Number Plate News
New York State introduced its new blue-and-gold numberplates in April. The redesign, the first one in a decade, was initiated by Governor Paterson’s (failed) attempt to get us all to re-register and thus pump cash into the state budget.
Since he didn’t get his way, the new numberplates are not showing up all at once but are filtering out slowly, as cars are sold or re-registered, and they’re just now achieving widespread visibility.
In this slideshow, you can see every major variation since the state issued its first number, exactly a century ago — together with commentary on the big design shifts from Justin Davidson, New York’s architecture critic.
Wayne Thiebaud, a California painter, first received acclaim in the early 1960s with his paintings of confections like ice cream cones, cakes and soups in thickly textured, bright colors. In the early 1990s, Thiebaud (pronounced “TEE-boh”) created a piece of art for the common Californian: Coastline, more commonly known as the California Arts License Plate.
Since the time car owners were first able to purchase the arts license plate in 1994, the plate design–featuring the palm trees and sunset motif–has become an icon for the Golden State. But Coastline is more than a pretty picture for an automobile. The Arts Number Plate directly supports arts organizations and artists providing local arts programming and working with school-age children to make theater, dance, music and the visual arts part of their lives.
“Theater, music, dance and the visual arts are a crucial part of a well-rounded education,” said Muriel Johnson, Director of the California Arts Council. “The funding from the Arts Number Plate helps organizations teach children how to use their creative minds through hands-on activities.”
County Clerks from Northern and Central New York, responding to apparent confusion over new state vehicle registration renewal forms that have begun to arrive in local mailboxes, are reminding drivers that they don’t need to replace their number plates with the new “Empire Gold” plates.
The new plates are being offered as an option to every driver who renews a registration—for an extra fee of as much as $45. A small number of drivers—fewer than one percent, according to state officials—have opted to buy the replacement plates so far. Albany decided to go ahead and create the plates even after a popular uprising and petition drive led by the Clerks caused the Governor and State Legislators to abandon a proposal to make them mandatory. But some drivers are apparently confused by an awkwardly worded registration form that has begun arriving in mailboxes, thinking they still must pay for the more expensive plates.
“We made Albany back down on mandating the new licenses, and nothing has changed. Drivers who want to pay extra for the new plates have that option, but drivers who don’t, can keep the plates they already have, and pocket the savings,” said St. Lawrence County Clerk Patty Ritchie, who launched the anti-plate petition drive that eight weeks later forced Albany to change course.
The Washington Capitals are currently conducting an online auction for Caps-branded Maryland number plates. With the help of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, the Capitals are offering Maryland drivers the unique opportunity to bid on 31 of the first 100 number plates.
The winning bidder of each plate number will receive two license plates, one for the front of their vehicle and one for the back. Only registered Maryland drivers are eligible to bid on these limited-edition plates, and the bidder must also have a vehicle with valid Maryland registration.
The Caps license plate may be displayed on a passenger car, multipurpose vehicle or a truck weighing up to and including one ton. These license plates are not valid for motorcycles, boats or trailers. Winning bidders will be asked to submit a completed license plate application within ten days after the close of the auction.
Proceeds from the online auction will benefit Washington Capitals Charities. Created in 2000, Washington Capitals Charities offers unique resources and programs to other charities and organizations on behalf of the Washington Capitals. The mission of Washington Capitals Charities is to create, maintain and support community programs in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area that encourage participation in hockey, serve to educate youth, assist those who are less fortunate and focus on health and wellness.
Police members are encouraging Hobsons Bay residents to take steps to avoid numberplate thefts.
With a high proportion of petrol thefts committed with vehicles displaying false or stolen numberplates as well as being linked to other crimes, such as toll evasion, one-way security screws are a quick and easy deterrent.
The community is encouraged to attend an Operation Safe Plate day on Saturday 3 July at the Bunnings Warehouse car park on Millers Rd in Altona North between 9am and noon where they can get the screws fitted to their plates for free.
The one-way screws make attempted theft of numberplates more difficult and actively deter thieves.
