April 9, 2008.
California Office of Traffic Safety Summit
San Francisco, CA.
May 19, 2009
University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies
Bloomington, MN
June 23, 2009
Driving Assessment 2009
Big Sky, Montana
June 26, 2009
PRI World Congress
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
June 27, 2009
Day of Architecture
Utrecht, The Netherlands
July 13, 2009
Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals (ATSIP)
Phoenix, AZ.
August 12-14
Texas Department of Transportation “Save a Life Summit”
San Antonio, Texas
September 2, 2009
Governors Highway Safety Association Annual Meeting
Savannah, Georgia
September 11, 2009
Oregon Transportation Summit
Portland, Oregon
October 8
Honda R&D Americas
Raymond, Ohio
October 10-11
INFORMS Roundtable
San Diego, CA
October 21, 2009
California State University-San Bernardino, Leonard Transportation Center
San Bernardino, CA
November 5
Southern New England Planning Association Planning Conference
Uncasville, Connecticut
January 6
Texas Transportation Forum
Austin, TX
January 19
Yale University
(with Donald Shoup; details to come)
Monday, February 22
Yale University School of Architecture
Eero Saarinen Lecture
Friday, March 19
University of Delaware
Delaware Center for Transportation
April 5-7
University of Utah
Salt Lake City
McMurrin Lectureship
April 19
International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (Organization Management Workshop)
Austin, Texas
Monday, April 26
Edmonton Traffic Safety Conference
Edmonton, Canada
Monday, June 7
Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Wednesday, July 6
Fondo de Prevención Vial
Bogotá, Colombia
Tuesday, August 31
Royal Automobile Club
Perth, Australia
Wednesday, September 1
Australasian Road Safety Conference
Canberra, Australia
Wednesday, September 22
Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s
Traffic Incident Management Enhancement Program
Statewide Conference
Wisconsin Dells, WI
Wednesday, October 20
Rutgers University
Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation
Piscataway, NJ
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Ontario Injury Prevention Resource Centre
Injury Prevention Forum
Toronto
Monday, May 2
Idaho Public Driver Education Conference
Boise, Idaho
Tuesday, June 2, 2011
California Association of Cities
Costa Mesa, California
Sunday, August 21, 2011
American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Attitudes: Iniciativa Social de Audi
Madrid, Spain
April 16, 2012
Institute for Sensible Transport Seminar
Gardens Theatre, QUT
Brisbane, Australia
April 17, 2012
Institute for Sensible Transport Seminar
Centennial Plaza, Sydney
Sydney, Australia
April 19, 2012
Institute for Sensible Transport Seminar
Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne, Australia
January 30, 2013
University of Minnesota City Engineers Association Meeting
Minneapolis, MN
January 31, 2013
Metropolis and Mobile Life
School of Architecture, University of Toronto
February 22, 2013
ISL Engineering
Edmonton, Canada
March 1, 2013
Australian Road Summit
Melbourne, Australia
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October 20th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
In the UK, you’re not allowed to use number plates other than those following the legal formats. However, some combinations will naturally spell words etc., and these are often sold separately by the official body.
It’s also possible to buy an old car with the plate you like, and swap plates with your own car. The University of East Anglia, for example, always has a brand new car with the plate UEA 1, even though that plate was first registered before 1963. They just swap plates every time they replace the car. This makes for some valuable number plates attached to cars that are worthless! A quick check shows that a 17-year-old pile of rust is actually worth £1500 ($2500) for its plate alone, while the most expensive ever is the plate F1, which sold for £440,625 ($720,000).
The ability to swap plates is a little odd, since new plates are supposed to designate the place and date that the car was registered. Letting people swap them around just makes a mockery of the system.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I always heard that the reason Virginia leads in vanity plates is because it’s cheaper to get them in VA than in any other state. I haven’t fact-checked this, but it would certainly explain the larger numbers if it’s true.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
The UAE has what might be considered vanity plates. They would be plates with the lowest numbers, which at one time signified the importance of the owner. Now they are sold at auction to the highest bidder, which just signifies……wealth.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
IIRC German plates are in the format
1 to 3 letters assigned for City/Region
2 pickable
1 to 4 assigned numbers
So in (B)erlin many owner of a certain brand of car pick MW. Initials are also commonly picked.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Wikipedia lists Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Latvia, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, Iceland and Sweden
October 20th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
On that last point, I detect a strange Antipodean/Scandinavian Axis of Vanity, the meaning of which I will leave unexamined.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Registering authorities do it to raise revenue.
That was a rhetorical question, wasn’t it?
October 20th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Is there a connection between states with the highest vanity plate penetration and the numbers of digits/letters allowed on a plate? In Texas, you only get a total of 6 letters and numbers, and there’s not much you can do with that.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Give me SAFRNUS– at least it will help readers.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:39 am
we have vanity plates in Denmark, but they’re rare. I think they’re frightfully expensive. I suggest ‘I KILL YOU’ or ‘UR DEAD SOON’ in order to highlight the danger of driving.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:00 am
In the Netherlands we don’t have vanity plates, mostly because the plates are not connected to the owner, but to the vehicle. Swapping plates is illegal.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Man, I would have thought Wisconsin would be on that list
October 21st, 2009 at 2:08 pm
In the UK, I did hear that PEN[one]S escaped into the wild, before the DVLA twigged… normally they try and weed out the offensive ones.
Regarding year, you can’t put a plate on a car that would imply the car is newer than it is, but you can put a much older plate on a newer car.
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:21 am
Many years ago when I worked at the post office, a co-worker of mine [who very short and slight] got a vanity plate LILSCRO. He says he got it by the MVA by claiming it was short for “little scarecrow.” Now, why he’d want that on his plate, I do not know, that damned, elusive LILSCRO.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:49 am
In Virginia where I live vanity plates cost $10 per year, a nominal sum. That’s why you see so many here.
I never believed I’d buy vanity plates, but a few years ago was inspired by a plate from California I saw that perfectly fit one of my vehicles and my love of numbers.