Why American License Plates Are Such A Mess - Cheddar Explains

[@commodorezelda]

Digital licence plates are about the dumbest idea I've ever seen. Even ignoring any security, hacking, or fraud issues, think of how much wear and tear a car gets on the road. Weather conditions, rocks and road debris, collisions--it would be so easy to break! If the casing gets cracked and then it rains or you go through a car wash, boom, your expensive tech is broken. And I'm sure vandals would love to break them for fun. The whole thing is a waste of money and materials.

[@filip36365]

Exactly and at 600 a pop I aint tryna replace on every year or 2

[@palmtreedude4721]

Yea! Mabye for like 30 bucks but still, what if someone steals it or damages it?

[@paxhumana2015]

Also, let us not forget some even MORE obvious flaws with digital license plates, such as them being easy to hack, as well as the numbers and digits altered, and if you think that altered plates are already hard enough to track with current physical plates, well, if they are digital, then that makes the digital plates even harder to track.

[@TheOriginalJphyper]

I'm sure thieves would love to get their hands on them.

[@ChrispyDubstep]

You’d probably have to take them off and take them with you so they don’t get stolen, like car radios back in the day

[@joermnyc]

You missed why: all these special designs and vanity plates are HUGE revenue generators for the state DMV because they charge drivers extra for these options.

[@googleaccount6931]

True

[@JimmyMon666]

And cheap-o's like me won't get them for that reason. I wouldn't mind getting a Veteran plate for my state, but that's an extra $50 a year. And yes, I am that cheap.

[@puddlespuddles5208]

It is not much different in the UK afaik. You have to pay a fee to a certain government agency to have a custom plate.

[@chuck_norris]

Imagine caring at all😂💀

[@brianw1620]

Came here to say this.

[@mewosh_]

I am from Europe and trying to decode the licence plate and guess where is the driver from is the best road trip game.

[@Shirokroete]

The relatability of this comment is uncanny

[@KRISSvector007]

it´s a lot of fun in Germany, in NL not so much as the license plate is tied to the vehicle. The vehicle is forever registered to one plate nr, regardless of owner. It is also completely random

[@mewosh_]

In Poland it works such way that the first letter stands for the name of capital of voivodeship (province) and the two next letters stand for the name of the capital of powiat (county) in which the owner lives so it's pretty easy. So for example if the plate starts with is KTA the car is from Małopolskie Voivodeship because K stands for Cracow and from Tarnów County which is indicated by the TA after.

[@calypso]

Eurotrashs are so boring.

[@bobbob-kc9wd]

Here in the US the game is usually just counting all the states' plates you've seen on the road trip, still fun imo

[@alexdreFalke]

As a European, I've always been fascinated by the beautiful state representation and design philosophy of US liscense platea

[@klamin_original]

I call it chaotic mess, but yeah

[@earlysda]

Creativity is a good thing, isn't it?

[@alexdreFalke]

@@earlysda Yes, it is

[@flitsertheo]

@@earlysda Not necessarily for what is basically an administrative document. Imagine the IRS sending your tax bill in such fancy designs.

[@MW_Asura]

@@earlysda Without limitations on things like these, it isn't. Plates are purely practical and administrative things to identify the car when necessary, not to make the vehicle look fancier

[@tehsin13]

So, as a plate collector I have several issues with this video: 1. Only safety issue about Identifying plate would be not put the same word across state's various plate offering. This can be easily solved by DMV. 2. I do not see any problems having same number or vanity in different states because all state names are clearly labeled on 95% Of US plates. Bigger problem is people cover up state names with plate bracket (Often dealer ads or other association). therefore, harder to identify the state by a regular person. This issue was completely overlooked on the video. 3. Optional plates are huge revenue source for state and respective organizations. Why not support a cause if you can afford. 4. Most plates nowadays goes through testing by state and law enforcements. Chance of them being unreadable is low. Although I believe standardization of fonts (one for embossed and anther for flat plates) across country would makes thing little easier. 5. Optional Plates are only reason to keep plate collecting interesting. Only US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico have multiple graphics plate. Fun to spot and collect (only apply to collectors lol). 6. Digital is a big NO NO as explained in other comments.

[@lzh4950]

Japan added extra graphics to some of its license plates to commemorate Tokyo 2020 too I remember

[@tehsin13]

@@lzh4950 Yeah. They now offer optional graphic by prefecture. Some of those designs are pretty cool. Too bad cannot collect them.

[@werecollie]

South Africa also has different plate graphics per state, along with Thailand for special numbers. Also look into Palau, some absolutely bonkers designs (and some arent even metal LOL)

[@lzh4950]

@@werecollie Vehicles from neighbouring Malaysia & Singapore that drive into Thailand (after buying their domestic vehicle insurance) typically are stickered with a Thai translation of the Latin alphabet on the former 2 countries' license plates, & vice-versa i.e. Thai-registered vehicles that drive into Malaysia have their plates translated into the Latin script stickered on them too (IIRC its )

[@tehsin13]

@@werecollie Right. Although only six of SA plates are graphic. Also all of you mentioned are bit hard to collect compare to others.

[@Finkelfunk]

"Hey, you know this metal sheet that perfectly does its job of displaying a simple string of letters and numbers? How about we make this an expensive, fragile electronic gadget for no fucking reason"

[@deus_ex_machina_]

Your comment and profile picture go together like honey on a bear.

[@JimmyMon666]

We did that in my city of Las Vegas with speed limit signs on the freeways. Instead of a metal plate, they use an electronic display. They say it makes it easier to lower speed limit in traffic jam conditions, and that is true. But usually the traffic jam limits your speed anyways, so it's not like you can go faster than 35 when they lower it to 35. I hate to think how much my state paid for those things.

[@Finkelfunk]

@@JimmyMon666 LCD screens are also very much needed. Not like Europe has had dynamic light strip signs for years now.

[@majormushu]

@@JimmyMon666 it can also be used in bad weather. They have those on the bridges in the coastal virginia area and during bad weather where driving on the bridges is sorta dangerous they lower the speed to 35 to make it a bit safer.

[@jur4x]

Nothing wrong with British plastic plates either. Actually, they are even better in a way. Since actual symbols are on the lower layer, they are not damaged by the dust and sand as much.

[@jayayebee]

Digital plates sound like a solution in search of a problem. License plates are exposed to the elements and often damaged during accidents. Who wants a fragile device to replace them? Never mind visibility and security issues.

[@flopsinator5817]

Aside from it looking fancy, I don't think digital license plates have any practical application anywhere. Everything it does regular license plates do better.

[@Ozmodiar6]

The argument was that steel plates rust... yeah, after several decades. Steel is much more durable than the plastic/synthetic videoboard material (which also needs a power source).

[@SayAhh]

It also comes with a monthly fee. It's a status symbol?

[@Varibeca]

It looked like an e-ink screen, like the one Kindle has. So what prevents people to put their own plate that can be changed to avoid radar photos?

[@Taklsdjw093]

Its capitalism why charge you once when they can care you constantly. Plus stick a tracker in there for good measure.

[@iplop]

I'm surprised your video didn't cover the 2016 case of a Mr Tartaro who thought it'd be a good idea to get the custom plate, "NULL" As it turned out, 'null' is what police around the country commonly input into their system when they're unable to find the plate number for crimes/tickets. Soon enough he ended up facing $12k+ in fines.

[@Papathunda]

wonder if "VOIDED" or "EXPIRED" could get flagged

[@iplop]

@@Papathunda lol, the way it works in Florida is they have a black list of some obviously bad words, then a person okay's the plate on pickup. Needless to say, a lot slips through.

[@nunya___]

I tried "lost tag". Got rejected.

[@MegaKiri11]

It's not just what the "police commonly input". This is how SQL database works! NULL means no value.

[@awake8794]

same thing happened to a guy that got a plate that said "retired"..... he started getting tickets from everybody else that had the same thing. lol

[@googleaccount6931]

I actually like the state specific plate system we have in the US. There’s such a variety of plates makes it interesting to drive and see the different designs.

[@jayrogers8255]

Same! European license plates are boring, but the Western Hemisphere plates can be beautiful (this includes countries outside of North America).

[@jam6636]

that says a lot about the landscape around your highways, not much to look at apparently.

[@jayrogers8255]

@@jam6636 depends on where you are. Some highways go thru absolutely beautiful scenery (Interstate 77 in Virginia’s Smoky Mountains, or Route 2 west of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, for example), others go through horrible blight or overbuilt urban areas (the roads in & around Boston, for example), then others still are just boring.

