Council says new Oklahoma license plates would improve safety

The Oklahoma Safety Council is pushing for the state to print new license plates.

Dave Koeneke, director of the nonprofit council, said he wants the state to issue new license plates to improve safety and increase compliance of insurance and vehicle registration laws.

The manufacturers of the reflective material on license plates suggest they be replaced every five years, Koeneke wrote in a news release, and Oklahoma plates are currently in their seventh year.

Koeneke said replacing the 7-year-old plates will increase their visibility, helping law enforcement identify vehicles, and will require motorists to pay registration fees, creating more public funds for roads and bridges and public education.

In 2008, the state Legislature passed a law giving the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety the authority to reissue license plates for safety reasons. While the state Public Safety Department does not cite aging plates as an immediate concern, it is not opposed to the move.

“It's on the very rare occasion that we see a tag that is beat up beyond recognition, but newer tags, better tags, would help us identify against stolen and possible hit-and-run vehicles and out-of-date tags,” Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. John Vincent said. “It is not a chief concern of the department, but we are interested in things that will help us do our jobs better."

The co-author of the 2008 legislation, Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, said if the Public Safety Department decides to have them reissued, the state Legislature will then be tasked with finding a funding mechanism to pay the cost. 

“If some of the plates are getting old, then that's why we had the re-issuance done,” he said. “We had plates that were unreadable. If you see an accident and someone drives off, what is the first thing you try to do? You try to get the plate number.”