Electronic billboards are sufficiently distracting that Tucson has banned them, but they're still allowed in other parts of the state. Imagine how distracting it would be to have electronic advertisements on every license plate.
California is considering selling ad space on its license plates and may begin studying the feasibility of such a program.
The idea involves switching to electronic license plates so the images and characters could be changed to accommodate advertising.
The concept is to turn the whole plate digital and allow almost the entire surface to become an ad when a vehicle is not in motion.
I can picture it now. Drivers are so captivated by the digitally shifting ads on cars in parking lots or at stop signs that they neglect the more important things around them, including pedestrians. Maybe that's too doomsday for reality.
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But what about drivers who disagree with the ad messages that their plates are sending and decide to take some kind of action to thwart the mini-billboards? I bet it wouldn't be long before some of the plates are defaced, disabled or hacked to have a personal message of some sort, other than legal license-plate characters.
You also have privacy issues. If the vehicle can be tapped in any location to "update" the digital advertising, that means your car is always trackable - a major concern for some.
Also, there is some degree of standardization on license plates, and if some states move toward partial advertising on the plate or digital characters on the plate, that would hardly maintain uniformity.
The idea isn't all for profit. California lawmakers stress that the billboard plates also could be used to provide emergency information such as severe-weather alerts or Amber alerts for missing children.
If we won't allow a normal-size billboard here to have a changing message, how could we approve every single license plate flickering with messages while the cars are parked in a parking lot or idling at a traffic signal? It's a good thing that Arizona isn't considering this. Yet.
Send your questions by e-mail to roadrunner@azstarnet.com or to 4850 S. Park Ave., Tucson, AZ 85714.