[@javantgarde]

Same, I just don't like mandatory front plates.

[@fitmotheyap]

Uh.. you are meant to pay attention to driving when driving, car accidents are a real issue y'know

[@leonhardpauli5815]

Hey I am Austrian, just wanted to say, that you normally remember at least the country, state and City where a car is from also from quite a distance. Nevertheless if the police has to identify a car after a crash, or burnt out car how could they possibly do that with a digital plate?

[@bagamax]

If a car is still burning in the first place it needs to be extinguished, not identified.

[@andrekovski]

@@bagamax read the comment again

[@bagamax]

@@andrekovski surprisingly that helped. Ok, digital plate is the worst idea I've seen, but burnt car can still be identified by VIN.

[@djthegrateone]

RFID tag

[@jan-lukas]

@@djthegrateone that burned down because it uses electronics that can't take heat, oops sorry now no body will know which person owned the car. Somewhat thick metal is just much more durable than any electronics can be

[@JonneBackhaus]

The eu plates arent standardised by size, they vary with country just look at the finnish plates against german ones. Also the numbering and lettering varies a lot from country to country. Ie: finnish plates use xxx-000 and estonian 000 xxx. The only real standard is the countrycode in the plates

[@nordishkiel5985]

yes. the width is not standardizes at 520 mm either. i just registered a car in germany on 420 mm plates. and that is not even the smallest size possible (just the smallest size the shortest letter and number combination available would fit). you can also choose the letters and numbers, as long as they are unused at the time.

[@jugjivan]

Not all EU plates but the vast majority are. 520×110 or 520×120. Finland is one that deviates from the norm. I believe something like 7 of the 29 EU member states + schengen partner states + the UK deviate from the standard norm. Out of those I don't think we should put much weight on nations like Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and San Marino. Finland has 2 different standards but are pretty disconnected from the core of the EU anyways. As such Switzerland is the only major EU partner nation in the EU core that deviates from the standard which they share with Liechtenstein (obviously). Edit: Also non EU member states such as Moldova and Norway also adhere to the standard EU guidelines.

[@fgsaramago]

@@jugjivan Switzerland is not in the EU

[@jugjivan]

@@fgsaramago that it is not. But it is tightly integrated with the EU as a member of the single market, adoption of EU laws, and more importantly for this topic the schengen area. The fact that they haven't switched to the EU standard is an anomaly. Swiss neutrality is the reason that has stopped them from joining the EU and even then they have shown to no longer be neutral and rather in line with the EU even in matters such as sanctions (against Russia recently).

[@bandvitromania9642]

And Italy has a smaller plate too

[@computernerdtechman]

Having a digital license plate would be a boon for criminals. They could use a homemade digital plate where they could change the plate number and state with a touch of a button inside the vehicle, thus avoiding police who are looking for them.

[@necroslair]

James Bond would love it...

[@EnsErkl]

@@necroslair except this could be a 5th grade school project with a 20 dolar screen from alibaba and a raspberry pi.

[@MoonLiteNite]

As if you can't just tape on a fake plate on top of your real one, do a crime, then spend 2 full secs to remove the fake one that is sitting on top :D

[@memeluke]

@@EnsErkl my locale just allowed them and you would not believe the number of 5th graders robbing banks after that school project day! 🤪

[@AhuizotlXiuh]

@@MoonLiteNite You have to stop, get out, and rip it off unless you already have a remote controlled/motorized plate flipper or something. Doing it on the move gives the tech gang an edge.

[@alex1695lopez]

And yet cops and traffic cameras have absolutely no problem getting my license plate and giving me tickets

[@jamess3109]

Maybe you should stop running red lights

[@JohnDoe-vm2di]

Texas just made red light cameras illegal a few years ago

[@Shirokroete]

Maybe you shouldn't park where you shouldn't park

[@flopsinator5817]

Maybe you shouldn't speed

[@misstekhead]

Maybe America should invest in public transport. No one in this country is any good at driving. That’s right. I called out all my fellow citizens. You. Me. Your Mom. The Mayor. Anyone named Daniel. Tom Hanks. Not a single one of youse.

[@daugh1001]

Don't fix something that doesn't need to be fixed. I've never heard anyone have a problem with license plates. People who like to collect cars don't want to have some stupid-looking box on the front or back of their car. But there is a problem with having the same tag on different design plates in the same state.

[@Leenapanther]

Ever thought about speed cameras. I know they are not really a thing in the US. This is a shame though, because I'm sure they could make A LOT of money with that. With no specific number plates, they can't really figure out who drives that car.

[@Z38_US]

@@Leenapanther What are you even saying? He said that normal plates are fine and that digital license plates are simply stupid and unnecessary in every way.

[@cookie856]

@@Z38_US Camera speed are more "take a photography of the plate at 2 different places, calcul the speed based on time and distance then signal authority if it's to fast" Sometimes it's short, sometimes it's long. That's basically just to ensure limitations are respected without needing policeman everywhere

[@Z38_US]

@@cookie856 Why are you explaining this to me? I know how a speed camera works and was merely responding to the guy above me saying to the original commenter that he should think about speed cameras. I'm pretty sure that a screen on the front/back of your car would not make speed cameras any more efficient.

[@cookie856]

@@Z38_US Because the one above you didn't talk about digital license plate so I thought you didn't knew what it was based on the answer ^^"

[@cussmustard4748]

The stark contrast between plate designs is beneficial in the north east. When you’re in NY, orange plates are NY, blue is CT, yellow is Jersey, & white is PA. It helps in metro areas that encompass multiple states.

[@I_AM_HYDRAA]

white with fireworks is maryland

[@hendrikdependrik1891]

I can still recognize different plates here in the EU pretty easily, because the white and yellow backgrounds and plate sizes might be standardized, but that's definitely not for the fonts.

[@Liggliluff]

I think having different colours per state is a great idea. Problem is that states have multiple different designs. It would only work if all NY plate variants are majority orange. While picking 50 different colours wouldn't be efficient, repeat colours would be allowed as long as they're not neighbours. This would make reading plates a bit more efficient.

[@AdamSmith-gs2dv]

NY has three valid plates: Empire Blue (2000-2010), Empire Gold (2010-2020) and the Excelsior plate (2020-current). If you have the two older plates you can continue to use them and transfer them between vehicles

[@Blowingmind]

It is true that you can get a myriad of special vanity plates but the vast majority of people just get the default plate the state offers which is usually very readable and understandable just based on the specific color scheme used for that state. I feel like this video kinda made a mountain out of a mole hill as this, to me, is kind of a non-issue. It was a good and interesting video, it's just I disagree that vanity plates cause any types of confusion with the exception for the most niche ones

[@memesistolefromifunny9165]

Agree completely.

[@williamwells3026]

In NJ, there has been at least three different color schemes over the years that I have seen.

[@larroyo1973]

This video is nothing more than your typical snotty eurasian anti-American BS.

[@themiddlecase]

Yeah, definitely a mountain out of a mole-hill. At the end of the day, the only hard requirement is being uniquely identifiable. By and large, it would seem that isn't much of an issue with the current system (with the exception of a few edge cases). I enjoy the uniqueness of plates by state, and having the ability to customize, at least to a limited extent. Is it messy? Sure. Is it broken? No, not really.

[@NiveusLepus]

The fact that they had to find someone from Tik Tok as their "Expert" tells me this isn't as big a deal as the video claims. I have a personalized plate, and some of the fees go to supporting our underfunded state parks. I also have law enforcement family members and they have their favorite complaints but license plates aren't one of them, nor does it keep them from writing tickets, trust me. ^_^ I guess it was a low content week for Cheddar.

[@LethargicSquirrel]

Arizona has over 50 different plate styles. Could you imagine if *every* state had that many? Literally over 2,500 different plates. One thing I'll never understand is why other states have cool designs with wolves on them, but somehow, some way, Minnesota doesn't. It's the only state where wolves have never been exterminated, it has the only natural wolves left in the lower 48, it has the International Wolf Center, and the basketball team is called the Timberwolves. Where the hell are our wolf plates?!

[@charles910]

Wait till all the wolves are gone, then they’ll be on the next plate.

[@FackAttack]

They actually used a bad example - Virginia has over 250 different plate styles lol

[@UnhungHero]

Florida has tons of options too

[@penguinsfan251]

@@UnhungHero Florida has between 50 and 100 plate options.

[@magmatri-studios]

Meanwhile New Jersey just has this one ugly light-yellow plate.

