Special-Plate Blues : Drivers Like Distinctive License Tags, but Police Agencies Say the Explosion of Fancy Designs Makes Their Job Harder

Specialized license plates have become such popular highway fashion statements that more than 1.5 million California cars are adorned with various themed plates showcasing military deeds or loyalty to an alma mater or a favorite cause.

Indeed, although 95% of California’s nearly 27 million registered vehicles bear the familiar standard license plate, the other 5% are adorned with one of the 33 approved specialty plates, which may declare the owner a news photographer, a former prisoner of war, a friend of Yosemite National Park, a UCLA fan.

But not all law enforcement officers share the public’s growing enthusiasm for the elaborate plates. According to a legislative study of specialty license plates, most cops surveyed would rather scrap all the fancy designs and special colors for the state’s primary, easy-to-read license plate of good ol’ red, white and blue.

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According to the study, by a multi-agency state task force established by state Sen. Quentin Kopp (I-San Francisco), “the proliferation of plates presents problems for law enforcement.”

License plates are supposed to help identify a vehicle and its registration, “which is hampered by the variety of plate designs and color combinations,” the task force noted in the report. “Because of this proliferation, law enforcement and witnesses are hindered attempting to identify vehicles.”

The task force, made up of representatives of the state Department of Motor Vehicles, the California Highway Patrol, the Justice Department and Sacramento police, spent more than a year reviewing the various license plates and complaints about them.

The group’s study found that about 75% of police officers surveyed think California should have only one license plate design, and complain that the variety of designs makes it difficult for officers and witnesses to identify numbers and the state of origin.

Increasingly, specialty plates bear full graphic designs, college seals or emblems honoring veterans. Specialty plates are different from vanity plates, which have personalized messages instead of state-issued numbers.

Of 237 law enforcement agencies surveyed across the state:

* 95% said the primary state license plate is the easiest to read;

* 72% said the state should have only one license plate design;

* 79% were opposed to full-plate graphics;

* 86% said the complexity of the design of a plate makes it difficult to tell the state of origin.

“The plates with the full-plate graphic have problems with colors bleeding together,” said Sgt. Reggie Chappelle of the CHP’s legislative office.

Currently, the Yosemite plate is the state’s only one with a full graphic, showing the Yosemite Valley, a blue sky and navy blue numbers. Lake Tahoe Conservancy plates, to be issued later this year, will have a full color graphic of blue water and gray mountains.

With its blue letters on a blue background, “you couldn’t tell what the characters were on the [Yosemite] plate” from a distance, Chappelle complained.

Keith Schiller, chairman of the Yosemite Fund license plate committee, said the Yosemite plates more than meet the national standard of being legible at 75 feet, set by the American Assn. of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

California has an unofficial legibility standard that varies between 77 feet and 135 feet. According to tests by the state task force, the standard plate is legible as far as 138 feet while the California Arts Council’s license plate was readable at best at 100 feet and the Yosemite plate at 94 feet.

The state’s first specialized license plates--for the disabled, amateur radio operators and press photographers--were pounded out in 1959. Since then, numerous versions of specialty plates have been produced.

Some plates commemorate the 1984 Olympics, or identify the driver as a former prisoner of war or as a recipient of the Purple Heart. Other plates are sold to raise funds for one of 14 causes, including Lake Tahoe, UCLA and the California Arts Council.

Each of the specialized plates has a graphic design, mainly relegated to a corner of the plate and of a different color than the license numerals.

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Although the CHP and certain legislators have problems with the specialized plates, few others do. Each 1996 registration renewal notice includes an insert advertising specialty plates and vanity plates.

Motorists who want specialty plates for their cars can sign up for them with the DMV, said Maria Barajas, head of the DMV’s special license plate program.

The plates cost $20 to $50, depending on the cause. There is also a renewal fee each year, in addition to registration costs. The annual fee is split between the sponsoring organization and the state’s environmental or resources plate funds. Requests to the Legislature to approve new fund-raising plates must be backed by at least 5,000 prepaid applications.

Bob Hansen, executive director of the Yosemite Fund, said the Yosemite plates have generated about $3 million since they were issued in 1994. The income covers half of the organization’s $1-million annual budget for Yosemite restoration projects.

However, Kopp won’t budge on his efforts to curb the explosion of specialty plates. In December, he successfully urged the Legislature to approve a moratorium through this year on new special-interest plates for private organizations. The measure does not affect motorists’ ability to sign up for any of the existing specialty plates, state officials said.

Superior Court Judge Terry Friedman of Brentwood has had Yosemite plates since 1994, soon after they were introduced. “I have a special affinity to Yosemite,” said Friedman, recalling that he spent one of his most memorable vacations in the High Sierra. Besides, he has an even closer link: When he was an assemblyman, he co-sponsored the bill that authorized the plate, an experience he says he was “thrilled to be involved in.” Friedman said he has never received complaints that his plate was illegible.

Jay M. Steren of Malibu hasn’t received any complaints, either, for his specialty plate proclaiming him a proud UCLA alumnus. But he certainly gets a number of other comments on the plate’s aggressive message: LMN8USC.

“I think the problem may be that there’s too many options for different types of styles of plates,” said Steren. “For years we only had one plate, blue with gold lettering; then we changed to the white background and then changed the lettering. There’s just so many different variations.”