We continue the scrub.
If you missed what’s going on here, we made a terrible mistake, and we’re working to correct it. Our goal? Make sure we know what the standard license plate looks like in each of the 50 states. Once we’ve achieved it, we’ll rank those plates, and then we’ll do License Plate Bracket III. The path forward is clear.
We’ve gone through the Western plates and the Midwestern plates. Today, we’re going through the South and South-adjacent plates, which means the traditional South plus Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and West Virginia, who don’t neatly fit into another quaternary region.
Texas
Same plate here. Unbeknownst to me (until today), the black plate I think of as the old Texas plate wasn’t a standard plate! Still learning, fellow Texans. Still learning.
Oklahoma
Slight change to Oklahoma’s rolled out a few months ago, with the removal of the word “Explore” above where it says the state’s name. The plate’s still not great (especially when there are so many cool state icons they could be using), but this is a step forward for it.
Arkansas
No changes here, including to that great font they’ve been using for at least 44 years. Yes, that font design is that old. Remarkable longevity.
Louisiana
Same design here as well.
Mississippi
Like Arkansas’s, this font has stood the test of time. Unfortunately, we’re on a poor iteration of the rest of the plate.
Alabama
Brand new plate this year, though it’s got the same approach as the last one. Switching to a beach, which is, as they say, a choice.
Florida
Same plate they’ve had since 2003, which tracks. Imagine the challenge of changing the standard license plate in Florida.
Georgia
This is a tricky one. Georgia has two standard plates. One of the standard plates was close to the old standard plate, which with the New Mexico and Utah situations held some weight. In this case, though, that particular plate is explicitly labeled as an “alternate standard” plate, making us use the one that gets no “alternate” qualifier here. Does this mean we’ve been using the other one in error these last three years? Yes. Yes it does.
Tennessee
New license plate here, and it’s an improvement over the last one, as most anything would have been.
South Carolina
Same one here.
North Carolina
North Carolina has three standard plates, but this one—which originated in the 80’s—is far and away the longest-tenured of the three, so it gets primary status in our eyes.
Virginia
Still on this one in Virginia. One of the longer-lasting plates nationally.
West Virginia
Another well-established plate. Not messing with a classic over there.
Kentucky
Some confusion here. New design, two standard plates, residents can choose between them. The only difference is that one includes the phrase “In God We Trust” above the county. We’re designating the emptier plate as primary because, while we don’t know which is more common, this design captures the “In God We Trust” design more than the “In God We Trust” design captures this design, if that makes sense.
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Image Credits
- Texas: Wikipedia user Zcarstvnz (link to license)
- Oklahoma: Wikipedia user Broz1014 (link to license)
- Arkansas: Wikipedia user EvanA123 (link to license)
- Louisiana: Wikipedia user Broz1014 (link to license)
- Mississippi: State of Mississippi
- Alabama: Alabama Department of Revenue
- Florida: Wikipedia user Dickelbers (link to license)
- Georgia: Wikipedia user Zcarstvnz (link to license)
- Tennessee: Tennessee Department of Revenue
- South Carolina: Wikipedia user Zcarstvnz (link to license)
- North Carolina: Wikipedia user Jettacar (link to license)
- Virginia: Wikipedia user Zcarstvnz (link to license)
- West Virginia: Corb Moister of Norwich, Vermont (link to license)
- Kentucky: Commonwealth of Kentucky
