Drivers in B.C. won’t be seeing licence plates reading SO-HIGH, IXLR8, YSO SLO, or OMG MOV on the province’s roads.
In what has become an annual tradition, ICBC has released its list of personalized licence plate requests that were rejected during the previous year. In 2023 the corporation received 9,500 slogan requests from B.C. drivers looking to personalize their licence plate, with 73 per cent of the requests approved and 27 per cent rejected.
Slogans are rejected if they do not meet ICBC’s guidelines and criteria or if they are deemed objectionable; for instance, if they are discriminatory, sexually suggestive, abusive, or derogatory in any language.
Intellectual property requests (such as trademarks) are also not allowed, nor are references to risky driving behaviour and speed or speeding. Anything to do with the use or sale of legal or illegal drugs is prohibited, as are alcohol-related words or brands, or the effects of drugs or alcohol.
“ICBC’s dedicated team meticulously reviews every application to ensure each slogan is appropriate to display on a B.C. licence plate,” says Sandy-Anne Dodig, ICBC’s Manager of Insurance Operations Support. “A personalized licence plate can be a creative way to express yourself, and we encourage drivers to review the criteria and guidelines on icbc.com prior to applying.”
Among the requests that were rejected in 2023 were suggestions including:
2FAS4U
FRBALL
UNSAFE
UNVXD
XRCIST
NO LAW
SUMPIG
SUKA
The full list of rejected personalized plates in 2023 is available at https://bit.ly/3u6t3dh. (Note: Some slogans may be offensive to some.) Worth noting is that if a personalized plate is approved, and is later the subject of a complaint or is determined to be obscene, it can be recalled.
Personalized licence plates are available for regular passenger vehicles, motorcycles, vans, light trucks, and motor homes. There is a one-time application fee of $100 and, if approved, an annual fee of $40 to maintain the slogan and use of the plates.
The annual fee means that the applicant maintains exclusive rights to that plate. However, if a personalized plate remains inactive for more than one year after the expiry date, the right to the slogan will be lost.
ICBC recommends that B.C. drivers who are interested in a personalized licence plate review the criteria and guidelines before submitting their application. They can be viewed at https://bit.ly/3HxXf4d, which also contains more information on personalized licence plates and how to apply.