License Plate State

[dthomsen8]

http://www.wickenburg-az.com/ says that Arizona has a new law requiring license plates to have the state of origin visible to police. This is a reasonable idea for a state with a lot of tourists, but on the other hand there are plenty of vehicles right here in Pennsylvania where the license plate holder obscures the state, and the way to know the state is by the colors of the plate and, for Pennsylvania, the Keystone in the middle.

Now I know that some of our European members may find this strange, but our license plates and laws about them are state matters, and consequently there is an enormous variety out there.

[Steve Rindsberg]

That one seems destined to enrich some lawyers. ;-)

I can understand why the police in AZ might want to be able to tell the state of origin easily, but I wonder if they can enforce the law on drivers from other states, at least not w/o fouling any reciprocity agreements.

[Richard Waller]

So the same registration number could be on 50 different cars across the States?

[ktinkel]

Originally Posted by Richard Waller

So the same registration number could be on 50 different cars across the States?

Could be, but the states also have different patterns in the IDs. In Connecticut, we have 6 or 7 characters, possibly including a hyphen. And you can pay a bit extra to have a word or your name (no numbers are necessary, though most have at least some).

I usually identify license plates by the background colors and images. Not really all that difficult.

[sky4forums]

I usually identify license plates by the background colors and images. Not really all that difficult.

Try telling FLA and GA apart from a distance. They both have a round fruit in the middle, an orange or a peach. I can never be sure which is which.

[Steve Rindsberg]

>> So the same registration number could be on 50 different cars across the States?

Not probable, but possible (some ... most? ... states permit vanity plates).

[ktinkel]

Originally Posted by sky4forums

Try telling FLA and GA apart from a distance. They both have a round fruit in the middle, an orange or a peach. I can never be sure which is which.

Ah. Could be. I have a New England bias — Rhode Island has honest-to-god graphic-designed plates in shades of blue; Connecticut has bureaucrat-designed plates in shades of blue; and Massachussets plates just look different somehow.

[Richard Waller]

The UK current system is in the form AA NN BBB which is fine except that the AA part is supposed to show the place where first registered, and people buy their cars from anywhere, and then sell them anywhere, so really not very useful. The Number NN has the second digit for the year, and the first digit 1 for the first half of the year and 5 for the seond half., This will be confusing again when we get tp 2010 when it will be 2 and 6.

There are some lovely plates around. My favourite is MI55JOY. See also http://www.goring-by-sea.uk.com/dvla.htm

[Hugh Wyn Griffith]

Originally Posted by sky4forums

Try telling FLA and GA apart from a distance. They both have a round fruit in the middle, an orange or a peach. I can never be sure which is which.

Not all have the orange ....

And they are now saying: myFlorida.com at the top -- I wonder if Arizona will accept that?

Here are some of the speciality plates approved

[Susie]

Originally Posted by dthomsen8

http://www.wickenburg-az.com/ says that Arizona has a new law requiring license plates to have the state of origin visible to police.

We have the same law here in Texas, but it is definitely not enforced. I've seen way too many people with frames around their license plates obscuring the state name and, in some cases, part of the numbers. I've always wondered what the point of a law is, if it isn't enforced.