A Land of Choice

By my calculations Florida has over 180 different official license plates. That does not count things like state government plates, commercial plates, etc. The "standard" plate consists of an orange in the center with the tag line myflorida.com across the top and the name of the resident's county on the bottom. There are 67 counties in this state. All well and good, but....

There are currently 114 (soon to be 115) different vanity plates available. Everything from the expected "Won't Somebody Please Think of the Children" series ("Family Values," "Kids Deserve Justice," "Choose Life," and "Keep Kids Drug Free" among others) to the rather surprising "Imagine" with a Picasso-esque semi-abstract portrait of John Lennon in the middle. Some are environmental...and beautiful.

Thirty-six of them are just for the various universities and colleges in the state. Another 9 are for the pro sports teams. "University of Florida" is, by far, the Number 1 plate followed by "Helping Sea Turtles Survive." I am somewhat surprised that dolphins, panthers, manatees and reefs all beat out "Choose Life." I'm also surprised "Imagine" made the top half at number 45.

If you ever see a license plate you can not immediately identify...it's probably Florida.