Feb 11, 2008 3:26 pm US/Central
No KSMYBT, SEXVAN On Plates In Wis.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ―
Wisconsin drivers can pay an extra $15 a year for personalized vanity license plates -- as long as they are in good taste.
The state Department of Transportation can refuse any combination of letters or numbers that it believes are distasteful or indecent.
Thus far, it has banned about 8,000 letter combinations, including SEXVAN and KSMYBT.
"As we know of (new) objectionable choices, we add them to our database so when our processors try to enter something that's a known offender, it will be caught at that point," said Reggie Paradowski, special plates unit chief for the DOT's Division of Motor Vehicles.
The Appleton Post-Crescent used the state's Public Records Law to get a copy of the DOT database that contains the banned combinations.
It includes dozens that play on racist or vulgar words. The more tame plates include F0RDSUX or IKLDEER.
The database also helps DOT employees catch off-color words in other languages, such as French and Spanish, Paradowski said.
If a creative driver comes up with a combination not in the database, and it slips by screeners, the DOT can recall the plates later, Paradowski said. It has done that after receiving tips from police or offended drivers.
Stefan Lonce, who is writing a book about vanity plates, said every state that issues them has the same challenge in preserving good taste.
"There's this poor person at the DMV who is going to decide what is or isn't allowed on an automobile," Lonce said. "No one person, no one entity can keep up with the creativity of the people out there. People are really saying a lot, in eight characters or less."
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