BY TAMMY KRIKORIAN • tkrikorian@rgj.com
April 20, 2008
America is the "pinnacle of individualism" and that sense is even stronger in frontier states such as Nevada.
That individuality might explain why, according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, Nevada has the fourth highest percentage of personalized license plates in the nation, said Markus Kemmelmeier, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Nevada, Reno.
A personalized license plate, also known as a prestige or vanity plate, is a little detail that can distinguish a person from others.
"(We) value being our own person, being unique and different from everybody else," Kemmelmeier said. "The United States is, as far as I know, one of the few countries in the world that actually allows something like that."
But Kemmelmeier said license plates also can be a way for people to express attachment to their community.
For example, in Nevada, there are 38 different plate backgrounds available, including those for organ donors, art lovers, firefighters, Future Farmers of America, military veterans and UNR.
"(With) firemen, there's always a sense of brotherhood wherever you are," Kemmelmeier said. "With UNR, that's how you express attachment to your alma matter or where you work."
Kemmelmeier and doctoral student Kerry Kleyman are researching personalized license plates throughout the country, trying to gather more detailed information than what's presented in the AAMVA state-by-state rankings, such as the number of people who live alone compared to the number of personalized plates, the kinds of cars they drive, how much personalized plates cost and more.
"We want to see how these kinds of variables hang together to personalized license plates in a state," Kemmelmeier said. "SUVs are very popular, but in more individualistic states you have more SUVs. Are these people also more likely to have personalized license plates?"
The assumption is that areas that have more traditional structures, down-home communities where people are less likely to live alone, would have less individual expression.
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