[@mcbrowniealoha]

I appreciate the uniqueness of USA license plates

[@santamanone]

Ummm. No. As a retired cop I’ve never met or even heard of any cop thinking our plates are a public safety concern.

[@kaiseriv8483]

My license plate has a silhouette of a surfer dude with an ocean sunset behind him. The rest of the world can keep their boring ass plates but back off mine lmao

[@napola88]

Im from Italy and you are right, that is the difference between a true free country and a fake free country where u can't even put a spoiler on your car without get chased by police..

[@N-MCMXCIX]

A screen for a license plate?!? What domkop though that would be a good idea? Screens are fragile and all too prone to breaking, and furthermore, they don't work without power. Screen plates would make it all too easy to do something illegal. They should just stick to metal plates, they last for decades without fail!

[@johanvanderpulst5250]

As a Belgian I'm very familiar with the word domkop. It is Dutch for dumb head😊

[@CamdenBloke]

They are eink. No power required except to change the display.

[@Santor-]

@@johanvanderpulst5250 I believe most of the world have decoded this word by now....

[@johanvanderpulst5250]

@@Santor- Nathaniel is probably from South Africa or something. That would explain the Dutch word.

[@mikeblatzheim2797]

@@johanvanderpulst5250 Or, you know, just Dutch. Look at their profile banner, the image doesn't look like it was taken in South Africa. But it does look like someplace in the Netherlands.

[@stefangherman8408]

European license plates are standardized for EU members and non-EU members. For example Republic of Moldova license plates are the same size with Romanian license plates. And a license plates in Romania looks for example like this: NT 01 ABC; where NT is the county where is isued from (in this case county of Neamț) and the numer is the order of issuing of letters.

[@sion8]

Non-EU members often adopt EU standards at their own discretion, they don't have to, but the same reason Canada and Mexico have similar standards to the U.S. as non-EU members have the same standards as the EU is because they are their biggest trading partner and most influential neighbor.

[@Drskopf]

@@sion8 central American countries use the same license plate size as the ones in North America just different designs per country 👋👋. To me es easy to have a license plate like the ones used in North and central America, which are diverse and sometimes like in the case of 🇺🇲 and 🇲🇽 they have the name of the state which they belong to and different designs per state. I've seen a couple of mexican states license plates with bar codes as well..

[@sion8]

@@Drskopf I'm not sure, but pretty much all countries in the American continent seem to have adopted the same size license plate as the U.S., there might be a few examples that may have adopted different size license plates (I'm not counting overseas territories of European states) for whatever reason, but I've seen the same size license plate in various countries this side of the pond and the internet allows me check for more if I feel like it.

[@Drskopf]

@@sion8 yes you are right, I forgot to mention Colombia Venezuela Ecuador and Perú have the same size as the ones of the north, but Brazil, Argentina and Chile doesn't!

[@sion8]

@@Drskopf Well, I checked and most Mercasur members adopted the Brazilian standard of 400 by 130 mm license plates.

[@valmikg1]

This seems like a problem unique to law enforcement and toll collectors. American values foster “uniqueness” and that’s reflected in our varieties of plates.

[@nx9100]

Gotta love how it's all about criticizing vanity plates, and they don't talk to anyone about WHY people buy them in the first place.

[@dentatusdentatus1592]

Folks buy them because they're vain silly. 😁

[@Santor-]

In many cases your supporting an agency, like state parks for instance. Nothing wrong with that, they provide a great outdoor family experience, and we support them back yearly through a special vanity plate when renewing registration. Unnecessary? Yes. But its not hurting anyone, and it brings smiles to people's faces. Plus, the plate is a good reminder getting outdoors a little is a net positive effect on your being.

[@Dan-mq6xt]

Cheddar: Find the smallest things that might be wrong in certain situations in America and never criticize anything wrong with Europe and make them look perfect.

[@superbelly427]

As a european you guys are doing it right. Who says there is no room for fun when it comes to vehicle registering?

[@AGwolf2097]

went into this defensive from the start. I love the variety we have here in the US, each state's plates are quickly recognizable (either as something you've seen many times before or clearly someone from hawaii or alaska or oregon trundling blindly around the middle of new england lol)

[@Admin-y9i]

Text me for more info👆..

[@intervjaurenh4060]

I very much agree. I love getting to see another state's license plate driving around my town.

[@KittySnicker]

I honestly feel defensive too

[@intervjaurenh4060]

@@_Meng_Lan I'm not sure why you're shaming me, but the US does have ALPR

[@intervjaurenh4060]

@@_Meng_Lan oops sorry, I didn't know what it meant

[@brianwillaman1776]

Why American plates are so different in each state... per the US Constitution, the powers not given to Congress are reserved to the States. *which means, license plate design is reserved for each state.

[@9HighFlyer9]

You can't blame a socialist for trying any angle to give the feds more power.

[@rocketsurgeon2135]

And countries in Europe are _actual_ countries, each with its own constitution, laws etc. In theory, and before 1998, each country had its own plate design and other rules regarding license plates. The uniformity was something all these sovereign nations agreed to do, to make things simpler and clearer and reduce the risk that plates are misread both domestically and in neighboring countries. This way, your license plate will be correctly interpreted all across Europe with high probability. You have to keep in mind that a license plate is there primarily for the purpose of identifying vehicles and tying them to their owners. Thus it makes sense to first and foremost ensure that they serve that purpose well. Those who want to get creative have the whole rest of the car to go wild on, if that tickles their fancy, but the plate serves a specific purpose that isn't artistic or creative. Just as you can't get creative with the colors of the lights on your car, you can't make it harder to correctly read your license plate by deviating from the prescribed format.

[@fgsaramago]

@@rocketsurgeon2135 here in Portugal, if you have a pre 1992 car, you can still use the old style bkack bavkgroung with white lettering plates

[@computernerdtechman]

@@rocketsurgeon2135 In the U.S. the plate serves the same purpose. It has a state name (i.e. Florida) and a sequence of numbers and letters. It identifies the vehicle. A vanity plate that says some specific word doesn't change that. It still identifies the vehicle whether the letters and numbers are random or make up something that makes up a word. The only thing I would agree is troubling is if the plate has some picture in the background that would make the plate number and letters hard to read. The European system of reserving part of the plate number sequence for regions/districts/counties is unnecessary. As long as the number is unique within the whole system, that other info can be pulled up on the police computers.

[@rocketsurgeon2135]

@@computernerdtechman Well, the system used in Europe guarantees unique registration numbers across all nations using the system. As stated elsewhere, the actual format varies from country to country. In some, it's just an essentially random sequence from which no further conclusions can be drawn. In others, part of the registration number is assigned by region etc.

[@djp1234]

That's the beauty of USA. It's like 50 small countries with their own rules.

[@HarsanRonyo]

A veritable union of independent states, you could even say

[@NavyVet9702]

It's as if the USA were a bunch of states in America that were united.

[@joegrey9807]

Yet for so many things the constituent parts of the US are less standardised than the constituent parts of the EU.

[@MW_Asura]

Americans really like to tell themselves this don't they?

[@djp1234]

@@MW_Asura that’s how it is. We even have 3rd world countries here. Most of them are in the Bible Belt.

[@Kosoku63]

American license plates are cool, they have cool designs on them and I feel that’s cooler than just random numbers/letters on a white background. for example you can basically tell what state a car is registered in just by looking at the plate design.

[@lt1caprice57l]

What drives me nuts is for all these options most of the states have, if you actually like something simple, just a solid color background with contrasting text, no designs, no pictures, in most states you can't get something like that. California, Iowa and Michigan are the only ones I can think of as of late that do. And the latter two are only very recently. Michigan brought back a 1965 design this year, and Iowa debuted the solid black plate two years ago. Of course, in California, the standard plate is basic, just white with a red state name and blue numbers. This to me is how it should be everywhere, the standard general issue is simple and undistracting, and if you want a pretty picture or fancy design, you can specify that when you get your plates at the DMV.

[@AVeryRandomPerson]

@@lt1caprice57l Delaware, Massachusetts, Texas, and Virginia all do this well, while Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Missouri, and Rhode Island have small graphics, typically as the symbol in the middle of the plate.

[@jan-lukas]

But license plates aren't meant to be cool, they're meant to identify vehicles

[@Z38_US]

@@jan-lukas Well a lot of things aren't exactly meant to be cool and serve some usefull purpose but still to most people it matters a lot how plates look. I gotta say no matter if it has a design or not the US nailed the License Plate in general in my opinion it looks 50 times better than EU plates (especially those yellow GB plates those are awful)

[@davidty2006]

idk how anyone is meant to read one at 20 meters away..... They are so small.....

