Politically Correct License Plates?

S

superberkut

3,212
Yesterday, a woman got her personalized license plate banned because it was apparently, "promoting dangerous driving." This woman, named Joanne Sorrill, was an ordained United Church minister, so her plate read, "REV JO" referencing to her career. Previously, she had kept this plate for nearly 20 years since receiving it as a 50th birthday present, only getting it replaced once when she had to buy a new car. When she submitted her old license plate for refurbishing, she got a letter from the ministry stating that she had to get a new license plate. Her second idea, "REVRNDJO" got rejected because it promoted her Christianity. A spokesperson for the ministry later said that anything referencing drugs, sex, racism, alcohol, and religion is disallowed, though Joanne used that plate for 19 years.

Any thoughts?
 
Danoff
What country did this happen in?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have specified...

This happened in Canada, Joanne herself living in Whitby, Ontario.

Ever since controversy erupted over the funding of faith-based schools, nothing has quite been the same...
 
Plates like these obviously wouldn't fly in Canada, but at the very least hers was creative. I don't know how anyone could honestly find it offensive in any way, no matter what you believe in. Then again, people ask me what my 'TOPGEAR' plate means, and it usually requires a bit of explanation.

Still, Americans do this best:

 
The first one was clever; I think they may let that one slip...

I didn't understand a couple, but I know what you mean.

Tophaticent: Here in Toronto, ANYTHING offends ANYONE.
 
I asked about the country because I can't imagine the plate "Rev Jo" getting banned here. But I'm certain that we have rules about what is acceptable for a license plate.

Generally speaking though, the whole concept of a personal plate could go away entirely if the government wanted it to. It's an identification method for your car, there's no inherent reason why you have to be able to personalize that. You can't personalize your driver's license number, or your social security number (or whatever numbers you have in your country).
 
Danoff
It's an identification method for your car, there's no inherent reason why you have to be able to personalize that.
Click to expand...

I'm a little split. For one, you can't customize your VIN, and I find that a more official ID for you car. And I'm sure that we could somehow survive if we should get our vanity plates taken away.

But on the other side, it is something that is seen. Something that can represent you like a bumper sticker. Really. Who would want a personalized Drivers license? Nobody cares. And why would you consider customizing a SSN that you don't want anybody to see?
 
Ever wonder why Florida is such an an uptight state?

a55-rgy.jpg

coolpl8z_iluv.jpg
 
^^

Works when a dude is driving. May not have the intended effect for a female driver. Also not good for picking your date up in.
 
hahahahaha! 👍

Im not a fan on personalized number plates... I think standard ones look quite neat..... also makes it harder for cops to remember if you ever get into a sticky situation..... im sure they would remember some of the ones shown in here thou! :lol:
 
I think personalised plates here are a ripoff. I can't believe how much they charge you to put a few letters and numbers in sequence. Even if they were cheap I wouldn't be interested, but I have seen a couple that made me laugh.

One was in Alaska, and it was "BRRRRRRR" (may have wrong number of Rs). I saw that one in a magazine. The other is just down the road from me, and it's a classic.

The car is a 4 cylinder Alfa GTV Twinspark. The plate: "V6 PLS"

On topic: I don't see what's so wrong with the rev's license plate. It does break their rule of no religeous references I suppose, but I'll bet there are thousands of plates out there that don't break the rules but are far more controversial. And what was wrong with "REV JO" in the first place? How many people are going to see the word Rev on a car, and then think "oh, must be a Christian minister." ?
 
A guy that used to work here had a motorcycle and got the plate 2hi2di. When he picked it up the clerk asked him if he was a skydiver.
 
Ok, so they won't let somebody have a personalized license plate which is not offensive in the first place? I think in protest I'd plaster all kinds of offensive bumper stickers around my license plate protesting about how much the government sucks. And then take a picture and mail it to them, of course not revealing your license plate number.

*Note, I probably wouldn't do it to my current car, but maybe an old beater.
 
Premier Dalton MacGuinty stepped in, and Joanne Sorrill has her license plate back. Sad that the Premier had to intervene for a license plate, though.
 
Virginia will truly issue anything. I saw this in Atlanta:

TRU-BICH-091907-2.jpg


Some areas are more strict than others. I used to have U21DAY on my car. I thought that was funny.
 
Michigan is pretty strict, they won't let me get BLDYEL on my car.
 
A shoddy Civic had the plate "1SXYGY". It was probably allowed, because it still made the driver look like a complete idiot. This was in Ontario, Canada.

Another one read "OJDIDIT", in what I think is Massachusetts. It was on a 1964 Ford Falcon.

Wow, some of those Civic drivers...
 

Similar threads

onedjyoulike
Firm Favorite Trophy
Replies
16
Views
1K
NAXEHT
NAXEHT
KazaMR2
Tokyo's Wanderers - Season 2 - Part 2 - Ice Azurite's return
Replies
2
Views
3K
KazaMR2
KazaMR2
KazaMR2
Tokyo's Wanderers - Season 1
2 3
Replies
76
Views
17K
KazaMR2
KazaMR2
SomePlayaDude
Yadda yadda, SPD's The Mythic Chronicles has an intermission (and another small note for the future)
Replies
27
Views
14K
SomePlayaDude
SomePlayaDude
Ibonibo
The real Movies ending * True story bro!*
Replies
10
Views
4K
prisonermonkeys
prisonermonkeys

Latest Posts

Back