February 1, 2008
Observing D.C.: Redesigned Diplomatic License Plates
DCist couldn't help noticing a number of strikingly different looking diplomatic license plates popping up on some vehicles around Washington over the past couple of weeks. From far away, the color scheme and design of the plates couldn't be easily identified as having been been issued by the U.S. Department of State, and we wondered whether they belonged to another sovereign nation, like maybe there was some kind of Canadian diplomatic conference being held in Washington.
As it turns out, the plates are just a brand new design that began being issued by our own government in the middle of 2007. We found this press release from back in August announcing the new design, which was created in line with the standard practice in motor vehicle departments to change plate design periodically, and to distinguish the State Department’s plates from other jurisdictions’ plates. Compare and contrast the old, familiar design below, which had been in place for 23 years, with the new one posted above. Think it's an improvement?
Calls to the State Department's Office of Foreign Missions went unreturned, but we've only noticed the new plates, which began being phased in last year and will continue to replace the old plates through 2008, since the new year, so perhaps a lot of diplomatic missions have vehicles with registrations that expired at the end of 2007.
Other exciting facts gleaned from this semi-old press release: There are approximately 11,619 OFM diplomatic vehicles in use nationwide, with 6,277 in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, 2,596 in New York City, and 769 in Los Angeles; and it turns out Ambassador Roble Olhaye of Djibouti is the current Dean of the State Department Diplomatic Corps. Who knew?
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I'm going to guess that these new plates are made in the same place as Virginia's license plates, because they appear to use the exact same stamped typeface. The most recently-issued diplo plates of the old design were of the flat, 3M variety, just like D.C.'s regular plates.
I think the fact that they no longer look like Ohio plates, as well as the fact that they're aggressively, irredeemably ugly, are both big improvements!
While I prefer the old design and will miss it, they probably got tired of Ohio jacking their design.
Great. Now I have to retrain my flight reflex for another plate design, lest I get run down by some meth-blasted immunity-bearing diplomat.
Why do diplomats even have a license plate number? They don't have to pay parking tickets. They don't have to pay speeding tickets. They don't have to obey any laws and they can kill with impugnity. Instead of a number they should just have a logo of a stick figure with "x"s for eyes with it's skull impaled on a banner that says "I'M A DIPLOMAT AND YOU SUCK."
As a vengeful xenophobe, I am grateful to DCist for aiding my efforts to target vehicles for keying.
Hot damn, that's ugly.
But at least now I'll know immediately whether I should be flipping people off based on xenophobia or the outcome of the 2004 election. While they won't know the difference, I'll sure feel better knowing.
But seeing as how many state DMVs allow you to get plates that show your particular political views, college sports teams, membership in social clubs or organizations, etc. would it have been so difficult to get the State Deaprtment to simply issue plates that look like a country's flag? Maybe just kick up our knowledge-base of things besides what's goin' on on Main St.USA???
Hmmnnnn, then again--maybe that's a bad idea. God help the poor Moroccan, out driving in rural Virginia, mistaken for a communist, tree-hugging, satanist.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/mo-flag.html
And, if you want to know which country that the diplomat comes from, see:
http://www.cicentre.com/LINKS_Plates.htm
What's with all the "Dealer" plates popping up on DC cars? How do I get me one of those?
Heh, you said Djibouti.
that font is terrible. serifs? are you kidding me?
christ on a bike, people, hire someone who knows what they're doing for your next redesign.
I concur with IMGoph. That serif font is hideous, don't people know about serif fonts and legibility?
AWFUL.
The serif font is egregious, perhaps even more so than Virginia's use of one, though it is not the same font.
Virginia and OFM plates are made in Southern Virginia at the Powhattan SP. (The font is ugly, the printed Diplomat/Staff/Consul plates (as opposed to the ancient stamped one dcist found) looked much better than these blue monsters.
The ID and license cards have also changed.
And about those parking tickets, the embassies usually end up paying for them after the outstanding amount reaches a certain level. One year, Egypt owed NYC over $100,000. Plates and licenses may be recalled or cancelled if they're misused.
Be on the lookout for DCY 1101 or SCY 0034 (they roll out of a certain embassy without looking all the time.)
That serif font is hideous, don't people know about serif fonts and legibility?
Actually, the verdict on legibililty is that there's little difference, serif vs sans serif. Some font families, serif and sans serif, are more legible than others.
Still, that doesn't stop this font from being fugly. Until we get a determination, I will continue to refer to this font as "Fug Old Style."
The font is all wrong on those.
The plates are made in Virginia and use the standard Virginia plate dies.
This State Department photo which is on the same page with an inaccurate graphic representation as the first image is what they look like.
We did up a mockup of the plate which is a bit more accurate than above, since we used images of actual Virgina license plates. Feel free to steal it and use it in the post to replace the one you have now.