These Minnesota license plates were deemed too naughty for the road

Minnesota drivers requested dozens of custom license plates that state officials deemed too raunchy for the road in 2022.

Driving the news: The explicit submissions were among the more than 160 vanity plate applications ultimately denied or rescinded last year, data Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services provided to Axios.

Details: State law allows drivers to request a personalized plate. The cost is $111.

Yes, but: Combinations of letters and numbers that are "obscene, indecent, or immoral" or "of a nature that would offend public morals or decency" are not allowed.

• Neither are submissions that include only numbers, could be used for commercial advertising or duplicate a plate already issued.

Zoom in: IFARTED, PIMPPIMP and FKNDEER were among the 30-plus specialty plates rejected by DVS between August 2021 and December 2022 because they were too explicit.

• Some of the requested plates — including several spins on a popular acronym that references having intimate relations with someone's partner — were too suggestive for this family publication to print.

What they're saying: In many cases, applicants unsuccessfully sought to provide an explanation justifying their request.

• One user, for example, suggested that UBTCH meant "upper Minnesota." DVS did not buy it.
• State officials were also not persuaded by another driver's argument that G-SPOT was a road-appropriate reference to an auto shop specializing in customized GMC trucks.

Plus: Other proposed plates that didn't make the road (for non-explicit reasons) included QUEEN, MAD MAN, MOMSOON, 8675309 and BOND007.

The other side: A DVS spokesperson declined an interview request on the rejections, but noted that the committee that vets the requests commonly runs into issues that aren’t related to the content.

• For example, a special plate application will be rejected if the car in question has an expired registration. In other cases, interested drivers fail to submit the full application.

Between the lines: Unlike in some other states, the list of denied Minnesota plates was largely devoid of phrases expressing disdain for political leaders.

• Several that could have been interpreted as such, including IFJB46, were rejected.

Of note: The full data set provided to Axios also included requests that failed to make the roads for a variety of other reasons, such as a car being sold before the plate was issued or the customer changing their mind.

The bottom line: Riding dirty (when it comes to your plates) probably won't fly in Minnesota.