JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Have you ever seen a license plate that makes you laugh or ones that make you wonder how that was allowed?
First Coast News obtained a month's worth of license plate requests from the Florida Department of Motor Vehicle and Highway Safety (FLMVHS).
We found some funny ones like CIABABY, some creative like M00NSNE for moonshine. We also found some that were downright nasty.
All of these requests are reviewed and denied by a state board.
"We want people to express themselves as long as it’s legal within our Florida state statutes we welcome that," Florida Highway Patrol Master Sargent Dylan Bryan said.
FHP works with the Division of Motor Vehicles, which reviews the specialty plate applications and the messages they spell-out.
A committee uses standard, slang, medical and foreign dictionaries. But of course, some are missed. Some plates make it to the road, and complaints from drivers are sent to FLMVHS for review.
While Bryan approves of the specialty plate idea, he explains, sometimes these vanity plates can bring difficulty to law enforcement officers, not just if they have questionable messages.
"Sometimes these vanity plates, these specialty license plates will cause a little bit of a delay, and what I mean by that is the special characters," Bryan said.
He explained the issue comes from drivers using a numeral one instead of the letter "I," or the number 5 instead of the letter "S."
Bryan said that could even make you an easy target for other drivers, ones who may be offended by the content or those who have malicious intentions.
"Your typical soccer mom driving down the road in a normal looking minivan or sedan with a vanity plate that’s now very easily identifiable because they’re very specific," Bryan said.
He added that is an extreme case, but it's something to think about before applying for a specialty plate.
On a lighter note, one of Bryan's favorite approved plates from over the years had a rather polite message.
“The tag spelled 'excuse me,'" he said. "When that vehicle is moving in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed working its way, it was kind of comical to see this vehicle working its way in and out of traffic and the plate says excuse me."