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Sunday, February 25, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal COLUMN: Road Warrior Vanity plates have come far and helped many causes since '70s
Once upon a time every state had one license plate. And it was ugly. And no one cared. Then in the 1960s some motorists -- Californians, of course -- decided that a random sequence of letters and numbers was too anonymous for their taste. It didn't communicate to surrounding drivers what a unique and noteworthy individual was in their presence. Thus began the rise in popularity of the vanity plate. Instead of random letters and numbers, their license plates bore meaningful messages such as: WERL8, HAVNFUN and MYTOY. By the 1970s, motorists decided there were even more meaningful messages to communicate using license plates. Environmental causes and group affiliations, formerly fodder for bumper stickers, were integrated into the design of these specialty plates. With this trend, the lid on Pandora's box of license plates came completely off. Today, Nevada produces 80 different license plates, according to Kevin Malone, spokesman for the Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety. And the number probably will soon go even higher. Currently there are measures before the Legislature's transportation committees that would create three more license plates: supporting rodeos, the rights of animals and reconstruction of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. "Really all it's supposed to be is an identification for the car, but it's evolved into a kind of billboard," observed John Walters, a member of the Nevada International License Plate Society, a group of local collectors. "A lot of it started with wildlife and it just branched out from there." Branch out, it did. With a license plate you can advertise your support for Lake Tahoe protection, human organ donation, juvenile diabetes and sickle cell disease research, public education, art education for children, missing or exploited children -- and the list goes on. Then there are plates for hall of fame athletes, firefighters, Freemasons, Future Farmers of America, veterans and U.S. senators, graduates of the state's universities and amateur radio operators, and on and on. Although it may seem that almost any cause or group can have a license plate by simply asking nicely, the Legislature must give its approval for the motor vehicle department to produce them. This would presumably prohibit a group of undesirables -- people opposed to gambling, for instance -- from having an offensive specialty plate produced by the state. In addition, 250 motorists must confirm their willingness to purchase the plate before the prisoners can begin production. Although some may believe Nevada's license plate inventory is getting out of hand, the plates have raised money for worthy causes. Specialty plates cost between $51 and $61, compared with $1 for standard plates. Between $15 and $25 of the fee for specialty plates is contributed to the cause featured on the plate. According to Malone, the popularity of the Tahoe plate allowed the department in July to distribute $366,000 in grants to benefit the lake. In case you are concerned about who is paying for all of this, the $20,000 required to produce each new type of plate is drawn from a revolving account established by the Legislature in 1999. That account is funded using 25 percent of the issuance fee on all specialty plates. With a revolving account to pay for them, proposals for three more and, I'm sure, plenty of causes that 250 people can agree on and the Legislature can approve of, the state's 80 license plates are probably just the beginning. "Where does it end? That's a good question," Walters said. "As long as they sell and can make some money, I guess they'll keep doing it -- and they are kind of interesting to look at as well." If you have a question for the Road Warrior, call 387-2906 or e-mail Michael_Squires@ lvrj.com. Please include your phone number.
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