Get ready for 19 splashy new license plates to make their debut.
A new law allows organizations to create new specialty license plates, and plenty of groups decided to take advantage of the opportunity.
The new plates are available for purchase starting Tuesday.
“They are very colorful,” said Jennifer Dana, special license plate program manager for the state Department of Licensing.
Unlike many of the old boring-looking specialty plates that we’re used to seeing, these new plates are all bright colors and creative designs, so much so that they might take some time getting used to.
Money raised by the plates benefits the organizations they honor.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has five new plates, and six feature designs for various military branches.
Other plates will generate revenue for keeping children safe, maintaining national and state parks and Washington lighthouses; pets, skiing and snowboarding, bicycling safety and Gonzaga University.
The plates will cost you an extra $40 to buy and an extra $30 each year. The keeping kids safe plate will cost an extra $45 to buy.
You can buy the new plates now or wait until its time to renew your registration. If you buy now, you’ll have to pay the annual $30 specialty fee when you registration renewal time rolls around – even if it’s in February.
“The plates are mailed to the customer 24 to 48 hours after they’re purchased,” Dana said.
That means it’s only a matter of days before you will see one of these license plates on the car in front of you.
To look at each of the 19 new designs, go to: www.dol.wa.gov/vs/specialtyplates/tr-sppnew.htm. You can find forms to buy the plates there. You can also call your local Department of Licensing office for more information or call 360-902-3770.
Each plate will have two letters that correspond to the group that the plate represents. The letters will be stacked vertically on the left. On the right will be five numbers, starting with 00001 and going up.
Each group has reserved the first 25 plates, so the best you can do is get number 00026.
If you buy a specialty plate, how about e-mailing me to tell me why you bought it and what it looks like on your car.
Reader board update
Two weeks ago reader Ken Westin used this column to ask the state Department of Transportation if its willing to put up nighttime reader boards that warn of lane closures that occur at night.
State transportation spokeswoman Victoria Tobin said it’s normal procedure for the state to put up such signs when major work is happening, saying it was a fluke that a reader board wasn’t out on the night Westin got caught up in a nighttime traffic jam.
Tobin said the state is also considering putting up “permanent” reader boards at both ends of the Everett I-5 widening project. Much of the work on that project is being done at night, she said, so it makes sense to have a better nighttime presence.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
