List of rejected vanity plates includes sex acts
Sex, speed and snark.
Those are among the top themes of letter-and-number combinations rejected since Quebec introduced personalized licence plates in 2018.
According to a list obtained via a Postmedia News accessto-information request, 3,066 vanity plate requests have been denied under strict rules enforced by Quebec’s automobile insurance board.
Descriptions of sexual acts and references to pornography (many of which can’t be uttered in polite company) were among the most commonly refused plates by the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec over the past six years.
More than 80 variations of the F-word did not get past SAAQ censors.
Some French curse words also didn’t make it, including four references to “tabarnak.”
The words “fast” and “speed” were in almost 100 declined requests.
An apparent reference to the Front de libération du Québec, the terrorists behind the October Crisis of 1970, was not allowed (FLQ0CT).
Nor was the message QCSUCKS.
Many declined requests referred to driving, crime and the police. Others were messages to fellow road users.
The document doesn’t specify why each was refused. For that, you have to pick through the SAAQ’S detailed rules about what letter-andnumber combinations can and can’t be embossed above “Je me souviens” on plates.
The rejected plates offer a peek into the minds of Quebec drivers.
Since 2018, Quebec has issued more than 59,000 personalized plates, with drivers paying $280.54 the first year, followed by an annual fee of $38.81.
Quebecers are losing interest, according to statistics provided to Postmedia News by the SAAQ. In 2018, the first year they were sold, 23,356 were issued. Last year, only 4,779 personalized plates were approved.
The SAAQ says it “reserves the right to refuse, or to remove from circulation, any character combination that does not comply with the established rules.”
Its system can automatically weed out requests that don’t respect the criteria. Applications not immediately rejected are reviewed to ensure they don’t break the rules.
Personalized plates can feature between two and seven characters.
Among other rules, the letter O is banned and automatically replaced by a zero.
Combinations featuring more than four consecutive identical characters, such as AAAAAAH, are forbidden. As are combinations that might be unclear or hard to read, such as MWMMWM, IIII, B8B8.