[@pwaaoolhtims4344]

I love the modern US's license plates, so much variety and sometimes the custom ones can be humorous

[@JonathanWrightZA]

In South Africa, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal still use the apartheid era license plate system: 2-3 letter code denoting the town, and up to 5 numbers. The first few hundred numbers are reserved for government and vanity plates, and you can get 5 character personalised plates ending in province abbreviation. It's really cool because you can see exactly what towns the driver is from. CA and CAA for Cape Town, CFM for Somerset West, ND for Durban, etc. Other provinces use random alphanumeric generations over a provincial crest background. Very bland.

[@bongisiphomalinga7709]

Although associated from a bad time, it still makes it so much easier to know which town/which part of the province a vehicle is from with Western Cape & KZN number plates

[@tanithrosenbaum]

Same here in Germany. It's really convenient to see if someone is local or not and where they are from. Even helps with safety sometimes, because a non-local driver is more likely to slow down in front of a complicated intersection whereas a local driver most likely already knows which lane they need, so you can be a little more careful around a non-local driver.

[@JonathanWrightZA]

@@bongisiphomalinga7709 I mean, how else am I supposed know that since the driver in front of me is from Paarl they suck at driving? 🤣

[@nlpnt]

@@tanithrosenbaum Is it still a Golden Snitch-level spot if you see WOB on a non-VW Group car?

[@tanithrosenbaum]

@@nlpnt You have to excuse me, it's probably due to English not being my native language, but I don't think I quite understand what you're asking. What does "a golden snitch-level spot" mean?

[@masterimbecile]

Ever since we saw a “WHO DAT” plate at a parking lot, my family has been keeping a record of vanity plates.

[@christianzdon3997]

What are some of the best ones you've seen?

[@masterimbecile]

@@christianzdon3997 NDBYOND (on an Infiniti) BLUECAR (on a yellow Corvette)

[@masterimbecile]

@@hunterrrdrives my neighbor’s BMW has “DABEEMR” 🙄🙄🙄

[@masterimbecile]

@@christianzdon3997 GAS LOL (on a Tesla)

[@masterimbecile]

ITNOFIT (on a Honda Fit, a very tiny car)

[@canadiandude24]

This is also the same in Canada where each province has there own license plate

[@jneuf861]

Same here in Mexico

[@penguinsfan251]

@@jneuf861 Much of Latin America is like that.

[@petergreenham7235]

Also similar in Australia, each state has there own stand designed & dozens of special designs to choose from at additional cost

[@Inkoknyto]

What many Germans don't know either: you can tell from the middle letters whether the car comes from the city area or from the district around it. 1 letter = city area (county seat), 2 letters = county.

[@spongebubatz]

Auch wenn das nicht immer der Fall ist, das Beste Beispiel sind die Hansestädte! ;) Rostock hat mit HRO sogar drei, aber alles in allem stimmt diese „Herabstufung“ nach Länge der ersten Buchstaben natürlich

5:08 Just a correction: Usually it‘s a random collection of letters and numbers (the letters always are first), but you can also choose your own registration, for example „XX 0000“ if still available in the county or city.

[@user-tj1cj1yf6f]

As a federation, the states in both Mexico and the US are in charge of traffic rules, they also issue driver’s licenses which is the reason why there can’t be a bilateral agreement between the European Union and the US regarding driver’s license exchange, it would have to be between the EU and Texas, Arizona, New York, etc.

[@PerthTowne]

I like the variety of license plates that makes each state's license plates unique. It's fun to look at them on the road. Canadian provinces also have a variety of designs.

[@dejfcold]

I just want to mention EU license plates are also customizable. There are some rules though, which probably depend on the country. So for example, czech plate has to have at most 8 alphanumeric characters, at least one number, cannot have the letters O, Q, W, G and CH (yes, it is a letter here) and cannot contain a banned word (there's a list).

[@hkrohn]

Norway uses EU licence plates despite not being in the Union, and they are totally customizable for an extra fee. You can, for example, choose any (non-offensive) word without any digits, such as your name. They can even include the Norwegian letters Æ, Ø, Å.

[@balkansportsfanandgamer]

In Macedonia 🇲🇰 QWXY do not exist and Letters not in the 26 latin letters

[@darwinqpenaflorida3797]

There are some similar in the Philippines as well based on color from licensed plates from Australia:Public Vehicles using NSW Color plates, Private Vehicles using Queensland’s color plate and Diplomatic Vehicles using Victoria color plates

[@leandrotami]

Here in Argentina we have standardized license plates all over Mercosur, together with Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. One of the goals was to make it much easier to support OCR (optical character recognition) for multiple different processes, from automatic tolls to automatic recognition by police patrol cars (for instance, if a car was reported stolen). However I think it would have been nice if they had a little individuality, something that could allow us to identify easily what region within which country each car came from.

[@moondogster]

You can also have the plate etched into the windows in case the car is stolen and the plates changed. I saw this more than a few times in Buenos Aires.

[@seumanualdepolitica2148]

At first, Mercosul-type license plates were welcomed in Brazil...but later, the city and state identification were removed from it, and then everybody started hating those license plates.

[@moondogster]

In Switzerland, the Canton is noted on the plate with a decal. In France, the used to use a 2 digit code (75 for Paris, 69 for Lyon) and they have a similar system now.

[@gilbertoarizona305]

I love US plates - it gives you an idea of where a person is from. Opens up conversation at Gas Stations - rest stops - diners - it's fun to see all the cool plates. The rest of the World's plates (besides Mexico, Canada, and the US) are BORING!

[@weiq9482]

Everything comes down to money. Any question in the US, somewhere in the answer is money.

[@masonrussell579]

Money rules the world lol. It’s not special to the US.

[@KRISSvector007]

Americans will commercialize everything

[@computernerdtechman]

Vanity plates are much more expensive than regular plates and is a extra source of income for the states Department of Motor Vehicles.

[@Jake_Broer]

Digital plates are going to make it extremely hard to maintain. Your headlights go out and you need to fix it. Imagine what happens when the display on the back of your car goes out. Or, if it gets hit by a rock and it damages half of it. Unless there's bulletproof glass and a perpetual display that never goes out, it will be extremely hard to implement them.

[@edenassos]

What isn't a mess in the US?

[@lszlpesti]

The Hungarian license plates have changed from the 1st of July 2022 to the AA AA 123 format from the ABC-123 format, which has started in 1990. You can still see license plates from before joining the EU (e.g.: GVR-507, you can see the Hungarian flag and the standard stickers, from 2004 license plates starting with e.g.: JDA-140 are marked with the EU flag) and since there are no characters left and the old plates cannot be re-registered, they started with this new format. You can still keep your current plate until next years technical inspection.

[@thorstensaccount1565]

Correction re German 🇩🇪 plates: The county/city/state code before the state seal can be 1, 2 or 3 letters. E.g., Berlin has B, Munich has M, Hamburg has HH (because it belonged to the ancient Hanse trade league and therefore gets as extra H, as does Rostock, which has HRO.) Non-government vehicles then have 1 or 2 letters after the state seal, followed by anywhere between 1 and 4 digits. Civilian government vehicles only have digits after the state seal. Government vehicles also can have statewide tags, in which case the letters before the state seal denote the state, not the county of registration (which is the case for all other vehicles.) Government state codes usually have an L in them for “Landesregierung”, i.e., state government. Finally, there are completely different rules and colors schemes for diplomatic, military, and certain temporary plates.

[@MerpSquirrel]

How does it cause headaches? It’s pretty silly to think having a custom plate allowing cops to easily remember someone’s plate somehow an issue. And allowing people to have interesting plates making extra revenue for the states.

[@c.w.k.n.5117]

This channel just always looks for way to crap on the US when comparing to Europe... I love my personalized license plate!

[@jayrogers8255]

@@c.w.k.n.5117 Cheddar: “wahhhh! Why aren’t we more like Europe?!?! 😭” 🤣🤣🤣

[@PumpedSmartass]

You can have interesting plate letters in the EU but in Hungary it costs like 1000 USD. Yet there is not stuped stiles with wolfes, palm trees and silly colors.

[@carlpult5235]

wait,... Digital license plates? That is the most moronic solution to the problem! Other countries have solutions to this problem, just adopt one of those.