The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration unveiled the new standard-issue registration plates recently in Glen Burnie, and motorists seem to either love them or hate them.
The new registration plate features Baltimore’s Fort McHenry in a red, white and blue color scheme. It will replace the standard black-and-white tag – which has been in use for about 20 years – on all cars, trucks, motorcycles, and disability and multipurpose vehicles until June 2015.
The design is a part of a statewide campaign to promote awareness of the 200-year anniversary of the War of 1812, in which the battle that inspired the national anthem was famously fought in Baltimore.
Every year people from all across the country flock to Traverse City for the National Cherry Festival. They anticipate watching the air show, enjoying cherry delicacies, and attending a wide array of festival events. But for my family, Cherry Festival means one more thing: our annual number plate hunt.
At the start of the festival, we print a list of all 50 states. Then, for the next week we are constantly on the lookout for a number plate from each one. If a car has an out-of-state license plate on the back, we check that state off the list. This yearly challenge is fun, addicting and sometimes a little wild.
Over the years we’ve become fairly familiar with each state’s plate, and in most cases a glance is all that’s needed to identify which state a number plate represents. There are some exceptions to this, though. For example, Ohio recently redesigned their number plate. It now looks a lot like North Dakota, and we have to pay close attention to be sure.
On the first day of the hunt, it’s not uncommon to see up to 35 different states. Plates like Indiana, Florida and Illinois are always easy to spot. Surprisingly, Alaska is also a quick find. It helps that the festival opens with the popular air show. This is especially true during those years featuring the Blue Angels, when we’ve seen such plates as Guam, Aruba, and the ever-elusive Hawaii.
A new funding source for Michigan’s state parks — an optional $10 fee paid by drivers getting their number plates tabs — starts this fall and should put the state parks on more stable financial footing.
If half of the state’s car owners sign up, it would bring $35.5 million annually to the parks. If three-quarters do, it would mean $53 million. If nobody signs up, then the parks will be left with only camper fees — not enough to run the system.
State officials say it will take three years to figure out how well the new program is working.
The state parks have not received any state tax support since 2004.
• For this summer, state park users still pay $6 for the day, or $24 for a year’s park pass.
• Starting in October, your car license plate renewal form will give you an option to pay $10 for a yearly park pass. The designation will be part of the tag you stick on your number plate. It will get you entry into any state park for free.
Ohio’s new “Beautiful Ohio” license plate has been judged beautiful.
The plate, which became Ohio’s standard plate earlier this month, was awarded Second Place for “Best New License Plate” by the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association, which bills itself as the largest club of license plate collectors in the country.
The award will be presented to state officials at a ceremony Tuesday at the Ohio Department of Public Safety in Columbus.
Srinagar, June 24: Breaking the previous highest bid for a vanity registration number, a Non-Resident Kashmiri (NRK) has paid a whopping Rs 1. 60 Lakh—the highest ever amount—for a vanity number, JK01P-0001, for his Sports Utility Vehicle.
Sources in the Regional Transport Office Kashmir said that the NRK (name withheld) outbid another bidder who was ready to Pay 1.55 Lakh for the number during the bidding process.
The NRK got the registration number of the new series for his brand new Tata Safari Dicor.
“This is the highest bid for a registration number in J&K state till date and has broken all the previous records,” said an official.
According to officials, the previous highest bid in the state was Rs 1 Lakh which was recently paid by a woman, Sunita Sharma of Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. She paid the amount for registration number “JK02AP-0001.”
However, the previous highest bid for a vanity number in Valley was Rs 70,000.
In 2009, a Jammu-based businessman had paid Rs 85, 000 for the number, JK02 AK-47.
Officials at RTO said the vanity and VIP numbers these days are in much demand and people are ready to pay big money for these.
“Such interest in the vanity numbers is unprecedented. Earlier only rich would pay for these numbers, but now middle class people also show greater interest in getting these numbers,” they said.
The vehicle owners usually pay Rs 2000 to 3000 more for numbers like ‘1111’ or ‘2222’, but these days bidding for these numbers is also high.
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