Maine Is Finally Clamping Down on Obscene, Offensive License Plates

Unlike most states, which have a department or committee that approves custom plates, Maine has no approval process. Drivers took advantage, printing out plates with any and all obscenities you could think of. That’s about to change, according to the Associated Press.

Maine has begun to issue recall notices to people with obscene or offensive plates in an effort to clean up the streets, AP reports. The notices are going out to enforce a new set of rules established by the state’s DMV last year.

The rules ban derogatory references to age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, or disability. They also ban language that’s considered profane or obscene, and language that could incite violence. To give you an idea of just how obscene some of these plates can be, there is currently a license plate on a car in Maine that simply reads “F*** Y0U,” except on the plate, it’s spelled out in its entirety, according to Autoblog.

A committee has been set up at the Maine DMV to review any custom plate requests going forward. The committee will also be responsible for handling complaints from the public on current plates.

AP reports there are roughly 124,000 custom plates on the road in Maine right now, though only about 400 of those could be subject to recall by the state. So if you live in Maine and have an offensive license plate, don’t be surprised if you see a letter in the mail asking to give it up.

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