[@carlpult5235]

@Moon Shine thats just the Problem, one has to make lots of additions only for it to work at all. Eventho this does little to adress the issue and is both disruptive and costly. If you have to doctor with every aspect of the product maybe reconsider if the idea was good to begin with. Also all of those "fixes" either dont work or cause more confusion. Just get rid of vanity plates and get a funky paint job on your car. If your creative character is important enough to put it on a car it's also too substantial to be limited to a tiny plate. Really the only reason to want a digital licence plate is to trick the police and get out of tolls etc. But that's illegal so...

[@schxn]

One thing I wish was standardized was a single plate law. I’m sick and tired of drilling holes and basically destroying cars to put front license plates that aren’t even enforced in Texas. It’s in the law but you know it’s not a serious one when dealerships can sell cars legally without front plates. Many people including myself have run without front plates for YEARS and have never been pulled over for it.

[@penguinsfan251]

Pennsylvania has not had a front license plate in my lifetime and the police have no problem issuing tickets. Ohio just got rid of the front plate requirement. Michigan did in the 1970s. License plate collecting is a cool hobby. I have several old plates.

[@paveladamek3502]

The rest of the world has two plate requirement and nobody freaks out about it. The U.S. is the only country I know that has "rear plate is enough" states, and yet you have Lambos all over the world. If 100 countries can have front plates on lambos, so can Texans.

[@MetDaan2912]

The shape of US licence plates is just so weird, EU plates are way cleaner.

[@adisetyadi39]

I'm not from US but I always find customisable US license plate to be interesting. They can look pretty cool and reflects your interests/personality on your car, making it unique. However, the only problem I only just know from this video is the fact that they would allow you to have the same number & letters in the same state JUST BY HAVING DIFFERENT DESIGN??! That is definitely a mess and shouldn't have been allowed in the first place! I wonder how do they register it in their database or when a cop give you traffic citation, do they type in the number and made sure to select the correct design from 53 available designs? What if there are more designs in the future? Overall, I love the level of personalisation offered by US license plates. However they really should find a way to fix that mess I mentioned before while also keeping their authenticity.

[@Sir_Austin_T_Gee]

Most states don't have that problem with having the same combination in the same state. Texas treats all its vanity plates with an unseen "V" in the system and allow you to only have a 6 character combination, whereas standard plates have 7. This means no matter what design is on the plate, it starts with a V officially, so the system won't let you register a Texas Flag plate and a Oil Rig plate with the same combination. My research on this seems only 2 states have the repeating sequence problem.

[@BRAYXOTIC]

United States license plates are so cool idk I love how on each plate there’s a design that represents the state. Like a grizzly bear for Alaska and the Rocky Mountains for Colorado. It’s so unique and kinda cool to see in my opinion. I love going on roadtrips and finding different out of state plates

[@tonysmith3701]

I’m so sick of educational channels keep making videos about how Europe does better than America on freakin’ license plates. I love American plates, and I’m not alone. People across the world have many different ways of doing things and there’s no superiority involved whatsoever.

[@lztx]

I'm in Australia and there was an attempt to keep the combination unique and consistent country wide, even though each state issues their own. Initially all states used XAA999 style (the X was unique per state: ACT all start with Y; Queensland with N, O, P or Q) when those ran out things went in different ways. I know NSW changed to AA99AA combination, Queensland to 999AAA, WA added a seventh character. (I'm in Queensland so I don't know all the interstate combinations.) When it changed to 999AAA the first to be allocated was 000NAA through 999PZZ then it went to 000AAA through 999MZZ, then 000RAA through 999ZZZ. I'm sure there's gaps for reserved combinations etc. Around 000HAA it changed from green to maroon lettering to better reflect our state colour. Still on a white background. We currently have 999AA9 combination so the first after 999ZZZ was 000AA2 (last digit is never 0 or 1 to avoid confusing with O or I). After 999ZZ9 it'll be 000A2A, then after 999Z9Z it'll be 0002AA. It hasn't been announced what will come after 9999ZZ, I'm guessing either reuse what will be 70+ year old combinations by then or add a seventh character. The plate can either stay with the car or if you like it you can "customise" it for a small fee and move it between cars. I did this with my first plate, so I have a newer car with green plates. You can get it reprinted in different colours for a larger fee but I didn't do this. This fee is still lower than a chosen combination ("personalised"). I have heard of personalised plates being non-unique interstate but the state code is displayed, and since we only have 6 states and 2 mainland territories it's not a lot to search all the databases if required. The degree of personalisation is limited, font size and shape is consistent, it's just colour and decoration that is changeable.

[@durchfallgurgler07]

It would make sense to have the us plate like this: A yellowish colored horizontal stripe on the left (like the EU ones) which says the state by the two letter short versions. Then there should be a region code like with german plates for the city or county. And then a digit code

[@arnoldhenry]

I see why license plates in US than overseas is the size of the space on some domestic vehicles. Foreign cars have more space for the plates because they are wider than the American plates. Take a look where the license plate goes on like a Toyota or a Subaru. Then, try to put an European license on a Ford F150.

[@mastercheif1225]

.... I was going to say as a Floridian I'm very familiar with different state plates and can identify right away if a car is from our of state so I feel it'd be easier to identify a car that doesn't fit in the area (plus in Florida for example lots of the plates have the county of origin on the bottom that I can read several car lengths away)

[@1985toyotacamry]

As a South Florida native you are correct. Except for Miami Dade County those no longer there. But Broward and Palm Beach Counties stamp away.

[@mastercheif1225]

@@1985toyotacamry as do saint Lucie, hendry and Volusia counties. So there's a chance if let's say I catch a glimpse of a plate driving away from something even if I done see it long enough to catch the number I may have caught the county stamped into the metal underneath

[@1985toyotacamry]

@@mastercheif1225 true I do see Palm Beach County stamps than Broward. Then again I do see Hendry County at times.

[@UserName-ts3sp]

yeah its usually pretty clear seeing out of state plates in most places. new york in particular stands out (from ohio)

[@johanvanderpulst5250]

I'm from Belgium, and on our vacation in Florida we had a rental car with Idaho plates on it.

[@jbking6132]

American tags have more iconic designs and artwork that make them more interesting than their bland European counterparts, not many people in the US would support standardization and are proud of their tags, vanity tags also bring in revenue for DMVs.

[@c.w.k.n.5117]

Yeah this channel always compares the US to Europe to try and make us look bad but they overlook the ways in which our societies value different things... Yes the EU system has some advantages, but in America cars are all about character and individual expression. So the fact you have some choice with license plates is a good thing, that we value, and it works well enough for us to think it's worth the trade of. We don't want a boring barcode on our car like Europeans.

[@stephenvelden295]

In Western Australia you can buy vanity plates in 12 colours, with a wide choice of letter/number colours, a choice of steel, Aluminium or plastic and 4 different dimensions/sizes. Plus special plates for your favourite sports team. Choice is good!

[@lawrenceallen8096]

I whole-heartedly agree! What is with this person, right? "Chaotic?" "Ruined Standardization?" Hey, aren't they the generation that obsessively calls for D-I-V-E-R-S-I-T-Y. To "be your true self?" So why do they hate diversity? Why do they want to squelch individuality? Why put they boot on the neck of creativity for sake of "standardization." Are the US diverse plates causing a problem? Are the Australian? No. Like you, I rather enjoy seeing license plates from all over the country. And, as for Europeans, well, they do things their way. Americans do things their way. For example: Americas formed a more perfect union and created a government of, by and for the people in 1783...when the British Colonialists finally left. We eradicated the British vestige of slavery in 82 years: far, far shorter a period that the British, Dutch, Portuguese, etc. slave trade that lasted for hundreds of years! In that time, small skirmishes with indigenous peoples aside, there has been only one major war amongst ourselves: the American Civil War. 245 years, and the USA has been one of the most peaceful and cooperative places on the planet. But in that time ALL European governments changed multiple times, most in violent revolutions, there were bloody wars that killed millions, they burned their cities to the ground, they returned slavery to humanity in the 20th century: Russian Gulags starting in 1918 and German slave camps in the 1940s. Ethnic cleansing returned in Europe in the 1990, for crissake! Historically, 4 of the world's greatest genocides happened in Europe, including the holocaust....there are still people walking this earth with numbers tattooed on their forearms!! So thank GOODNESS Americans do things differently than Europeans. I wouldn't have it any other way!

[@drakeivy8]

Thank you. Idk why Europeans hate everything fun and unique. But i hear its kinda depressing over there

[@stephenvelden295]

@@drakeivy8 On the contrary. Things are great here. COVID has had a minimal impact. Life is good.

[@Scrimjer]

You also have less people then the whole state of California

[@stephenvelden295]

@@Scrimjer THAN the state of California.

