California lawmakers consider license plates that flash ads

Motorists are used to seeing digital billboards that flash ads. But is the California Legislature’s flirtation with license plate ads a bad sign?

That’s what some motorists are saying as a state Assembly committee toys with the idea of issuing digital license plates would turn the backs of cars into miniature billboards.

Lawmakers are being asked to launch a feasibility study to determine if the advertising revenue from millions of electronic license plates would help close the state’s $19-billion deficit. In addition to being a moneymaker, the high-tech plates also could be used to streamline automobile registration procedures and to quickly tell motorists about hazardous road conditions and Amber Alerts, officials suggest.

Critics warn, however, that the ads would distract drivers and add to a growing clutter of roadside digital billboards, freeway message boards and other intrusive signage. Some also fear that the computerized equipment that would control the advertising could be hacked and hijacked by vandals intent on posting rogue messages.

Backers of the advertising idea say the digital plates could be programmed to display the ads only after an auto has been stopped for four seconds. The car’s license plate number would be visible in small type at the corner of the plate when ads are being displayed, they say. The ads would disappear and the plate numbers would be shown when the car was moving.

See full article at: California lawmakers consider license plates that flash ads | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times.