HIGHWAY PATROL : Creative License
Angelenos are given to disquieting displays of hubris when it comes to their vehicles--I drive, therefore I am. Not even the lowly license plate has escaped. Witness the fleets of battleship-class BMWs and Range Rovers festooned bow and stern with vanity plates subtly inscribed “GRS,PNTS,” “MYWAY,” or “GUMP1.” In a city that hardly needs one, another stratum of class distinction is born; those with front-end profit, participation deals and the bad taste to celebrate them on license plates, and those without.
All of which makes the Department of Motor Vehicles’ special-interest license plate program seem positively altruistic. According to state law, any organization can submit its “proposed distinctive design” to the DMV for inclusion. After 5,000 applications from motorists for the plates are received, the state makes them available to anyone with a hankering for aesthetic distinction and a few extra bucks to spend. Of the $50 fee for the Yosemite plate, right below, $35 is split between a foundation for the park and an environmental fund for purchasing parkland. (The 28,976 Yosemite plates sold since 1993-still the top selling special-interest-tag have swollen the foundation’s coffers by $1.4 million.) Other causes with flashy plates include: firefighter training, above (4,851 sold); child safety, blow left (9,664 sold), and the California Arts Fund, top left (19,517 sold).
What about a program for coiners of egregious vanity-plate slogans? It only takes 5,000 applications....