[@peterjohnson1734]

Just because they're different than European plates doesn't make them wrong. States have their own individual governing bodies and that's the way it was meant to be!

[@logiahavre5978]

One thing unmentioned is that in Germany, you can chose what second pair of letters and which numbers you want. For example if you live in Weimar, you could get a license that says WE ED 420

[@hebdomatical]

Every state I have had cars registered in have Aluminum plates not "galvanized steel", the UK also has plastic and metal plates produced by people other than the Government. Most of Europa also uses aluminum. Agree with you on all the specialty State plates as being confusing. Colorado qualifies for this in addition to Arizona. California has had so many vehicles they have through the years changed the alpha numeric combinations often and have added or gone back to a black plate with yellow lettering.

[@justingistpreuninger3447]

I've yet to find definitive proof that the metal plates in the UK are actually legal, same with 4D plates.

[@scotpens]

California's currently available black plates with yellow lettering are actually a copy of a design that was issued from 1963 to 1969. They're called "legacy plates" and the fees collected from them benefit environmental projects in California.

[@bigjohnson3381]

Literally never had a problem with license plates lol

[@bikeny]

I like my vanity plate. I do not like the huge fee my state charges every year for its renewal. Sure, charge me to buy it, but why is the renewal more? I'm not getting a new plate every time. Yeah, they do it because they can.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

Every license plate in the Netherlands issued ever, is unique. So, we are now running out of letter and number combinations.... There is no more room on the plate anymore. Curious how they will solve that.

[@durchfallgurgler07]

Actually, German license plates can start by either a 1,2 or 3 letter region code. Mostly, bigger cities have less letters. For example: Cologne (Köln)= K, Berlin= B, Munich= M...The letters in the middle can also be just one letter instead of two. And the last digits can be either 1,2,3 or 4 digits. But 4 digits arent allowed if the region code has 3 letters plus two letters in the middle. In that case it is limited to 3

[@jordanbigg34]

Of course law enforcement thinks you shouldn’t be able to have personalized plates. They probably want it to be 10x larger, while they’re in their unmarked cars too. For “public safety”…

[@180_S]

I would argue that the variety of plates in the US makes it easier to locate a particular vehicle. In the EU, it's harder to identify a car since the country code in the bottom right is relatively small and hard to see at a distance.

[@mlc4495]

Most plate recognition is done by OCR camera systems to track speeding, non-payment of tolls, etc so it's not that big a deal regarding the lack of uniqueness. Besides it doesn't take much effort to train traffic police to differentiate national licence plate designs anyway.

[@mikeblatzheim2797]

In practice this isn't exactly true. As soon as someone isn't a local their licence plate will stand out, even if the country code can't be identified. Between countries license plates have different formats, fonts and sometimes colours, and when everyone else has the same format, it is immediately obvious. Even if they are from the same country, in places with regional identifiers cars from elsewhere stand out. And if they are a local, the license plates make it easier to read and you can very quickly disregard any car that comes from elsewhere. If you're looking for a different plate the European system makes it easier to identify (a few that stand out when everyone else has a similar-looking plate as compared to one unique design amongst a sea of dozens), and easier to narrow your search (you can immediately identify out-of-state or county cars as opposed to, again, having to identify dozens of designs that you can ignore). In addition, the European license plates tend to ve much easier to read.

[@doctorcreeps2169]

In the uk i can instantly tell when a car is from another country because the uk plate system has different fonts, plate sizes, etc and in the usa there are several designs for individual states making it probably much harder to differentiate the cars from other places

[@andrewwinslow9315]

@@mlc4495 Cheddar wants us to be like Europe

[@kelvin123456789ifc]

0:23 In northeast Territories, Canada they got polar bear shaped licence plates That's "wildly" different lol Edit: 2:30 nvm he is holding one lmao

[@cotanakcaner]

I moved USA 3 years ago and I don’t think USA plates are such a mess. Not at all. I really like them and find them cool

[@evamg21]

You forgot the biggest part about European plates: they have been machine readable for years. Cameras have no issue deciphering them and this has been used for years for "section control". Which is what we use to check your average speed along a certain route, mostly tunnels with high accident rates. Also highway tolls can be digitally bought for a specific licence plate and the cameras will recognise it within seconds. And I don't know about the US, but our plates have lights and you are legally required to keep them clean and readable to ensure these systems work.

[@Luke-bf1wt]

the tolls are usually paid not with plates but with a system that kinda uses rfid? idk what the fuck it is, it’s magic but regardless it’s linked to you, and it can be moved to wherever you’re driving to not be linked to just a plate. it’s got no batteries, and you just put it on the dash. you can search up ez pass for a picture

[@Nick-kz6dg]

The Australian states have different numbering formats but plates have a standard size and font. Vanity plates are as simple as a different colour and what’s written.

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

From what I gather, the size of an Australian license plate is in between the sizes of U.S. and European plates, is that correct?

[@tehsin13]

Love Aussie plates. Currently working on collecting all state slogans

[@static-san]

Aussie plates also has a system where the plate number is unique across the country. Usually. Mostly. Some states resisted that decades ago and there have been multiple issues in more than one state (my Mum's car had that problem years ago). US plates don't have that uniqueness quality.

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

@@static-san Ah, well it's hard to have a system that'd cover 330~340 million or so people, specially with the size of the plates that are standard across the United States. Also, since on domestic matters U.S. states are independent I don't think they will agree to a federal system as it will more than likely take an interstate compact for it to happen rather than federal law.

[@static-san]

@@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions I think the high independence of the US states is behind a lot of difficulties in the US that other countries find is better solved at the federal level. :-/ It's a weirdly US-centric problem.

[@MickeyMouse-qh4fc]

In the UK, we have a white front and yellow back, both of which is high visibility for the extra degree of safety.

[@JackMitchell404]

The EU does have a number plate directive, but it's optional for member states. Belgian plates are a lot narrower than French and German ones and are also coloured differently. Most European plates are black text on white plates (front and rear) but Belgian text is red and Dutch plates have yellow backgrounds. UK plates are white up front but yellow on the rear. Also, UK plates are usually plastic, while German ones are aluminium and others vary. The UK is additionally complex, the country code stripe is optional, but also the plate issuing isn't quite national, Great Britain and Northern Ireland have different plate types with different formats (currently AAA 0000 in NI and AA00 AAA in GB). Plates belong to the car in the UK though so while a new car in NI will always get an NI plate and one in GB will always get a GB plate (there is a geographic indicator in the plate for the place - county more or less - of issue), if a car from NI is sold to GB then it will keep its NI plate. The UK doesn't have vanity plates as such, in that you can have a personalised plate but it needs to be a valid plate of a standard format and it can't have an age indicator newer than the car you put it on. That means that the plate LA55 ABC might be a London (that's the L) plate from between September 2005 and March 2006 (that's the 55) or it might be a vanity plate fitted to any car made since September 2005 because the owner wanted that plate and was able to pay for it. The video showed a UK plate "LR33 TEE" which isn't valid, that would be a London plate issued between March and September 2033, so it won't be issued for another 11 years and it will never be legal to apply it to the Mini it is shown fitted to. This is a really common error in US film and TV depictions of the UK which weren't filmed in the UK (I'm talking to you Ugly Betty). Also, UK plates don't have a standard size, not only do certain cars have special oversize plates (Jaguar X Type and Rover 75 are a notable pair) but you also get different shapes (there is a special square format for older off roaders and a different rectangular one to fit Japanese grey imports). The size isn't governed by regulations directly, it's about the minimum amount of plate you need around the characters you have (character size and font is strictly regulated, but the government doesn't make the plates in the UK). Your plate may have 7 digits, but it might only have two if it was first issued a very long time ago, and it can have anything in between. Finally, UK trailers carry the plate of the tow car, the trailer isn't registered in its own right, and motorcycles have special small plates with smaller characters

[@AurumUsagi]

More recently, a new trailer registration system has been introduced, but the plates are optional, and are only required for driving into certain European countries. However, the plates have to be mounted as far apart from the towing vehicle's plate as possible, but I've seen some being mounted Spanish style on lorry trailers that would otherwise use the standard square plates for trailers.

[@flitsertheo]

The old Belgian numberplates with 5 and 6 digits were only 32 cm wide but the new 7 digit plates are 52 cm wide, the EU standard.

