What you won’t see on the road: NC’s rejected vanity license plates

Driving the news: To date, more than 9,000 submissions for vanity plates in North Carolina have been rejected, according to records obtained by Axios Charlotte.

• Some spoke to the political climate of our time, while others took a different turn.

Why it matters: The list offers a glance into the minds of the drivers around you. They’re the faceless people you sit in traffic with each morning, the ones you don’t even think about, and the ones that give you road rage while merging onto i-277.

How it works: Personalized license plates are subject to approval by NCDOT, with a $30 upfront cost, plus a renewal fee.

• You can use any combination of letters, spaces, numbers and special characters.
• You can order one on the North Carolina Personalized Plate website.

Yes, but: Your plate will be rejected if it’s deemed offensive, indecent, copies another plate already issued or if it goes over the eight-character limit.

Of note: The North Carolina Department of Transportation does not keep a listing of rejected plates on a year-by-year basis, but does maintain an overall list.

Here’s what you won’t see on the road:

No hate here: The DMV doesn’t like when you disparage NC schools: HATEDUKE, HATESTAT, HATEST8, HATEUNC.

• Don’t bother with: HATED, HA8ER, HATER, or HATR, even if you are one.

Grow up: HEEEEY69, HITITS, HNKYPNKY, IAMDTF!, IFARTED.

Entertainment: JAVSCRPT, LMA0, PUSY WGN (ala Kill Bill).

Political plates: People tried — and failed — to make a statement with these tags: R0NA, C0VID-19, C0VID, C0VID!9, K0VID-19, PETA$UKS, TRUMP AF, TRUMPSUX, 0BAMALIE, 0BAMAWTF.

You talkin’ to me?: I would hate to be stuck in traffic behind the people who requested these: HEYFU, HI UGLY, IHATEU2.

Full list:

Go deeper: 3 tips to navigating the DMV and becoming an official North Carolinian