Why are NC license plates RED now? (car, required)

[OmegaBaby]

Originally Posted by penner

The newer red license plates seem harder to read than the older blue ones. Anyone know the reason behind the color change??

The reason given is that the red improves readability. But as you've mentioned, that's debatable.

I'm going out on a limb here, but I believe it's because red is easier to read at night than blue. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but blue and purple lights at night tend to look out-of-focus, especially for near-sighted people. I think this is the reason....

If anyone is familiar with high-school physics, blue light bends more when it strikes a prism than other colors since it has a short wavelength. The same thing happens when blue light hits the lens of your eye....your eye over-focuses blue light, and it ends up looking fuzzy. The further away from the center of the lens, the more over-focused the blue light gets. During the day, you don't see this over-focusing, since the iris of your eye only allows light through the center of the lens. You may also notice that blue lights at night become clearer if you squint, since that has the same effect.

[Niki]

Count me among those who doesn't like the new red letters. They're hard to read and aren't as pretty as the blue.

[southernlady5464]

I don't like the red either but they didn't ask me when they designed them so I guess we have to live with it.

Personally NC needs a whole NEW design. Not just a color change. Liz

[autumngal]

Originally Posted by southernlady5464

I don't like the red either but they didn't ask me when they designed them so I guess we have to live with it.

Personally NC needs a whole NEW design. Not just a color change. Liz

The red plates aren't exactly fashionable. They say it is due to the blue fading faster as one reason also why they switched them over. Now that is debatable alright. But on top of that Liz is so correct NC needs to get up to speed on the plates with a new design.

[SunnyKayak]

residents still have opton not to get red letters with the custom plates.

special interest
https://edmv-sp.dot.state.nc.us/sp/d...alinterest.htm

https://edmv-sp.dot.state.nc.us/sp/d...linterest2.htm

military
https://edmv-sp.dot.state.nc.us/sp/d...r_military.htm

pull for your favorite university with these https://edmv-sp.dot.state.nc.us/sp/d...collegiate.htm

civic groups
https://edmv-sp.dot.state.nc.us/sp/d...civicclubs.htm

nascar check out the nascar plate it looks pretty cool with the checker flag in background https://edmv-sp.dot.state.nc.us/sp/d...ateviewer1.htm

[southernlady5464]

residents still have opton not to get red letters with the custom plates

Oh, I understand you can get specialty plates but the basic design needs HELP!!!! Liz

[autumngal]

we have to pay a little extra for those.
But you did bring up a good point of how many custom plate choices
NC has, and it still is fairly cheap compared to many other states for our
custom plates. So maybe they know what they are doing after all,

Just like to see something with a tad, little more pizazz, color, showy for our standard state plates.

[SunnyKayak]

blue ridge one is my favorite, I think Im going to get that next go round.

[autumngal]

I always thought they should be the standard, but I always understood
why they are not with our beautiful beaches also. The colors are amazing,
very showy plate. Nice choice.
Ha! we could always cut the state in half:
blue ridge plates on one side, beach plates on the other,

[cowboy_wilhelm]

I'd like to see the UNC-TV North Carolina Weekend design on the primary license plate.



Obviously not everything you see above, but the simple design of the mountains in the west, the urban Piedmont in the central, and the coast in the east. It's more representative of the entire state. I would recommend a different color as well.