[@kennythemeat]

i would love to have a bit more colorful plates like the us. in switzerland they are also lacking our contry initials(CH) which is the reason it is requiering a ch sticker if you drive over the border towards the european union. altough we have the swiss coat of arms on our plates, this is not enough. european laws requires written initials. swiss plates have the swiss coat of arms followed by the region code(kanton)then a number(maximum 6 figures long) and at the end we have the kanton coat of arms. the ch sticker is mandatory, countrys like germany do not persue it mostly. but italy for example is pretty harsh about it and fines for several hundred euros are filed a lot of times. since 2024 it is possible to have the autobahn sticker(tax for using the autobahn) coupled to your numberplates instead of bonding to the car. which is great because earlier you need to buy a 40 chf sticker for every car you drive on the autobahn. with the possibility to have 2 cars registrated to one numberplate this was a bit of a nuisance.

[@NephosPais]

The US plates are NOT a "mess". This video did not do an adequate job of comparing the two standards. It does a decent historical review of US plates but no historical review of EU plates. Keeping in mind that the words "state" and "country" are synonymous; Each EU state had their own plate standards just like each US state did. Upon forming a union, the EU did the same as the US and tried to standardize. Ironically, despite the US member states being much more similar to each other compared to EU member states, the spirit of individualization is much greater in the US culture compared to that of the EU's. This combined with the individual points of pride and interest of each state (and the opportunity to increase revenue via fees for specialty plates) makes it a natural choice for each state to have their own design(s). The primary difference between the US plates standards and the EU standards is really the plate size and background options. Everything else will vary in both the EU and US. (See below for details) __[Plate Dimensions]_____________________________ EU: * Mostly 20.5 by 4.3 inches but can vary slightly per region. * Also, certain regions have optional plates that are much closer to a square (to fit older or special cars). * Special cars that normally do not have front plate mounting points (such as super-cars) have other options available such as sticker plates or smaller form factor plates. But all vehicles must have front plates. US: * Always 6 by 12 inches. * No other size option is available. * Special cars that don't have front plate mount points are out of luck. But some states do not mandate front plates. And those that do often do not cite you for it unless there are other issues as well. __[Plate Country/State Identification]___________ EU: * One or two small white letters on a thin blue vertical stripe on the left. US: * The full state name on the top or bottom of the plate. * Easier to identify compared to the EU plates due to the full words being displayed. * Issues include that plate frames can sometimes cover the lettering and some states use fonts that are more difficult to read. __[Plate Character Color]________________________ EU: * Always black or red. * Easier to read than US plates due to the contrast and the font being larger and thicker. US: * Various colors depending on the background color/art. * A possible issue is that multiple US states may have the same color or similar art design. Thus (as in the EU) one has to read the state name and not simply deduce it from the design. However, neighboring states often have plates that differ enough to determine the state via the design. Making it much easier to identify (in such cases) compared to the EU. * Also, some characters will be more difficult to read against certain background colors. And certain art elements in the design's background may blend in too much with the character color. __[Plate Background Color]_______________________ EU: * Always white or yellow. * Some states reserve yellow for certain types of vehicles while other do not. * Some states have small symbols between certain characters. These are often difficult to identify due to being crests or other intricate designs. Thus they do not help identify the plates other than being plates with symbols unlike most other EU plates. US: * Various colors and/or art depending on the state and also varying within each state due to specialty plates. * The various designs in the US make plates easier to identify to a degree. But because there may be similar designs from multiple states, and because US residents tend to have much higher inter-state mobility, this can lead to confusion. Thus making reading the full state name of greater importance. __[Plate Construction]___________________________ EU: * Plates are often made from various materials such as metals or plastics. US: * Plates can only be made of metal (usually aluminum). __[Plate Customization]__________________________ EU: * Vanity plates are available in most if not all member states. * No specialty plates are available. * Some optional size formats are available as previously mentioned. US: * Vanity plates are available in all states. * Various specialty plates are available such as those for special groups (veterans, EMS, nurses, etc.), organizations (such as religious groups, nonprofits, or any other organization such as a Ferrari Club), events (such as Maryland's war of 1812 plates), points of interest (such as plates commemorating national parks), and many others. * No optional size formats are available as previously mentioned. __[Plate Acquisition]____________________________ EU: * Plates can usually be bought at non-government locations (such as hardware stores) using a government provided form. (Or no form for just unofficial fun plates that cannot be used on cars) US: * Plates can only be obtained from government sources with many states mandating the return of unused plates. But fun fake plates can be bought and placed on vehicles as long as the legitimate plates are there as well. Other relevant points not discussed: Registration displays on the plates. Hope this helps those desiring more in depth details than offered in the video.

[@supertrinigamer]

Terrible choice of music for Germany at 4:55 . I don't know who chose it but that's quite embarrassing.

[@ckmbyrnes]

First, why are we comparing anything to the way Europe does anything? Second, who says they are not a mess? Every country in Europe (many the same size or smaller than most US states) has different laws and different license plates. Italy, for instance, seems to issue the license plate to the owner, not the car, so when the owner buys a new car they keep the same plate. England uses a different color on the front and back and a seemingly random number scheme . Germany used a two or three abbreviation for the region the car is registered with round, renewal stickers in the middle. France does something similar but uses a code for the region and the renewal stickers are square and on the right hand side. The only things that are the same between all these countries is the size and a small blue strip on the right side with the EU circle of stars and a country code. In comparison, all US plates are the same size and the renewal stickers always in the same place. This piece is just another "we hate America" story with the license plates standing in for all the other things they dislike about their own country. The real reason they are trying to emulate Europe is they are closer to a socialist-type government, legal system and society than the U.S. is. By making even little things, like licensee plates, seem chaotic, illogical and troublesome here but showing how Europe has somehow solved this minor quandary they are saying they are the model we should follow in all circumstances. Instead of looking at someone else for the the answer to a problem that doesn't need solved, Cheddar should embrace the individuality of the different states, the uniqueness of our heritage and the downright fun of our United States license plates!

[@RC2225]

Why should the bit "chaotic" schemas be a problem? If you are looking for a car its quite irrelevant what the schema is as long its uniqe. In the worst case you have a FR AB 22 or D AB 22. One is a french car the other one a german.

[@VictorMartinez-eu3zl]

I don’t want standardized license plates. I love the differentiation and beauty of some plates. Makes things fun

[@craig.bryant]

European plates are excellent. Our UK ones are simple. UK with 🇬🇧 flag above (used to be 🇪🇺) then they follow the AA99 AAA format. First two are the regional identifiers, the numbers are the year the car was made. 22 for Mar-Sept 2022 and then 72 for Sept 2022-Mar 2023 then three random letters. It works well, they aren’t cluttered. Almost 90% in the UK actually don’t even have the UK symbol are are just plain. Vanity plates are available but still restricted. The only recent addition is for a green stripe that can be added to EVs. I think the European plate convention is great, easily readable for police whilst retaining your national identity.

[@craig.bryant]

Northern Ireland 🇬🇧 is slightly different, going with an older AAA 9999 system that doesn’t identify the vehicles age. Great to buy if you have an older car and want to hide the age!

[@justinress2782]

I am from Germany and I would hate to have any other license plate type. It is so convenient to know where people come from, just from a license plate. And it’s a fun game to play on road trips.

[@charles910]

What is the big deal? In Florida, all plates look identical, except for custom plates. It’s fun to see other state plates. I love the US plate system. It’s not boring.

[@SandroGarcia96]

It's just a plate, doesn't need to be fun, needs to be functional.

[@nates4669]

@@SandroGarcia96 why not make it fun, a cool extra layer of car customization

[@starventure]

@@SandroGarcia96 Go to a proctologist ASAP. Whatever caused you to say that needs to be pulled out.

[@Abi-bi6cb]

How does allowing the same number plate with different backgrounds even work? Surely the identifier is still the text, but now it's the same text on multiple vehicles?

[@smokeymchaggis73]

Cause in the US every state has an individual department of transportation. The identifier is the text associated with it's particular state. It's not as confusing as anyone would make it out to be. The state is clearly written on all plates

[@mastercheif1225]

If only one fish and wildlife tag has the letter combination you'd track it to the registered owner of the fish and wildlife tag. (They're pretty different than 95 percent of state plates)

[@Abi-bi6cb]

@@smokeymchaggis73 fair enough, the video made it sound like you can have the same plate (text/code) on a different design within the same State

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

@@Abi-bi6cb That's actually true, but as always, it depends on the state.

[@opossumlvr1023]

I briefly worked as LE and was taught to tell dispatch the color, make and type of vehicle when running a plate. I can't remember the state but there is one that issues plate numbers in such a way that a truck and a car from the same state can have matching plates. Providing the vehicle information helps dispatch identify which vehicle you are pulling over since the plate could be on multiple vehicles.

