspection lapse if the car isn't being driven. If you drive a car with a lapsed registration or safety inspection sticker, police will notice, stop you, and issue a ticket.

[deleted]

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#26

Post by mikhailfranco »

mistrial9 wrote: post #14
andyjohnson0 wrote: post #2

Ah so this is the plates not the numbers . Just for moment I was kind of confused... I've always been surprised that there are so many licence plate number formats in use across the US. And some of the plate designs are pretty elaborate: I wonder to what extent they affect readability at a distance?

manufacturers of red-light cameras do not wonder, they have quietly made fortunes in the past 20 years.. more recently "mandatory license plate scanners at major bridges and toll roads" it seems. edit

Most US states do not have red-light cameras, and some that did, have withdrawn them. For example, see the Redflex bribery case, and other legal challenges.

YMMV in other countries: some are packed full of red-light and speed cameras, with phone-use detection expanding rapidly.

Most toll systems use different tech (e.g RFID), reinforced by plate readers to identify violators.

However, plate readers will always be a part of national security, and certain local law enforcement tactics.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#27

Post by Ekaros »

fps wrote: post #17
Ekaros wrote: post #9

As coming from country with actually working IT, I always wondered about those year and month tags... I get my yearly tax directly as bill to my bank...

It's to notify police to stop the car if they see it on the road. The US has a lot of infrequently used or unused cars that gradually transition to a sedentary life in a garage or yard. It's not illegal to let your registration or inspection lapse if the car isn't being driven. If you drive a car with a lapsed registration or safety inspection sticker, police will notice, stop you, and issue a ticket.

Nothing prevents DMV and police having interconnected database. Which would allow automatically communicating vehicles removed from use or with lapsed MOT.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#28

Post by blamazon »

beardyw wrote: post #24

Do they do NPR, number plate recognition, in the US. There is a lot of it in the UK, in fact I think average speed checks are based on them. I would have thought it would be hard with all that decoration.

We call it ALPR - Automatic License Plate Recognition and it is both controversial and omnipresent. Average speed checks are not a thing here, ALPR is used primarily for toll collection ("pay by plate") and secondarily for law enforcement and asset reposession. (If you drive with a suspended license or don't pay a car loan, a mobile ALPR may bust you) Most plates are still legible to these systems despite the decorations - the remainder are verified by hand for applications such as toll processing.

People do stuff like obscuring the plate with a bike rack, a magnetic leaf, tinted license plate cover, etc, but it's a risky game to tempt the toll collector like that.

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#29

Post by Symbiote »

mikhailfranco wrote: post #26
mistrial9 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

manufacturers of red-light cameras do not wonder, they have quietly made fortunes in the past 20 years.. more recently "mandatory license plate scanners at major bridges and toll roads" it seems. edit

Most US states do not have red-light cameras, and some that did, have withdrawn them. For example, see the Redflex bribery case, and other legal challenges. YMMV in other countries: some are packed full of red-light and speed cameras, with phone-use detection expanding rapidly. Most toll systems use different tech (e.g RFID), reinforced by plate readers to identify violators. However, plate readers will always be a p…

Plenty of toll roads recognize number plates in Europe, but it may well be that it's easier to implement this system when there are typically only two or three plate designs per country, and they're generally all pretty much the same — black letters on a white or yellow background.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_vehicle_registration_...

Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America

#30

Post by runarberg »

travisgriggs wrote: post #10
Scoundreller wrote: post #3

A relative had an immigrant colleague that was intrigued by different US license plates. One day their manager had one that had a new colour scheme that he never saw before. The intrigue overtook him and in a big group he had to ask how he got this new beautiful plate. And how could he get one themself? Turns out the state required you to “wear” this license plate after your third DUI or something. Oops. Edit: looks…

I'm curious what others think of this? My own thoughts, is that after one DUI you should just not get any plates at all. Period. It seems almost darkly comical that there would be a second and then a third time, and that the punishment would be an altered plate color?? Why not just put local graffiti artists to work, and give them a free pass to keep the offenders car in a constant state of "DUI" in scarlet letters.

My opinion is that DUI should revoke your license. I know it is common in Europe where first offenders loose their license for a few months, and then it gets progressively longer.

The USA has IMO a terrible system which punishes DUI drivers through the justice system regardless of if they caused any harm. This leaves people with pretty shitty lives and prevents people from calling the police on DUI drivers. They can still drive shortly after though.

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