Oregon’s new Share the Road license plate has reached an important sales milestone.
According to Debi Mercer with the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles, over 1,000 of the specialty plates have been sold (at a rate of about 7-15 per day) since they became available at the beginning of 2008 .
That’s an important milestone because now the $10,000 deposit (for the application and development of the plates) paid to the DMV by Cycle Oregon and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance — the two beneficiaries of the sales proceeds — will be refunded. Mercer also says that the Share the Road design is the first Oregon specialty plate to reach the 1,000 sales mark in its first year.
Jerry Norquist, the director of Cycle Oregon who spearheaded the effort to create the plate says, “That’s really good news. Not only will we get our deposit back, but the 1,000 plate mark also triggers the payouts to our new educational fund.”
Proceeds from the sale of each plate will be evenly split between the BTA and Cycle Oregon ($5 a piece) and will go directly into education-oriented programs and initiatives.
The Share the Road plates got off to a rocky start, and it took several months after it’s official launch date (January 1) to get back on track and become available again.
Norquist is working with Oregon State Senator Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene) and the DMV to find better ways to market the plates to prospective buyers. Right now, they’re looking into creating a poster or a brochure of all the specialty that would be distributed at all DMV offices.
For more information on the Share the Road license plate, visit the Oregon DMV non-profit plates page.
Awesome news! I get compliments on mine all the time when I\’m out in my car.
That\’s great to hear! I do want to add though, it\’s worth wondering if those first thousand bike plates were the \”avid cycling fans\” and if the fast-pace they sold at will slow as everyone in the \”biking community\” finishes reordering their plates.
I need to buy a car so I can get those plates!
You\’re right, Aaron. But I think a lot of cyclists won\’t order the new plate until it\’s time to renew their registration. In my case, I don\’t think I\’ll be getting one of those plates until late 2009.
I love how they started with \’D\’, and how many words and phrases they make. My dad\’s plate says \”DEWK\” and mine says \”DFEQ\”…or diffy-q, or differential equations (I\’m an engineer…I get a kick out of it).
I saw one of these plates on a red jeep at John Barleycorn\’s at lunch today!
My mom pointed it out to me as we walked back to her car (we carpooled)… how cool!
I\’ve seen three: One I noticed because the car about right hooked me as it sidled over, Vancouver into Emanuel, driver oblivious on a cell phone(no generalization intended, just saying what happened.) Two this week as my family and I took an epic road trip through central Oregon.
Not that it has anything to do with anything, but I did notice none of the three vehicles sporting the plates had visible bike racks. I don\’t know why that stands out to me…
I\’ve seen them out and about.. I\’d definitely get one if I owned a car. I\’ll write a letter to Zipcar suggesting that they get these plates on their new cars.
The zipcar stationed near my house has share the road plates. I\’ve seen others with Salmon plates.
I think that a lot of people will wait to get theirs until they renew. Our plates expired in Dec 07, so we were on the ball to get the new ones, but otherwise we would have just waited until our next DEQ/DMV cycle.
People always ask me what my plate \’means\’. Cracks me up. You won\’t see a bike rack on my car, I ride my bike, I don\’t drive it places. But thben, you won\’t see my plate much either since I ride mkore than I drive…
hmmm. I went to the DMV and ordered my new plates yesterday. Can I claim to be #1000?
I wish I had known about these sooner! I just renewed my plates last month.
Agreed, most will order as their plates expire. I had planned to do so when my plates expire Aug-08; however, after writing DMV, found out the Share the Road is not available as a personalized plate. So, I\’d have to give up my custom plate I\’ve had for years so I now plant to renew the current plates. Jonathan, any reason they disallow vanity plates on the Share the Road plate? Probably because there is only space for 4 digits and vanity plates can be up to 6 digits?
My plate is DDZA and everyone thinks its
a custom, but damn it, now I can\’t road
rage. Way to easy to remember, but I have a roof rack and now a cool rack for the back. I like to use may bike and friend transporter to ride at Crater Lake and eastern Oregon.
We have DEFR, lol kinda funny.
I installed mine on my Scion this week. I am going to photo shop some small ones for my bicycle and hang them from the back of the seat.
Glad the BTA has passed the break even point. We need to educate both drivers and riders of bicycles and motos about the crazy world we share.
Tanko Bob out !!
I was just complimented on my set on Sunday. I am glad the 1000 mark was attained.
Mine are DEAV and whenever my friends ask me what it means, I tell them that they need to help me come up with a good story. No luck yet.
Not only have I gotten a bunch of compliments and looks, but they\’ve made me more aware as a driver because I\’d feel like such an ass if a cyclist caught me doing something stupid!
I am going to get one when my tags expire in about a year. I just can\’t justify the expense of getting one before renewal time.
@KTB 18
Tell your friends they\’re high.
\”Dave\’s not here man.\”
Apologies, Mssr Cheech, Mssr Chong.
Having just moved from Washington to Oregon, I was right on time to switch my WA share the road plates for OR share the road plates. Kind of surprising that in WA I paid something like $50 for the plates, and here only $5. Why don\’t they hike up the fee and raise more money for education? I would gladly pay more, and clearly so would a lot of Washingtonians.