When it comes to specialty license plates, legislators appear to be working at cross purposes.

While on their way to approving more specialty plates this year, lawmakers are also creating a commission to study the program.

The commission won’t recommend eliminating the plates – the legislature would just ignore it if it did. The plates are popular with the public and raise a lot of money for both state government and a variety of causes.
Sen. Ed Jones, a Halifax County Democrat and former state trooper, is worried about public safety. Many specialty plates use the state’s familiar “First in Flight” backdrop. Because they don’t look much different, they are easily recognizable to law enforcement and the public.

Not so recognizable are many of the 35 state plates with dramatically different formats. They may not serve a plate’s fundamental purpose: To provide the public and police with a quick way of identifying each registered car. Familiarity with a design makes it much easier to identify and remember a plate.
In cases where a citizen gets only a glimpse of a car speeding from a crime scene, for example, familiarity is sure to make a big difference. It’s easier to see the letters and numbers and to determine that it is from North Carolina. With many of the 35 non-traditional plates, that quick recognition is less likely.
A few of the plates in question do not pose a problem because, due to their popularity, the public has grown accustomed to them. For example, the Blue Ridge Parkway plate, with 27,000 issuances, comes to mind. But others are quite rare, requiring as few as 300 drivers interested in purchasing them before the state starts issuing them.

All plate designs must gain state approval, and public-safety concerns are part of that process. But the commission should consider whether more conformity should be required for that approval. For example, should all plates have at least a white background with blue or red letters and numbers?
For plates that deviate significantly from the standard, such as the Blue Ridge plate, the state should raise the minimum number that must be reserved before they can go into use. By requiring more than 300, the state would be guaranteeing that more of us will see these plates regularly and thus become familiar with them.