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A license plate "syntax" is the order of numbers and letters that appear on a plate. Assuming a six-character plate, which syntax do you prefer (i.e. easiest to remember, most aesthetically pleasing, etc.)?
Not sure what you're asking. Standard or vanity plates?
So, I guess mine would be IDIOT 1.
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant standard plates.
I asked because I've noticed that the ABC-123 format that I've grown up with has given way (at least in my state) to such easy-to-remember (NOT!) syntaxes like 1 A/B 2345 (where A/B are stacked letters), 12345 A/B, AB1-C23, and 123A456. I can't help but think that this has made it harder to report vehicles fleeing from a crime scene, simply because it's harder to read and remember the license plate number.
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant standard plates.
I asked because I've noticed that the ABC-123 format that I've grown up with has given way (at least in my state) to such easy-to-remember (NOT!) syntaxes like 1 A/B 2345 (where A/B are stacked letters), 12345 A/B, AB1-C23, and 123A456. I can't help but think that this has made it harder to report vehicles fleeing from a crime scene, simply because it's harder to read and remember the license plate number.
Sounds like they (I assume MD) should have gone to the 7 character plates instead of mix-and-match and kept it an ABCD-123 format like most other states did.
For surveillance, I much prefer the custom tags that make words. It is much easier to keep track of them and people tend to remember if the see the vehicle. The next best is a series of letters followed by a series of numbers. A mix of letters and numbers is usually the most difficult to spot and remember. For my vehicles I prefer a nondescript and difficult to recognize or remember tag. I also prefer a tag with the numbers 1 or 3 and/or the letters C, E, F, L, or P (these are the easiest to modify when necessary without the modification being noticeable).
Texas moronically startled a few years ago with BC1-D234, never using vowels. Better heads prevailed, and they switched to BCD-1234, when there was actually a reason for not using vowels. Missouri has the craziest system, AB1-C2D, which is worse than Canadian postal codes. I have not yet figured out the progression -- what comes next? AB2-C2D, or AB1-C3D, or AB1-C2E?
In order to save money, most states now seldom do a complete reissue of plates, so states with a even a moderate number of vehicles on the road eventually use up all 3 alpha-3 numeric and 3 numeric-3 alpha combinations. Their alternative at that point (aside from doing a complete reissue) is to go to various alpha-numeric combinations (e.g. 7AB-123) or go to a 7-character plate. The latter, which very large population states like California and Texas have adopted, is pretty disliked by law enforcement because the characters have to be small enough that they become difficult to read at anything beyond a short distance. Texas freely admits that is the reason that it went back to its very plain black-on-white plate was to make the 7-characters a little bit easier to read.
There are still a few states, mostly lower population ones, that still issue plates that are county-coded. In Wyoming and Montana, for example, the first one or two numerics indicate that county where the vehicle was registered. Other states still put a sticker with the county name on the plate. New Mexico is an example of that--though the sticker is optional and is not used on some classes of plates.
A huge problem for law enforcement is the proliferation of "special interest" plates with wildly different graphics that nearly every state now issue. It can make it nearly impossible to immediately recognize a state of registration by the color and/or design of the plate. Colorado, for example, has over 100 different graphic designs available on their plates, with just about every color in the rainbow on them. Wyoming is one state that has resisted that trend. It only offers a couple of designs, and state law actually requires the state trademarked "cowboy on bucking bronco" (referred to as "Cowboy Joe" by Wyomingites) to be on the plate. It has also won several awards from different groups as "most distinctive" or "best plate." Wyoming is also the least populated state in the US, so there aren't that many Wyoming plates roaming around.
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