It wasn't even two years ago that the Texas DMV enlisted a private contractor to design vanity license plates for the state's drivers, one of the first such partnerships in the country. But after 18 months of the contractor throwing just about anything you could think of on Texas bumpers, the state is already considering pulling back.
Reporting live from Pay Wall, Texas, The News writes that the company, My Plates, has whipped up 280 designs since November 2009 -- so many that cops are starting to worry that they won't be able to tell one of the custom plates from a counterfeit one. The state board that oversees the DMV is now considering cracking down on the scope of the designs.
A DMV spokeswoman told The News that tighter controls would hinder the program, which has raked in $5 million for the state. Also: How confusing could the designs be? It's not like they --
What's that? They're literally putting the names and colors of other states on Texas license plates? Maybe this is getting weird, after all. Let's take a look.
Texas-y Plates That Sort of Make Sense Some of the plates churned out by My Plates are just cool. Like this one, which makes me want to call up Riggins and Saracen, pick up a couple of twelvers and go throw a football through a tire for, like, nine hours. No regrets.
Other Local-Pride Plates That, While a Little Odd, I Guess Aren't Terrible Although, the Fort Worth Zoo? I've never been, but they'd pretty much have to let me spoon with a polar bear to make me adorn a car with the logo of a zoo. Little spoon!
Theme Plates That Are Just Too Much For the Bumper of a 2006 Camry Little known fact: Bob Ross is My Plates' artistic director.
Politically Charged Plates That Make Me Want to Drive to the Border and Use Said Plates to Cut a Person-Sized Hole in the Border Fence, Just to Be a Dick Although at least it has the Texas flag. That's a nice touch.
Plates That Make Me Hungry And a hungry driver is a dangerous driver.
Plates That Are Only Helpful If You Hate Realtors And Want To Avoid Them And Their Unreasonably Sunny Outlook On the Housing Market "It's the perfect time to buy!" "But I don't have a job." "Exactly! You can get a fixer upper and you'll have plenty of time to fix 'er upper!"
Texas Plates That Invoke The Names and Symbols of States That Are Not, As Far As I Can Tell, Texas Or maybe I've just lived here long enough to develop an irrational hate for OU. Ten weeks seems like enough time, don't you think?
Texas Plates Honoring Mormon Schools in Utah Yeah, I think it might be time to dial it back some.
