Too bad the plate cost data wasn't presented. Was wondering which was the most expensive.
In Oregon the cost varies pretty wildly, and some don't have a renewal surcharge.
All of the vehicle license plates available in America
31–40 of 289 posts
Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America
#32Do 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 decorat…
There are average speed cameras on the A9 here in Scotland - which I think have been a good thing given the reduction in insane driving I've seen on what was already a very dangerous road.
Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America
#33A few years ago, I set out to take a snapshot of a plate from every state. My rules were that I had to take it personally, it had to be a regular set of numbers and letters for that state - no vanities - and I had to be able to clearly see the whole thing.
I’m down to 3 left to get - North Dakota, West Virginia and Delaware. It’s been more than a year since I caught the last one (South Dakota) so I’m not sure I’ll ever be done.
Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 decorat…
There are average speed cameras on the A9 here in Scotland - which I think have been a good thing given the reduction in insane driving I've seen on what was already a very dangerous road. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A9_road_(Scotland)
I personally am a huge fan of average speed cameras and think we should adopt them but that is a hugely unpopular opinion here in the states... it would be career suicide for a politician to campaign on that, quite possibly even for the deadliest roads with the most insane drivers. (For me, instantly thinking of the 'Robert Moses style' New York state parkways [1])
Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America
#35A 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…
People usually drive their own car, and taking away someone's license can be life destroying in most parts of the country.
Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America
#36Currently a good 5% of license plates I see parked on the streets of nyc are out of state paper licenses. Somehow I don’t think they are all newly purchased vehicles.
Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America
#37A 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…
The theory is they'll just drive anyway without a license. Plus in many/most parts of the US, a car is effectively required to live, so removing one's ability to drive is a seriously major punishment. The whiskey plate indicates to other drivers that the car could be more dangerous than expected, and yes, I think the shame is supposed to be a component as well. It's harm reduction, not a perfect solution.
I don't know if the theory works in practice.
Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
that's so ... american. the vehicle version of public mugshots or perpwalk
I’m just wondering why they’re allowed to drive at all after 3 DUIs.
I don't know about America but in the UK people don't get their driving licence taken away that often, even if they have hit 12 points (ie: racked up enough offences to theoretically lose it). There is a lot of consideration as to whether removing the driving licence will cause hardship and defendants obviously usually argue that it will (with some truth) so judges sometimes don't remove the licence.
Anecdotally, I feel like it's actually gotten less common over the years. When I was a teenager I would meet adults who were riding the bus because they'd had their licence taken away. Often it would be for a 6 month period before they could re-apply (without retaking the test). That became less frequent at some point.
Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America
#39A 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.
As someone who read "The Scarlet Letter" in highschool, the lesson I learned is that the state really should avoid encouraging and supporting a culture of vigilantism and ostrization. I for one don't think that lasting punishment* for life are appropriate where addiction is likely the root cause. But if the goal is just that, the laws should be changed to do so more deliberately, rather than offload the dirty work to the public.
Also, I can't decide if "whiskey plates" are useful in any real way. As something that is socially stigmatizing, it's really unclear what the social response (if anything) is supposed to be. That said, I don't know of any PSA or public decree what went along with the launch of such programs. Now I'm just curious.
Hilariously, in Virginia, there are "Gadsden flag" ("don't tread on me") plates that can resemble whiskey plates from other states. So, across state lines, you have people inadvertently diluting this "DUI driver on board" message all while expressing a confused mess of other sentiments.
(* I should clarify this by saying that I'm all for one-time penalties for doing the wrong thing, including removing privileges. It's where we brush up against a person's rights, forever, that I take issue with. To me, revoking a driver's license for life is okay, but removing their sense of personal safety and autonomy through crowdsourced abuse, is not.)
Re: All of the vehicle license plates available in America
#40A 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…
In Minnesota drivers recovering from DUI revocation are required to use the "whiskey" plates. (Incidentally the license plate database is incomplete because it does not include the Minnesota "whiskey" plate.)
While "whiskey" plates are on the vehicle police officers can legally stop the driver of the vehicle for a impairment check without cause (e.g. without any indications that the driver is under the influence or any traffic violations.) The idea is that the extra enforcement is incentive for the recovering DUI driver to continue to drive safely and re-develop that habit.