Sometime this summer I got pulled over by Utah Highway Patrol on I-80. I wasn’t speeding and frankly, I don’t know why he pulled me over. I have a ‘fast lane’ pass and when he flipped on his lights, I was in that far left lane and so I pulled over to the extreme far left lane. The officer was mad as hell for reasons I never determined. First, he gruffly barked that I pulled into in the wrong emergency lane, and that I should have pulled to the far right lane once he turned on his lights. He said, “This lane is only for us and emergency vehicles”.  Given it was close to rush house, pulling far to the right would have taken a few miles to get over there safely. I also have a handicapped license plate and a hybrid vehicle. Basically, he had nothing to ticket me for and ordered me back into traffic, but informed me that I didn’t have a license plate on the front of my vehicle. Guess what? We’re no longer required to have a plate on the front of our vehicles, and I’m not aware of any new car that has a special place for plates anymore. The legislature killed that requirement last year!

There are a few other changes the DMV passed in 2024 to provide more efficient service that will hopefully lead to less trips in person to the DMV. First, instead of two decals for our plates, there will just be one that we will be required to place on the upper right hand corner of our license plates. Commercial vehicles can ask for two plates if they feel the need for them.  Second, the license plates will no longer have raised numbers and alphabet letters and will be flat. Supposedly the plates will look better and save production costs. Third, plates will now be mailed to us when we change them or update them. This last feature is what the DMV believes will save us all trips to their locations around the state to pick up plates.

Currently we have four standard issue plate designs as well as personalized plates, the old school black and white plates with no designs, special ‘group’ plates for folks who support certain non-profits (Boys and Girls clubs, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Farm vehicles, the Masons, Vets, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, and many more), colleges here in the state, and disabled plates. Some monies from the sales of different plates goes to the non-profits they feature.  If you’re just moving to the state or getting your first vehicle in Utah, fees are pretty cheap. The standard is $7.50, personal plates are $16, group plates $21 and the new ‘blackout license plates’ are $25 with an annual fee of $25. Part of the sale of the blackout plates goes to the Utah State Historical Society.