[@misstekhead]

Dang. Now I want a license plate that just reads, “NOPE” on it.

[@JBBrickman]

America and Europe are allowed to be different. We can have cool license plates they can have efficient license plates

[@jasondiaz8431]

Totally red herring. Never had an issue in 19 years as a police officer.

[@lukek8357]

Here in Australia we have a fairly standardised system for plates and each state can usually be identified by colour combination alone. NSW Black on Yellow, QLD Green on White, VIC Blue on Silver etc. We have custom plates but cost and rules keep them in low use and they're still pretty easily identified.

[@c.d.c9425]

Australia isn't much better honestly. The only reason it isn't as confusing as the US is because we have less states to deal with Every single state/territory has their own design, colour scheme and numbering sequence and there are two standardised versions within every state - the normal and slimline plates. I'm not even mentioning the euro style plates or the hundreds of other different personalised plates you can also get (again, all within each state) Queensland is maroon on white btw not green, which just proves that Australia's plates are just as confusing

[@lukek8357]

@@c.d.c9425 interesting. I'm in Northern NSW so we only see NSW and QLD plates regularly and all the hire vehicles we use at work are QLD plates with green on white. I think I was driving one the day I left this comment which is why I remember what that Ute had.

[@c.d.c9425]

​@@lukek8357 Wow, green plates? Didn't they phase that design out for maroon in the early 2000s; are most of your cars just old as hell up there or have i been missing something?

[@lukek8357]

@@c.d.c9425 most of the hire vehicles are less than 3 years old but I'm thinking the plates probably get transferred to new vehicles rather than handed in and replaced every time they change them. It's probably easier when you're a hire company with thousands of vehicles in your fleets and you're not in QLD to change the registrations in person.

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

For being an expert, one of *TWO* "exceptions" at 3:33 is wrong. Oregon doesn't assign numbers randomly, it doesn't recycle old numbers. It assigns sequentially. For a long time, it was "AAA 001", three letters then three numbers. Once those were running out, they just reversed it and started over. "001 AAA". The numbers increment first, then the letters. so "998 AAA' then "999 AAA" then "000 AAB". They do repeat between the two series. So if there was an "ABC 123", they will issue a "123 ABC", but they won't just randomly reissue "ABC 123"> Like many states, though, we do have a dozen different "specialty" plates. They follow one of two patterns: "symbol on the left, four letters as the registration number" - all the "military veteran" and most "support your college" plates are like this, logo of branch of service (or other special symbol like purple heart" with four letters. The four letters are sequential among *ALL* of this type - so you might have a US Army plate "ABCD" followed by a "Share the road with bicycles" plate "ABCE" followed by an "Oregon State University" plate "ABCF". You won't have a "share the road" or "Oregon State University" with "ABCD" though. The symbol isn't part of the sequential registration. (I'm pretty sure they print these in batches, though, you wouldn't see three different 'series' in three sequential; you'd see ten "US Army", then twenty "Share the road", then fifteen "Oregon State University" or the like.) The second is "two letter designation vertically for this specialty plate type, followed by five number registration". One series is benefiting the arts, "Cultural Union", so they have "CU" vertically (C above U) then five digits - "CU 12345". Another series for "prevent wildfires" might have "SM 12345" The two-letter code *IS* part of the registration. (And each "special series" has a different two letter code. Some have so many that the five digits after aren't enough, so they've added extra two-letter codes for that series. (Notably one for Crater Lake - started as "CL", they ran through all 100,000, so added "CK", then "CA", then "CB". FFS, basic research and fact-checking please, especially when the "expert"'s claim to fame is "I'm the guy known for license plates on TikTok."

[@wildbill7267]

Must be “the price of freedom”

[@cogs11]

Yep freedom to have a custom license plate

[@miles5600]

@@cogs11 the worst freedom

[@aerotheepic]

Freedom to not be forced into using a boring ass plate lmao imagine 💀

[@miles5600]

@@aerotheepic i know it’s boring but it’s really clear to see the letters and numbers, and let’s not talk about america’s *freedom* cause it sucks

[@zandercruz3487]

@@miles5600 Ok? Feel better? "Duuuuuuuuuuuuur, our plates have clear letters so the cops can seem them better! Americka is tha suckz!!1!!!11!!!!" Imagine being that lame that you think that is a dunk on us....

[@kd1s]

It is even worse in Rhode Island. You see amateur radio plates are type 18, while passenger plates are type 01.Friend of mine I'm in his car one day I note a pile of parking tickets. Then he told me to look at the tickets. His callsign was KA1RCI except the person writing tickets kept writing it as KAIRCI and type 01. So it never came up when searched.

[@MoonLiteNite]

digital plate? wow what could go wrong with that, not like you can easily turn off and on some pixels, do a crime, then switch it back lol

[@lenchenes]

When I got here in the US 5yrs ago, I find it cool whenever I see different plates from different states. It's fun. I'm learning what's the slogan for every state. I think that's unique. My home country is imitated it by just putting the name of the province ,no slogan or u cannot customize it tho.

[@einhundertfunfzig4919]

4:50 was it really necessary to put Erika in the background?

[@taridean]

In the UK, the blue strip on the left of the plate with the EU symbol & GB was optional even before Brexit. It only really came in handy if you drove to the EU mainland and didnt want to slap on a big white oval country identifier sticker onto your car. Now the market for those stickers has picked up again as new car plates no longer come with that blue strip, meaning you have to display the sticker if you're driving on the EU mainland now.

[@ianroberts6531]

Even if your car has a "GB" euro-plate, it still needs a sticker now as they've recently changed the identifier letters from "GB" to "UK" (presumably to placate the Northern Irish)

[@taridean]

@@ianroberts6531 you're right. Apparently the blue strip is still optional on new plates as long as it has the Union Jack and the letters UK on it. However, Spain, Cyprus & Malta still want Brit cars to have the UK sticker on it regardless. Given that most Brits tend to fly into the EU than drive, bet most dont know it's now changed from GB to UK. One for pub quiz 😁.

[@gurrrn1102]

@@ianroberts6531 it’s not to placate whichever tiny subcommyayniday of ni people would even care about it; it’s a bureaucratic change made for no reason.

[@MahiAviation]

A few memorable plates I’ve seen: - “X” - “IH8 CATS” - “666” - “Johnny” - “Greece”

[@btaylor9788]

In America we do thangs our owe way. If you don't like that here in America stop trying to make America like Europe.

[@literallyjase]

Europe, specifically UK has a lot of ANPR cameras so identifying plates are not an issue

[@johnlcallaway]

Europeans are used to the government telling them what is best and blindly following. That's why the US kicked them out, we don't like it.

[@jst4572]

Is it really a mess though? I don’t think drivers are complaining.

[@serbansaredwood]

Here in Ontario, Canada our premier redesigned our licence plates. The design was cool but they were cheaply made and the letters could not be read from a glare at night so they were recalled. Either way, North American plates are all unique and have personality while still being practical. I like them more than boring European ones.

[@MaartenvanderVeeke]

depends on what you would call boring, with European license plates it is really easy to detact where someone is from so when I'm on the road I can immediatly recognize if a car is for instance from Sweden or Germany, makes for a lot of fun in my opinion, despite them all looking similar they are still different. And the design of European license plates is also better in my opinion, the American ones look to much like a square whereas the European ones are wider but shorter which fits better on cars in my opinion.

[@serbansaredwood]

@@MaartenvanderVeeke They are boring though. North American ones use unique lettering and fonts, have symbols of their various administrative divisions. In my country, Northwest Territories' plate is cut out in the shape of a polar bear. Not sure what your definition of a square is but they are definitely rectangles, and seem to fit fine on our cars

[@MaartenvanderVeeke]

@@serbansaredwood I do agree with that, I just think that it would be cool if they would have this thing on the side saying which country it is from just as with European ones, and I just like wider plates more but thats a personal thing, but all the personalised stuff in NA is way cooler indeed.

[@alexanderkupke920]

One addition to the German license plate example. Besides it not necessarily being transferable to other European countries which have different systems up to random letters and numbers, this specifically would be a German rear license plate. But only difference is, the front one does not have the inspection seal. The state seal by the way differs as well. It is not very obvious, but on the edge of that seal it shows the name of what would be comparable to either a municipality or county in the US where the plate was registered. And those seals actually show that the car is registered, if the seal would be removed, the license plate would be voided. They are somewhat tamper proof stickers.

[@SeattleSoulFan]

Until 1956 a Tennessee license plate was shaped like the state of Tennessee.