Virginia Toughens Up On Illegal Number Plates

In a state where roughly one in seven vehicles sports a number plate – the highest percentage in the country – it shouldn’t be a shock that some car owners try to turn heads with naughty words.

What’s surprising is the amount of brain power they invest in trying to dodge DMV standards of decency.

On the no-no list: character combinations that are vulgar, offensive, sexually explicit, excretory related, or promote violence or illegal activities – like drug use or gangs.

Applications that are obviously on the wrong side of those rules get handed right back over the DMV counter. Countless others are more cryptic. Numerals are substituted for look-alike letters, dashes are used in devious ways. Specialty number plates are part of the strategy, and nothing is sacred. That big orange “V” on the University of Virginia number plate has turned up in more than its share of wicked words. And the round Great Seal on the special state plate? In the right position, it looks an awful lot like an “O.”

Fishy combinations get sent up the line for further review, where they’re screened through software Virginia borrowed from California. Requests are run forward and backward against a database of forbidden terms, including basic curse words in other languages.